Spring 2022 • Issue 13

Biodiversity

Published May 2022

This issue on Biodiversity delves into the vast and often unseen variety of life supporting Great Lakes ecosystems, from microscopic organisms to regional fish communities. It highlights efforts to document native species through comprehensive databases and examines the resilience of benthic communities amidst environmental pressures. Drawing parallels with the Omo-Turkana Basin, the content underscores the importance of understanding underwater biodiversity patterns to inform conservation strategies, ensuring that hidden elements of the food web remain accounted for in broader management goals.

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Features

All the life we cannot see

Microscopic organisms drive critical ecosystem functions in lakes, yet their biodiversity remains largely invisible and understudied in the face of climate change.

All hands on deck for the freshwater biodiversity crisis

Freshwater ecosystems face an emergency requiring immediate action to bend the curve of biodiversity loss through six priority recovery actions.

Great Lakes Water Life

A new accessible database documents native aquatic species in the Great Lakes, supporting researchers, managers, and citizen scientists with identification guides and distribution data.

Departments

Member Spotlight

Kerry Caslow

Kerry Caslow manages long-term water quality monitoring at Old Woman Creek, contributing to a dataset spanning over 40 years to understand nutrient processing in Lake Erie's estuary.

Member Spotlight

Tongyao Pu

Tongyao Pu models the stratification and redox chemistry of meromictic lakes, using hydrodynamic simulations to understand how physical conditions drive chemical changes in freshwater systems.

Member Spotlight

Shayenna Nolan

Shayenna Nolan uses eDNA metabarcoding to study microbial communities and carbon dynamics in headwater streams, blending fieldwork with science communication and Anishinaabe principles.

Member Spotlight

Jacob Cianci-Gaskill

Jacob Cianci-Gaskill works as an application development manager, helping scientists worldwide utilize water quality sensors and technologies for field deployments and data analysis.

Research Brief

Fish diversity and fisheries of Omo-Turkana Basin in the face of hydrological modifications

A study of the Omo-Turkana Basin reveals 79 native fish species but highlights threats from hydrological modifications, illegal fishing, and cross-border conflicts affecting local livelihoods.

Research Brief

In the benthos: Bottom-up biodiversity in the Great Lakes

Research in southwestern Ontario headwater streams compares sampling methods, finding that D-framed sweep nets capture greater macroinvertebrate diversity than petite ponar grabs.