Great Lakes Science Center
Data and Tools
Bee-Gap: Ecology, Life-History, and Distribution of Bee Species in the United States 2017
Bee-Gap describes the ecology, life-history, and distribution of 3,925 bee species in the United States that have geographical data and verified taxonomy. The database was constructed by compiling information from a broad range of internet sources and peer-reviewed journal articles. The 10 traits included in the database are: native status (native versus exotic/introduced), state
Inter-vessel comparison of hydroacoustic fish density in central Lake Erie, 2014
Hydroacoustic estimates of fish density are used for fisheries management in central Lake Erie. Data are sometimes collected from multiple vessels, raising the question of comparability of data collected among vessels. Hydroacoustic data were collected along three cross-lake transects in central Lake Erie in July, 2014 from three different vessels using similar equipment. Several variables de...
Developmental Stages of Grass Carp (Ctenopharyngodon idella) eggs in the Sandusky River (ver. 3.0, July 2020)
Grass Carp Ctenopharyngodon idella was imported to the United States in the 1960s for research into its usefulness as a biocontrol agent for nuisance aquatic vegetation. Escapees and intentionally stocked individuals founded wild, spawning populations in the Mississippi River and tributaries to the Laurentian Great Lakes. USGS-led research on the Sandusky River, a tributary to Lake Erie, de...
Development of an age estimation method for Grass Carp from North America
The development of a reliable method of age estimation for Grass Carp is necessary for the successful management of this invasive species. Multiple federal and state agencies with assistance from commercial fishers collected adult Grass Carp from 2012 to 2018. Ossified parts were collected from these fish, and age estimates from them were compared to develop an age estimation method. Here we...
The effects of North American fungi and bacteria on Phragmites australis leaves 2017-2019, with comparisons to the global Phragmites microbiome
The data document the results of several microbe bioassays performed by the USGS on Phragmites australis plants, including those performed on mature leaves, seedlings, and dead leaf tissues exploration of the literature to find accounts of microbes associated with Phragmites worldwide. For the bioassays, we prepared 162 pure cultures isolated from Phragmites plants in North America alon
Larval Fish Abundance, Identification, and Auxiliary Data from the Great Lakes and Their Connecting Channels
This dataset contains data collected on various vessel operations on the Great Lakes and their connecting channels, primarily the St. Clair River, Lake St. Clair, Detroit River, and western Lake Erie, although other locations have been sampled and included in this dataset. This dataset contains the field variables, environmental conditions, larval catches (numbers), larval fis
Bile acid concentrations in tissues of American eel that were held at Northern Appalachian Research Laboratory, Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, as derived from liquid chromatography coupled to tandem mass spectrometry
The American eel (Anguilla rostrata) is an imperiled fish hypothesized to use conspecific cues, in part, to coordinate long distance migration during their multi-stage life history. Here, tissues from multiple American eel life stages were collected and analyzed for the presence and concentration of bile acids. Specifically, samples were collected in the Northern Appalachian Research
1930-1932 Gill net data from Lake Michigan
These data describe the catch and biological data from 363 bottom-set gill-net lifts distributed throughout Lake Michigan (including main basin and Green Bay) between April and November in 1930–1932. Data collected from the R/V Fulmar were recorded in notebooks and are now archived at the U.S. Geological Survey’s Great Lakes Science Center. Each lift included 1–7 ga
Butterfly community abundance and distribution along a gradient of woody vegetation density at Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore, Hoosier Prairie Nature Preserve, and Tefft Savanna Nature Preserve, Indiana 1998-1999.
The dataset consists of abundance information of butterfly species (61 species) collected at 25 sites in northwest Indiana in 1998 and 1999. Each site was surveyed 21 times. Auxiliary data on environmental conditions were collected to allow us to relate habitat differences among sites to differences in abundance and composition of the butterfly community.
Genetic species identification of larval Coregonines from Chaumont Bay (New York), Lake Ontario
Location, occurrence, collection information, and genetic species identification data in support of an analysis of the spatial separation of Lake Whitefish and Cisco larvae in Chaumont Bay, Lake Ontario, the last known spawning area of both species in American waters of Lake Ontario. Genetic species identification of larval coregonines collected between April 2004 and 2015 is provided
Total thiamine concentrations in lake trout Salvelinus namaycush eggs in lakes Huron and Michigan, 1996-2018
Monitoring of vitamin B1 (thiamine) in the eggs of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) collected from lakes Huron and Michigan has been conducted by the U.S. Geological Survey since the mid-1990’s. The results of this monitoring effort have been used by natural resource management agencies and native American tribes within the Great Lakes basin to evaluate the reproductive health o
Cladophora biomass and supporting data collected in the Great Lakes, 2018
This dataset records Cladophora and associated submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) biomass collected approximately monthly during the growing season of 2018 at stations located along the U.S. shoreline of Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. It also records a variety of supporting data collected at Cladophora measurement stations. These supporting data include: - seasonal time