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
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