Amanda S Ackiss, PhD
Amanda Ackiss, PhD, is a Fisheries Biologist based in Ann Arbor, MI.
Professional Experience
Fish Biologist, 2020-Present, USGS - Great Lakes Science Center, Ann Arbor, MI.
Postdoctoral Scholar, 2018-2020 - USGS Cooperative Fishery Research Unit, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point, Stevens Point, WI.
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. Ecological Sciences, Old Dominion University 2017.
B.A. Media Studies, University of Virginia 2002.
Science and Products
Great Lakes-Wide Dataset of Historical Coregonine Stocking Events Great Lakes-Wide Dataset of Historical Coregonine Stocking Events
This dataset is the result of coordinated efforts to compile data associated with stocking events for whitefishes and ciscoes (members of the Coregoninae subfamily) of Great Lakes origin. The dataset includes more than 4,700 records associated with coregonine stocking, from over 150 information sources, spanning the years 1870 - 2022. The compiled information includes species, quantities...
Filter Total Items: 14
Drowned river mouth lakes are winter foraging habitats for the expanding Lake Michigan cisco Coregonus artedi population Drowned river mouth lakes are winter foraging habitats for the expanding Lake Michigan cisco Coregonus artedi population
Characterizing fish movements is required for understanding habitat use, energy flow, and trophic structure and can inform fisheries management. Drowned river mouth (DRM) lakes are productive inland habitats in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin used by migratory fishes. Despite recognition of their ecological connections to the Great Lakes, the value of DRM lakes as seasonal habitats is...
Authors
Ralph W. Tingley, Darryl W. Hondorp, Benjamin A. Turschak, Steven A. Pothoven, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Jory Jonas, William W. Fetzer, Benjamin Scott Leonhardt, Andrew Edgar Honsey, Jeff Elliott, Lindsie Ann Egedy, Cory Brant, Lynn Benes, Kendra Kozlauskos, Renee Renauer-Bova, Ann J. Ropp
Lake Ontario spring prey fish bottom trawl survey and Alewife assessment, 2025 Lake Ontario spring prey fish bottom trawl survey and Alewife assessment, 2025
The multi-agency Lake Ontario spring prey fish survey quantifies changes in pelagic prey fish populations, in particular Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus, which are the primary prey supporting the lake’s sport fishes. The 2025 survey included 230 trawls in the main lake and embayments and sampled depths from 5.5 to 245 m (15 – 810 ft). The survey captured 504,541 fish from 33 species with a...
Authors
Brian Weidel, Jessica Goretzke, Jeremy P. Holden, Emma Bloomfield, Scott David Stahl, Olivia Margaret Mitchinson, Brian O’Malley, Nicole Lynn Berry, Katie Victoria Anweiler, Amanda Susanne Ackiss
Declines and shifts in morphological diversity of ciscoes (Coregonus spp.) in lakes Huron and Michigan, 1917–2019 Declines and shifts in morphological diversity of ciscoes (Coregonus spp.) in lakes Huron and Michigan, 1917–2019
Ciscoes (Coregonus spp.) were historically abundant and ecologically important in Laurentian Great Lakes ecosystems. Despite well-documented declines in their abundance and taxonomic diversity, declines in morphological diversity remain understudied. This knowledge gap is especially pertinent for lakes Michigan and Huron, which have each lost six of eight historical species. Improved...
Authors
Paul W. Fedorowicz, Yu-Chun Kao, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Katie Victoria Anweiler, Andrew Edgar Honsey
Origin of the Laurentian Great Lakes fish fauna through upward adaptive radiation cascade prior to the Last Glacial Maximum Origin of the Laurentian Great Lakes fish fauna through upward adaptive radiation cascade prior to the Last Glacial Maximum
The evolutionary histories of adaptive radiations can be marked by dramatic demographic fluctuations. However, the demographic histories of ecologically-linked co-diversifying lineages remain understudied. The Laurentian Great Lakes provide a unique system of two such radiations that are dispersed across depth gradients with a predator-prey relationship. We show that the North American...
Authors
Nathan J.C. Backenstose, Daniel J. MacGuigan, Christopher A. Osborne, Moises A. Bernal, Elizabeth K. Thomas, Eric Normandeau, Daniel L. Yule, Wendylee Stott, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Victor A. Albert, Louis Bernatchez, Trevor J. Krabbenhoft
Larval coregonine density and diet composition along beaches of northern Lake Michigan Larval coregonine density and diet composition along beaches of northern Lake Michigan
Recent oligotrophication in Lake Michigan has contributed to reduced biomass of spring zooplankton and a shift in the zooplankton assemblage toward more calanoid copepods. These changes have likely altered prey availability for first feeding native fish species that hatch in early spring, including coregonines. While spring zooplankton density and community composition are routinely...
Authors
Marissa Cubbage, Tomas O. Hook, David Bunnell, Patricia Dieter, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Paris D. Collingsworth
Factors influencing larval coregonine spatial distribution in Lake Geneva (Europe) and Lake Superior (North America) during a single season near known spawning sites Factors influencing larval coregonine spatial distribution in Lake Geneva (Europe) and Lake Superior (North America) during a single season near known spawning sites
Survival rate of the larval stage is an important driver of fish recruitment. To understand mechanisms regulating larval survival it is important to understand the relative importance of abiotic and biotic factors that shape larval spatial distributions. We studied larval Coregonus distributions in surface waters (surface to 1 m) by repeatedly sampling study sites in two lakes that...
Authors
Jamie A. Dobosenski, Daniel L. Yule, Jean Guillard, Orlane Anneville, Edmund J. Isaac, Jason D. Stockwell, Jared T. Myers, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Rosaura J. Chapina, Seth A. Moore
Delineating spatial units for coregonine conservation, restoration, and stewardship Delineating spatial units for coregonine conservation, restoration, and stewardship
No abstract available.
Authors
Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Ralph Grundel, Jory L. Jonas, Naomi Jones, Trevor J. Krabbenhoft, Ryan Lauzon, Nicholas E. Mandrak, Brian O’Malley, Devon Pearse, Thomas C. Pratt, Breanna Redford, Mark Ridgway, Jason Smith, Andrew M. Muir
Dispersive currents explain patterns of population connectivity in an ecologically and economically important fish Dispersive currents explain patterns of population connectivity in an ecologically and economically important fish
How to identify the drivers of population connectivity remains a fundamental question in ecology and evolution. Answering this question can be challenging in aquatic environments where dynamic lake and ocean currents coupled with high levels of dispersal and gene flow can decrease the utility of modern population genetic tools. To address this challenge, we used RAD-Seq to genotype 959...
Authors
Claire Schraidt, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Wesley Alan Larson, Mark D Rowe, Tomas O Hook, Mark R. Christie
A science and management partnership to restore coregonine diversity to the Laurentian Great Lakes A science and management partnership to restore coregonine diversity to the Laurentian Great Lakes
Similar to many freshwater ecosystems, the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America have undergone numerous anthropogenic stressors resulting in considerable loss of biodiversity and habitat. Among Great Lakes fishes, the coregonine sub-family has endured the most extensive declines, including extinction of several species (Coregonus johannae, C. alpenae, and C. kiyi orientalis) and at...
Authors
David Bunnell, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Karen M Alofs, Cory Brant, Charles R. Bronte, Randall M. Claramunt, John M. Dettmers, Andrew Edgar Honsey, Nicholas E. Mandrak, Andrew M. Muir, Victor Santucci, David R. Smith, Russell M. Strach, John A. Sweka, Brian Weidel, William Mattes, Kurt R. Newman
Larval cisco and lake whitefish exhibit high distributional overlap within nursery areas Larval cisco and lake whitefish exhibit high distributional overlap within nursery areas
Coregonine fishes, including lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and cisco (C. artedi), are socioecologically important in the Laurentian Great Lakes and of conservation concern, but the processes driving recruitment variability are unclear. In Lake Ontario, cisco and lake whitefish exhibit similar spawning behaviours and early life histories, but population trajectories are...
Authors
Taylor A. Brown, Lars G. Rudstam, Jeremy P. Holden, Brian Weidel, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Ann J. Ropp, Marc Chalupnicki, James E. McKenna, Suresh A. Sethi
Lake Superior Kiyi reproductive biology Lake Superior Kiyi reproductive biology
Objective The Lake Superior Kiyi Coregonus kiyi is an understudied species being considered for reintroduction into Laurentian Great Lakes where it no longer occurs. Herein, we provide descriptions of Kiyi reproductive biology with the intention of guiding potential gamete collections for propagation.Methods Data were collected on Kiyi spawning timing, spawning locations, spawning season...
Authors
Mark Vinson, Matthew E. Herbert, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Jamie A. Dobosenski, Lori M. Evrard, Owen Gorman, Joshua F Lyons, Sydney B Phillips, Daniel L. Yule
Results of the collaborative Lake Ontario bloater restoration stocking and assessment, 2012–2020 Results of the collaborative Lake Ontario bloater restoration stocking and assessment, 2012–2020
Bloater, Coregonus hoyi, are deepwater planktivores native to the Laurentian Great Lakes and Lake Nipigon. Interpretations of commercial fishery time series suggest they were common in Lake Ontario through the early 1900s but by the 1950s were no longer captured by commercial fishers. Annual bottom trawl surveys that began in 1978 and sampled extensively across putative bloater habitat...
Authors
Brian Weidel, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Marc Chalupnicki, Michael Connerton, Steve Davis, John M. Dettmers, Timothy Drew, Aaron T. Fisk, Roger Gordon, S. Dale Hanson, Jeremy Holden, Mark E. Holey, James H. Johnson, Timothy B. Johnson, Colin Lake, Brian F. Lantry, Kevin Loftus, Gregg Mackey, James E. McKenna, Michael J. Millard, Scott P. Minihkeim, Brian O’Malley, Adam Rupnik, Andrew C. Todd, Steven Lapan
Science and Products
Great Lakes-Wide Dataset of Historical Coregonine Stocking Events Great Lakes-Wide Dataset of Historical Coregonine Stocking Events
This dataset is the result of coordinated efforts to compile data associated with stocking events for whitefishes and ciscoes (members of the Coregoninae subfamily) of Great Lakes origin. The dataset includes more than 4,700 records associated with coregonine stocking, from over 150 information sources, spanning the years 1870 - 2022. The compiled information includes species, quantities...
Filter Total Items: 14
Drowned river mouth lakes are winter foraging habitats for the expanding Lake Michigan cisco Coregonus artedi population Drowned river mouth lakes are winter foraging habitats for the expanding Lake Michigan cisco Coregonus artedi population
Characterizing fish movements is required for understanding habitat use, energy flow, and trophic structure and can inform fisheries management. Drowned river mouth (DRM) lakes are productive inland habitats in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin used by migratory fishes. Despite recognition of their ecological connections to the Great Lakes, the value of DRM lakes as seasonal habitats is...
Authors
Ralph W. Tingley, Darryl W. Hondorp, Benjamin A. Turschak, Steven A. Pothoven, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Jory Jonas, William W. Fetzer, Benjamin Scott Leonhardt, Andrew Edgar Honsey, Jeff Elliott, Lindsie Ann Egedy, Cory Brant, Lynn Benes, Kendra Kozlauskos, Renee Renauer-Bova, Ann J. Ropp
Lake Ontario spring prey fish bottom trawl survey and Alewife assessment, 2025 Lake Ontario spring prey fish bottom trawl survey and Alewife assessment, 2025
The multi-agency Lake Ontario spring prey fish survey quantifies changes in pelagic prey fish populations, in particular Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus, which are the primary prey supporting the lake’s sport fishes. The 2025 survey included 230 trawls in the main lake and embayments and sampled depths from 5.5 to 245 m (15 – 810 ft). The survey captured 504,541 fish from 33 species with a...
Authors
Brian Weidel, Jessica Goretzke, Jeremy P. Holden, Emma Bloomfield, Scott David Stahl, Olivia Margaret Mitchinson, Brian O’Malley, Nicole Lynn Berry, Katie Victoria Anweiler, Amanda Susanne Ackiss
Declines and shifts in morphological diversity of ciscoes (Coregonus spp.) in lakes Huron and Michigan, 1917–2019 Declines and shifts in morphological diversity of ciscoes (Coregonus spp.) in lakes Huron and Michigan, 1917–2019
Ciscoes (Coregonus spp.) were historically abundant and ecologically important in Laurentian Great Lakes ecosystems. Despite well-documented declines in their abundance and taxonomic diversity, declines in morphological diversity remain understudied. This knowledge gap is especially pertinent for lakes Michigan and Huron, which have each lost six of eight historical species. Improved...
Authors
Paul W. Fedorowicz, Yu-Chun Kao, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Katie Victoria Anweiler, Andrew Edgar Honsey
Origin of the Laurentian Great Lakes fish fauna through upward adaptive radiation cascade prior to the Last Glacial Maximum Origin of the Laurentian Great Lakes fish fauna through upward adaptive radiation cascade prior to the Last Glacial Maximum
The evolutionary histories of adaptive radiations can be marked by dramatic demographic fluctuations. However, the demographic histories of ecologically-linked co-diversifying lineages remain understudied. The Laurentian Great Lakes provide a unique system of two such radiations that are dispersed across depth gradients with a predator-prey relationship. We show that the North American...
Authors
Nathan J.C. Backenstose, Daniel J. MacGuigan, Christopher A. Osborne, Moises A. Bernal, Elizabeth K. Thomas, Eric Normandeau, Daniel L. Yule, Wendylee Stott, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Victor A. Albert, Louis Bernatchez, Trevor J. Krabbenhoft
Larval coregonine density and diet composition along beaches of northern Lake Michigan Larval coregonine density and diet composition along beaches of northern Lake Michigan
Recent oligotrophication in Lake Michigan has contributed to reduced biomass of spring zooplankton and a shift in the zooplankton assemblage toward more calanoid copepods. These changes have likely altered prey availability for first feeding native fish species that hatch in early spring, including coregonines. While spring zooplankton density and community composition are routinely...
Authors
Marissa Cubbage, Tomas O. Hook, David Bunnell, Patricia Dieter, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Paris D. Collingsworth
Factors influencing larval coregonine spatial distribution in Lake Geneva (Europe) and Lake Superior (North America) during a single season near known spawning sites Factors influencing larval coregonine spatial distribution in Lake Geneva (Europe) and Lake Superior (North America) during a single season near known spawning sites
Survival rate of the larval stage is an important driver of fish recruitment. To understand mechanisms regulating larval survival it is important to understand the relative importance of abiotic and biotic factors that shape larval spatial distributions. We studied larval Coregonus distributions in surface waters (surface to 1 m) by repeatedly sampling study sites in two lakes that...
Authors
Jamie A. Dobosenski, Daniel L. Yule, Jean Guillard, Orlane Anneville, Edmund J. Isaac, Jason D. Stockwell, Jared T. Myers, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Rosaura J. Chapina, Seth A. Moore
Delineating spatial units for coregonine conservation, restoration, and stewardship Delineating spatial units for coregonine conservation, restoration, and stewardship
No abstract available.
Authors
Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Ralph Grundel, Jory L. Jonas, Naomi Jones, Trevor J. Krabbenhoft, Ryan Lauzon, Nicholas E. Mandrak, Brian O’Malley, Devon Pearse, Thomas C. Pratt, Breanna Redford, Mark Ridgway, Jason Smith, Andrew M. Muir
Dispersive currents explain patterns of population connectivity in an ecologically and economically important fish Dispersive currents explain patterns of population connectivity in an ecologically and economically important fish
How to identify the drivers of population connectivity remains a fundamental question in ecology and evolution. Answering this question can be challenging in aquatic environments where dynamic lake and ocean currents coupled with high levels of dispersal and gene flow can decrease the utility of modern population genetic tools. To address this challenge, we used RAD-Seq to genotype 959...
Authors
Claire Schraidt, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Wesley Alan Larson, Mark D Rowe, Tomas O Hook, Mark R. Christie
A science and management partnership to restore coregonine diversity to the Laurentian Great Lakes A science and management partnership to restore coregonine diversity to the Laurentian Great Lakes
Similar to many freshwater ecosystems, the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America have undergone numerous anthropogenic stressors resulting in considerable loss of biodiversity and habitat. Among Great Lakes fishes, the coregonine sub-family has endured the most extensive declines, including extinction of several species (Coregonus johannae, C. alpenae, and C. kiyi orientalis) and at...
Authors
David Bunnell, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Karen M Alofs, Cory Brant, Charles R. Bronte, Randall M. Claramunt, John M. Dettmers, Andrew Edgar Honsey, Nicholas E. Mandrak, Andrew M. Muir, Victor Santucci, David R. Smith, Russell M. Strach, John A. Sweka, Brian Weidel, William Mattes, Kurt R. Newman
Larval cisco and lake whitefish exhibit high distributional overlap within nursery areas Larval cisco and lake whitefish exhibit high distributional overlap within nursery areas
Coregonine fishes, including lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) and cisco (C. artedi), are socioecologically important in the Laurentian Great Lakes and of conservation concern, but the processes driving recruitment variability are unclear. In Lake Ontario, cisco and lake whitefish exhibit similar spawning behaviours and early life histories, but population trajectories are...
Authors
Taylor A. Brown, Lars G. Rudstam, Jeremy P. Holden, Brian Weidel, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Ann J. Ropp, Marc Chalupnicki, James E. McKenna, Suresh A. Sethi
Lake Superior Kiyi reproductive biology Lake Superior Kiyi reproductive biology
Objective The Lake Superior Kiyi Coregonus kiyi is an understudied species being considered for reintroduction into Laurentian Great Lakes where it no longer occurs. Herein, we provide descriptions of Kiyi reproductive biology with the intention of guiding potential gamete collections for propagation.Methods Data were collected on Kiyi spawning timing, spawning locations, spawning season...
Authors
Mark Vinson, Matthew E. Herbert, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Jamie A. Dobosenski, Lori M. Evrard, Owen Gorman, Joshua F Lyons, Sydney B Phillips, Daniel L. Yule
Results of the collaborative Lake Ontario bloater restoration stocking and assessment, 2012–2020 Results of the collaborative Lake Ontario bloater restoration stocking and assessment, 2012–2020
Bloater, Coregonus hoyi, are deepwater planktivores native to the Laurentian Great Lakes and Lake Nipigon. Interpretations of commercial fishery time series suggest they were common in Lake Ontario through the early 1900s but by the 1950s were no longer captured by commercial fishers. Annual bottom trawl surveys that began in 1978 and sampled extensively across putative bloater habitat...
Authors
Brian Weidel, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Marc Chalupnicki, Michael Connerton, Steve Davis, John M. Dettmers, Timothy Drew, Aaron T. Fisk, Roger Gordon, S. Dale Hanson, Jeremy Holden, Mark E. Holey, James H. Johnson, Timothy B. Johnson, Colin Lake, Brian F. Lantry, Kevin Loftus, Gregg Mackey, James E. McKenna, Michael J. Millard, Scott P. Minihkeim, Brian O’Malley, Adam Rupnik, Andrew C. Todd, Steven Lapan