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This dataset describes the hydrogeomorphic structure and lake-tributary mixing in three intermediate-sized Lake Michigan rivermouths: Ford River, Manitowoc River, and Pere Marquette River. Data were collected from May to October 2011. Water chemistry variables were measured with a multiparameter sonde along longitudinal, lateral, and vertical transects. Magnesium, boron, and stable water isotope concentrations were also determined from grab water samples at particular depths.
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Between 1900 and 1932, a copper (Cu) mine operated near Gay, Michigan, along the shore of Lake Superior, discharged approximately 22.8 million metric tons of waste material known as ‘stamp sands’ (SS) to a nearby beach. This pile of SS has migrated via wind and rain along the beaches in northern Grand Traverse Bay and into Buffalo Reef, an important spawning area for Lake Trout and Lake Whitefish. During their first summer, these newly spawned fish consume benthic invertebrates and zooplankton in nearby beach habitats. SS contain elevated concentrations of metals (especially Cu) that are toxic to many invertebrate taxa, and studies have observed very few benthic taxa in areas with very high SS. Here, we sampled...
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These data tables summarize land cover classifications, slope measurements, and inundated area estimates for several lakes in northern Minnesota, as part of a larger project seeking to identify associations between young-of-year Yellow Perch mercury content and water level metrics, temperature, and annual deposition data in a multivariate analysis. One table presents inundated area estimates for a range of water surface elevations in 0.1 meter increments between a range of seasonal minimum and maximum water surface elevation values. The other table summarizes the percent cover and number of hectares of each land cover class within a specified buffered area around each study sampling site, along with a measure of...
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Invasion of North American waters by Dreissena polymorpha and D. rostriformis bugensis has resulted in declines in native North American Unionoida mussels. Dreissenid mussels biofoul unionid mussels in large numbers and interfere with unionid movement, acquisition of food and ability to open and close their shells. Initial expectations for the Great Lakes were that unionids would be extirpated where they co-occur with dreissenids, but recently adult and juvenile unionids have been found alive in several apparent refugia. These unionid populations may persist due to reduced dreissenid biofouling in these areas, and/or due to processes that remove biofoulers. For example, locations inaccessible to veligers may reduce...
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In 2013 and 2014, standardized electrofishing was conducted above and below Lock and Dam 19 (i.e., in Pools 19 and 20 respectively) of the Upper Mississippi River (UMR). Sampling was consistent with the UMR Restoration program’s Long Term Resource Monitoring element (LTRM) and The Illinois Natural History Survey’s Long Term Electrofishing program (LTEF) allowing for standardized comparisons among the reaches we sampled and those sampled by the LTRM (Pools 4, 8, 13, and 26) and LTEF (Pools 16-21, and Pool 25). Data in this file is includes A) new data from Pools 19 and 20 and B) data compiled from public sources for other pools (LTRM and LTEF). Generally, data codes are intended to match formatting conventions from...
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Microcystins (MC) are a class of cyanotoxins produced by many cyanobacteria taxa. Although toxic to metazoans, the evolution of microcystin pre-dates the appearance of metazoans, and so MC did not originate as a toxin to potential metazoan grazers. One hypothesized functional role of microcystin is the management and acquisition of metals, several of which form complexes with MC intracellularly. Metals are often used to build enzymes within the cell that allow cyanobacteria to use non-preferred nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) sources, such as nitrate, urea and organic P. If trace metals are in low supply, primary producers may become limited because of their inability to access these non-preferred N and P forms....
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Eggs were collected in the Upper Mississippi main stem (Pool 9 and Pool 11) during the summer of 2013. Using previously published morphological characteristics, eggs were positively identified as belonging to an invasive Asian carp genus. A subsample of these eggs was subsequently analyzed using molecular methods to determine species identity. Genetic identification of a total of 41 eggs was attempted using the cytochrome c oxidase 1 (COI) gene. Due to the preservation technique used (formalin) and resulting DNA degradation, sequences from only 17 individuals could be recovered. In all cases, non-carp cyprinids were identified as the most likely species identity (usually a Notropis spp.). In previously published...
This dataset includes information from ichthyoplankton sampling for silver carp and bighead carp collected from three main reaches in the Upper Mississippi River Basin, including the La Grange, Peoria, Starved Rock, and Marseilles reaches of the Illinois River, Pool 20 of Mississippi River, and the St. Croix River. Data include the number of bigheaded carp eggs and larvae identified using traditional manual sorting techniques, and genetic data derived from quantitative PCR (qPCR) and 4 bigheaded carp markers (SCTM4/5 and BHTM1/2) that were used to identify the amount of DNA in ichthyoplankton tow samples. These data provide information for natural resource agencies and managers who could use this qPCR screening...
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This dataset contains measurements of water chemistry taken from experimental incubation of sediment cores collected from the Fox and Duck rivermouths during the 2016 growing season. In addition, some characteristics of the sediment were recorded. This data can be used to generate estimates of nutrient change over time, due to flux of nutrients from the sediments. These flux estimates (or release rates) can be used to estimate total flux from sediments to the surface waters over the course of the 2016 growing season. This dataset is a subset of a larger effort to quantitatively estimate the effect of rivermouths on nutrient loading to Lake Michigan.
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These data are associated with experiments performed in 2016 and 2017 in the Fox rivermouth (Green Bay, WI; Lake Michigan). Between the De Pere Dam and the Lake Michigan coastline, we performed experiments to measure water column transformation of dissolved organic matter (DOM) and sediment flux of DOM. These experiments consisted of incubations of surface water or intact sediment cores and repeated measures over time of DOM concentration and optical properties. When these experiments were performed, we also measured inorganic nitrogen and phosphorus dynamics. Results and data related to nitrogen and phosphorus have already been published. We also measured ancillary environmental data that would assist in understanding...
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Many taxa of North American unionid mussels are imperiled due to biofouling by invasive dreissenid mussels. Here, we report on biofouling rates of unionid mussels suspended in cages during the growing season in nearshore embayments in Lake Erie (2013-2016), Lake Michigan (Green Bay 2016, Grand Traverse Bay 2015) and Lake Huron (Saginaw Bay 2015). Mussels were deployed in early summer (late May or early June) and retrieved in late summer or fall (late August or early September). Wet weights were collected from mussels before and after removal of biofouling taxa (primarily dreissenid mussels).
Bighead Carp, Silver Carp and Grass Carp (collectively Asian carp) were introduced to North America in the 1960s and 70s and have established in the lower Mississippi River basin. Previously published evidence for spawning of these species has been limited in the upper Mississippi River to just below Dam 22 (near Saverton, MO). In 2013 and 2014, we sampled ichthyoplankton at 18 locations in the main stem of the upper Mississippi River from Dam 9 through Dam 19 and in four tributary rivers that empty into the Mississippi River (Des Moines, Skunk, Iowa and Wisconsin Rivers). We identified eggs and larvae using morphological techniques and then used genetic tools to confirm species identity. The spawning events we...
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Nutrient reduction on the landscape scale often focuses on actions that reduce the movement of nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) from agricultural lands into streams and rivers. However, processing of N and P in streams and rivers can be substantial and increasing these in-stream processing rates could result in reductions or transformations of nutrients to less labile or less mobile forms. We hypothesize that buffer conditions could influence the microbial community and sediment characteristics of streams and rivers and thereby influence in-stream N and P processing rates. As a result, we predict that variation in buffer land cover (from agricultural to wetlands to forest) causes differences in processing rates....
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Large lakes provide a variety of ecological services to surrounding cities and communities. Many of these services are supported by ecological processes that are threatened by the increasing prevalence of cyanobacterial blooms which occur as aquatic ecosystems experience cultural eutrophication. Over the past 10 years, Lake Erie experienced cyanobacterial blooms of increasing severity and frequency, which have resulted in impaired drinking water for the surrounding communities. Cyanobacterial blooms may impact ecological processes that support other services, but many of these impacts have not been documented. Secondary production (production of primary consumers) is an important process that supports economically...
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This dataset includes information collected from “ecological process monitoring stations” located across the western basin of Lake Erie (originating at the Maumee River and reaching as far east as the Bass Islands). Nine worksheets are included in this file, of which 1 is a meta-data sheet that describes the variable names and purpose of the other sheets. Included herein is the initial and final sizes of caged Lampsilis siliquoidea mussels placed at each of the afore-mentioned stations, along with the size and mass of dreissenid mussels that grew on Hester-Dendy samplers at the same locations and measurements of cyanobacterial abundance (as inferred from satellite imagery). In addition, measurements of lipids and...
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Tributary inputs to lakes and seas are measured at riverine gages, upstream of lentic influence. Between these riverine gages and the nearshore zones of large waterbodies lie rivermouths, which may retain, transform and contribute materials to the nearshore zone. During the summer of 2011, twenty-three tributary systems of the Laurentian Great Lakes were sampled from river to nearshore for dissolved and particulate carbon (C), nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentrations, as well as bulk seston and chlorohyll a concentrations. Rivermouths had higher concentrations of C and P than nearshore areas and more chlorophyll a than upstream river waters. Compared to a conservative mixing model, rivermouths as a class appeared...
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Inferences about ecological structure and function are often made using elemental or macromolecular tracers of food web structure. For example, inferences about food chain length are often made using stable isotope ratios of top predators and consumer food sources are often inferred from both stable isotopes and fatty acid (FA) content in consumer tissues. The use of FAs as tracers implies some degree of macromolecular conservation across trophic interactions, but many FAs are critically important for particular physiological functions and animals may selectively retain or extract these critical FAs from food resources. Here, we compared spatial variation in two taxa that feed on the same (or similar) food resources...
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Acoustic telemetry data (Vemco, Inc) were collected on invasive silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix), bighead carp (H. nobilis) and their hybrids in the upper Mississippi River (navigation pools 15-19) to determine movement patterns and preferred habitats during September 2013 through November 2017. We consolidated these data into intervals of fish within-pool residency and intervals of fish transitions into adjacent navigation pools (i.e., dam passages). The combined data set was then parsed into an "upstream passage" data set (in which downstream passage intervals were censored) and and a "downstream passage" data set (in which upstream passage intervals were censored). We then examined the effects of river...
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Understanding the quantity and form of nutrient loading to large lakes is necessary to understand controls over primary production, phytoplankton community composition and the production of phytotoxins. Nutrient loading estimates to large lakes are primarily made at stream gages that are deliberately placed outside the direct influence of lake processes, but these estimates cannot take into account processes that occur in the biologically active river-to-lake transition zone. These transition zones (rivermouths) sometimes alter nutrient concentrations and ratios substantially, but few studies have directly measured processing rates of nutrients within rivermouths. From April through September 2016, we conducted...
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From 2017-2019, the Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center (UMESC) analyzed microcystin concentrations in samples collected from three different studies. The first study was on the movement and distribution of invasive carp (Bighead Carp, Silver Carp, Grass Carp) in the upper Mississippi River between lock and dam 16 and lock and dam 19. Samples were collected from May through October of 2017 and 2018 from backwaters, impounded areas and main channel areas in this reach of the Mississippi River. The second study was a nutrient and metal amendment study performed on natural phytoplankton communities from Lake Erie and Lake Michigan. This was a laboratory study where natural phytoplankton communities were incubated...
    map background search result map search result map Spatial Variation in Biofouling of a Unionid Mussel (Lampsilis siliquoidea) Across the Western Basin of Lake Erie Data 2013 Ecological Process Monitoring in Western Basin Lake Erie data Asian carp eggs cannot be distinguished from other cyprinid species on the basis of morphology alone: Supporting Data Do rivermouths alter nutrient and seston delivery to the nearshore - data Using a gradient in food quality to infer drivers of fatty acid content in two filter-feeding aquatic consumers: Data Associations between cyanobacteria and indices of secondary production in the western basin of Lake Erie data Water column nutrient processing rates in rivermouths of Green Bay, Lake Michigan: Data Data from 92 sediment incubation experiments using sediments collected from the Fox and Duck rivermouths (adjacent to Green Bay, Lake Michigan) Influence of a high head dam as a dispersal barrier to fish community structure of the Upper Mississippi River: Data Hydrogeochemical Mixing data from Lake Michigan Tributaries 2011 Mercury and water level fluctuations in lakes of northern Minnesota - sampling site land cover and inundated area data Data for dam passage analysis of bigheaded carps in Pools 15-19 of the upper Mississippi River during 2014-2017 Biofouling and mussel growth from mussels deployed in Great Lakes embayments (2013-2016) Water column and sediment incubations to measure dissolved organic matter dynamics in the Fox rivermouth (Lake Michigan; 2016-2017) Response of natural phytoplankton communities from Green Bay (Lake Michigan) and Maumee Bay (Lake Erie) to laboratory manipulations of nutrient and trace metal availability during late summer 2018 Data from water column and sediment incubations from streams of Duck Creek and Fox River watersheds in Wisconsin, as well as the Fox rivermouth, the Saginaw rivermouth (Lake Huron, MI) and the Maumee rivermouth (Lake Erie, OH) Estimates of microcystin concentration and content using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on samples collected from experiments on cyanobacteria in the Great Lakes and field data from the Mississippi River Measurement of benthic invertebrates, zooplankton, stamp sands and metals from four beaches near Keweenaw Bay, Lake Superior in 2021 Water column and sediment incubations to measure dissolved organic matter dynamics in the Fox rivermouth (Lake Michigan; 2016-2017) Data from 92 sediment incubation experiments using sediments collected from the Fox and Duck rivermouths (adjacent to Green Bay, Lake Michigan) Influence of a high head dam as a dispersal barrier to fish community structure of the Upper Mississippi River: Data Mercury and water level fluctuations in lakes of northern Minnesota - sampling site land cover and inundated area data Measurement of benthic invertebrates, zooplankton, stamp sands and metals from four beaches near Keweenaw Bay, Lake Superior in 2021 Asian carp eggs cannot be distinguished from other cyprinid species on the basis of morphology alone: Supporting Data Hydrogeochemical Mixing data from Lake Michigan Tributaries 2011 Data from water column and sediment incubations from streams of Duck Creek and Fox River watersheds in Wisconsin, as well as the Fox rivermouth, the Saginaw rivermouth (Lake Huron, MI) and the Maumee rivermouth (Lake Erie, OH) Water column nutrient processing rates in rivermouths of Green Bay, Lake Michigan: Data Spatial Variation in Biofouling of a Unionid Mussel (Lampsilis siliquoidea) Across the Western Basin of Lake Erie Data Using a gradient in food quality to infer drivers of fatty acid content in two filter-feeding aquatic consumers: Data 2013 Ecological Process Monitoring in Western Basin Lake Erie data Associations between cyanobacteria and indices of secondary production in the western basin of Lake Erie data Data for dam passage analysis of bigheaded carps in Pools 15-19 of the upper Mississippi River during 2014-2017 Response of natural phytoplankton communities from Green Bay (Lake Michigan) and Maumee Bay (Lake Erie) to laboratory manipulations of nutrient and trace metal availability during late summer 2018 Estimates of microcystin concentration and content using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay on samples collected from experiments on cyanobacteria in the Great Lakes and field data from the Mississippi River Do rivermouths alter nutrient and seston delivery to the nearshore - data Biofouling and mussel growth from mussels deployed in Great Lakes embayments (2013-2016)