Images

The USGS Research Vessel Kaho (GLSC; Cortland, New York; Oswego, New York) docked in Sodus Point, New York after a day of sampling for larval bloaters (Coregonus hoyi) in Lake Ontario. Photo credit: Krystal Dixon, USGS Contractor.

Invasive round gobies (Neogobius melanostomus) take refuge in a bed of Cladophora and non-branching filamentous green algae, as recorded by a USGS diver (GLSC; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Chesterton, Indiana) during project sampling in western Lake Erie.  Photo Credit: Megan Lewan, USGS - GLSC.

A rusty patched bumble bee-the only federally endangered bee in the lower 48 states-visits a St. John’s wort at the Ledgeview Nature Center in Calumet County, Wisconsin, July 2024. Photo credit: Bethany Dennis, USGS. 

A USGS boat crew (GLSC; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Chesterton, Indiana) patiently waits for the other half of the team to finish underwater tasks as part of an on-going Cladophora Project, which assesses benthic algae community abundance in nearshore areas of the Great Lakes, and observes factors associated with algal growth, including dreissenid mussels, nutrien

Invasive Dreissenid mussels, sorted by size, after a benthic quadrat sample has been processed at the USGS Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station (GLSC; Chesterton, Indiana) for the Cladophora project. Photo Credit: Jessica Oswald, USGS - GLSC.

Invasive Dreissenid mussels, sorted by size, after a benthic quadrat sample has been processed at the USGS Lake Michigan Ecological Research Station (GLSC; Chesterton, Indiana) for the Cladophora project. Photo Credit: Jessica Oswald, USGS - GLSC.

USGS divers gather samples on the Thunder Bay Reef complex in July 2024 to assess the abundance of mussels and lakebed algal growth two years before treatment. Photo credit: Madeleine Giordano, USGS. 

USGS researchers and technicians (GLSC; Ann Arbor, Michigan; Chesterton, Indiana) on the Cladophora team during summer sampling on Lake Michigan near Leland, Michigan. Photo credit: Greg Kennedy, USGS-GLSC.

A USGS contractor (GLSC; Chesterton, Indiana), and Cladophora project team member, filters water samples through an environmental DNA (eDNA) backpack while sampling on Lake Huron. Information gathered will improve understanding of fish habitat usage while testing new DNA-based methods for fish population assessment.

Crew of the USGS Great Lakes Science Center R/V Muskie (Huron, Ohio) testing bottom trawl equipment in Lake Erie off the coast of Cleveland, Ohio, in preparation for the upcoming field season.  Photo credit: Kevin Keretz, USGS

USGS science diver (GLSC; Ann Arbor, Michigan) lays down quadrats for benthic sampling (background), while a surface crew member takes a water profile using a multiparameter sonde deployed over the side of the vessel.

Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) on the deck of the USGS Research Vessel Ghost Shiner (GLSC; Ann Arbor, Michigan) as a storm front blows in over Lake Michigan. Photo credit: Luke Sayler, USGS-GLSC.

USGS Great Lakes Science Center R/V Sturgeon heading home to Cheboygan Vessel Base (Cheboygan, Michigan) after a spring gillnet survey in the Northern Refuge of Lake Michigan. This survey is completed annually and has been ongoing since 2001.

USGS researchers (GLSC; Millersburg, Michigan) use a light source to attract and capture lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) at night on Buffalo Reef in Lake Superior. Photo credit: Brad Buechel, USGS-GLSC.

The USGS science crew (GLSC; Ann Arbor, Michigan) aboard the Research Vessel Arcticus (GLSC; Cheboygan, Michigan) with a haul of invasive alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus) collected during a spring bottom trawl survey on Lake Michigan.

GLSC’s Stacey Ireland and attendees reviewing a larval fish identification at the OMNRF Field Office in Wheatley, Ontario. Photo Credit: Robin DeBruyne, USGS.

Sea lampreys in a tank at the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Sea lampreys are a parasitic invasive species in the Great Lakes.

Photo of the first ever sea lamprey reared in the laboratory at the USGS Hammond Bay Biological Station (GLSC; Millersburg, MI) to undergo transformation (metamorphosis), which entails moving from the larval life stage to the parasitic life stage. Photo credit: Trisha Searcy, USGS.

Three weeks post-fertilization, this lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) egg was reared at the USGS Hammond Bay Biological Station (GLSC; Millersburg, Michigan) as part of a study examining the effects of Lake Superior's Stamp Sands. Using laboratory facilities at the station, fertilized eggs are incubated over increasing concentrations of stamp sa

USGS researchers (GLSC; Cortland and Oswego, New York) fertilize cisco (Coregonus artedi) eggs from adults captured in Chaumont Bay, Lake Ontario that were transported to Little Sodus Bay, Lake Ontario and seeded on cleaned substrate within the bay. Photo credit: Marc Chalupnicki, USGS.

Toronto's skyline at sunset from Humber Bay in Lake Ontario. Photo credit: Alden Tilley, USGS.