Brian F Lantry, PhD (Former Employee)

Cisco (Coregonus artedi) and lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) are native fish species of management concern in the Laurentian Great Lakes that often overlap in spawning locations and timing. Thus, species-level inference from in situ sampling requires methods to differentiate their eggs. Genetic barcoding and hatching eggs to visually identify larvae are used but can be time and...

Fish population recoveries can result from ecosystem change in the absence of targeted restoration actions. In Lake Ontario, native Deepwater Sculpin Myoxecephalus thompsonii, were common in the late-1800s, but by the mid-1900s the species was possibly extirpated. During this period mineral nutrient inputs increased and piscivore abundance declined, which increased the abundance of the...

Significant Findings for Year 2018: 1) Offshore spring total phosphorus (TP) in 2018 was 7.0 µg/L; values have remained stable since 2001. Offshore soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) remained low (1.3 µg/L) in 2018; Apr/May – Oct mean values have been stable in nearshore and offshore habitats since 1998 (range, 0.4 – 3.3 µg/L). Apr/May – Oct mean TP concentrations were low at both...

In situ observations of incubating fish eggs can identify spawning sites and spawning habitat preferences, informing the ecology of fishes with benthic eggs. Suction pumps have been used to sample benthic-incubating, non-adhesive fish eggs, yet their sampling efficiency is not well known. Imperfect or systematically variable egg detection could bias resulting ecological inference if left

Significant Findings for Year 2017: 1) Offshore spring total phosphorus (TP) in 2017 was 4.4 µg/L; values remained stable since 2001. Offshore soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) remained low (1.1 µg/L) in 2017; Apr/May – Oct mean values have been stable in nearshore and offshore habitats since 1998 (range, 0.4 – 3.3 µg/L). Apr/May – Oct mean TP concentrations were low at both nearshore...

Hemimysis anomala is a recent invader to North American aquatic ecosystems and is spreading rapidly throughout the Great Lakes region. This is the first littoral mysid in the North American Great Lakes; and, as such, the ecosystem effects are unknown and could be substantial. These effects depend on the role of Hemimysis in the food web and, therefore, on its diet. We examined the...

Lake trout stocking began in the 1970s as part of a binational effort to restore a self-sustaining population of lake trout in Lake Ontario. Despite 48 years of restoration stocking, lake trout in Lake Ontario have not reestablished a self-sustaining population. Spawning surveys done at Stony Island Reef (SIR) in eastern Lake Ontario in 1987 and 1989 documented lake trout egg deposition...

Cisco Coregonus artedi are an important component of native food webs in the Great Lakes, and their restoration is instrumental to the recovery of lake trout Salvelinus namaycush and Atlantic salmon Salmo salar. Difficulties with visual identification of larvae can confound early life history surveys, as cisco are often difficult to distinguish from lake whitefish C. clupeaformis. We...

Deepwater sculpin are important in oligotrophic lakes as one of the few fishes that use deep profundal habitats and link invertebrates in those habitats to piscivores. In Lake Ontario the species was once abundant, however drastic declines in the mid-1900s led some to suggest the species had been extirpated and ultimately led Canadian and U.S. agencies to elevate the species'...

Significant Findings for Year 2016: 1) Offshore spring total phosphorus (TP) in 2016 was 6.2 μg/L, higher than 2014 and 2015 (4.0 and 4.2 μg/L); there was no significant decline 2001 - 2016. Offshore soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) was very low in 2016; Apr/May – Oct mean values were

Recent development of multi-dimensional stable isotope models for estimating both foraging patterns and niches have presented the analytical tools to further assess the food webs of freshwater populations. One approach to refine predictions from these analyses is to include a third isotope to the more common two-isotope carbon and nitrogen mixing models to increase the power to resolve...

Offshore spring total phosphorus (TP) in 2015 was 4.2 μ g/L, the same as in 2014; this is lower than 2001 - 2013, but there is no significant time trend 2001 - 2015. Offshore soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) was very low in 2015; Apr/May - Oct mean values were