Community News

The Great Lakes Research Consortium (GLRC) has announced the call for proposals for 2021 Great Lakes Research Consortium small grants funding.

Grants are available up to $25,000 per project as seed funding for new, cooperative projects that contribute to the protection and restoration of the health of New York's Great Lakes and for ecosystem-based management. Applications are due no later than March 1, 2021. Submission guidelines and an application form are posted at www.esf.edu/glrc.

The GLRC small grants program provides funding for small-scale research projects that take initiating steps to address critical Great Lakes issues and establish baseline data to support requests for subsequent funding from such sources as the Great Lakes Protection Fund.

GLRC-funded projects must meet one or more Great Lakes Action Agenda priority goals. Priorities include addressing such issues as those associated with persistent toxic substances; sediment, nutrients, and pathogens; invasive species; coastal resiliency; smart growth; recreation and tourism opportunities; and energy. Investigating how new and emerging technologies can be applied to current and future Great Lakes issues is also a major goal of these grants.

"The Great Lakes Research Consortium small grants program facilitates, on a small-scale, new basic or applied research, including the testing of hypotheses and assumptions, that develops a foundation for larger projects," said Great Lakes Research Consortium Director Gregory L. Boyer, Ph.D.

Five projects are expected to receive funding for projects to start May 1, 2021, and to be completed by June 30, 2022.

The GLRC has also announced an update on the five projects receiving a total of $121,907 in small grants funding in 2020. The State University of New York (SUNY) at Brockport; the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, N.Y.; SUNY Oneonta; and the University of Buffalo received 2020 GLRC small grants funding for projects that are addressing:

• how microplastics may influence harmful algal bloom development and spread,
• how nitrogen-phosphorus dynamics may drive differences in blooms as a way to improve harmful algal bloom prediction,
• thiamine deficiency as a potential cause of diving and sea duck population declines on Lake Ontario,
• a genetics approach to restoring the American beachgrass plantings native to the Great Lakes region and a factor in its ecosystem sustainability, climate change resiliency, and invasive species management; and
• the impact of two invasive species on the loss of woody species and water quality in Bergen Swamp in the Genesee River Drainage Basin that empties into Lake Ontario in the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern.

"The Great Lakes ecosystem is a critical environmental, cultural, and economic resource for New York State and for the states and provinces that border the system. These Great Lakes Research Consortium small grants project initiate innovative investigations that advance our science-based understanding of the complexities, interactions, and attention this unique ecosystem needs," said Boyer, a nationally-recognized algal bloom researcher.

The Great Lakes Research Consortium is an organization of 18 colleges and universities in New York state, plus nine affiliate campuses in Ontario, Canada, all dedicated to collaborative Great Lakes research and science education. Nearly 400 faculty, with student support, are conducting research in every fact of Great Lakes science. The GLRC also supports student research and internships. The GLRC is housed at the State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, N.Y. Learn more at www.esf.edu/glrc.

This small grants program is made possible through the New York State Environmental Protection Fund Ocean and Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Act.
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MORE INFORMATION on EACH 2020 GLRC SMALL GRANTS AWARD follows.

1. HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS: The Effect of Great Lakes-Isolated Microplastics and Associated Microbial Communities and Small Molecules: $22,669.00. Principal Investigators: Kiyoko Yokota, Ph.D., SUNY Oneonta, Oneonta, N.Y.; Erica L. Majumder, Ph.D., SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, N.Y.

This project is evaluating how microplastics may influence harmful algal bloom formation by providing a surface or nutrient source to stimulate microbial growth or by transporting the microbes or their toxins more rapidly through waterways. The research team is identifying the microbes and small molecules attached to microplastics in the Great lakes and the effects of the microplastics' type, size, and aging time on the growth, toxin production, and attachment of HAB-causing microorganisms.

Collaborators with Clarkson University, Potsdam, N.Y., are leading the sampling; SUNY Oneonta is handling experimental design and initial laboratory studies and will host the project datasets in its public repository; SUNY ESF is performing the molecular-level analyses and report results.

2. HARMFUL ALGAL BLOOMS: ADVANCING PREDICTION and MITIGATION through SYSTEMS MODELING: $25,000. Principal Investigators: Ian M. Bradley, Ph.D., Zhenduo Zhu, Ph.D., University at Buffalo, Buffalo, N.Y.

To improve the modeling and prediction of harmful algal blooms (HABs), researchers at the University of Buffalo are shifting the focus from phosphorus impact alone during harmful algal growth to nitrogen-phosphorus ratio dynamics and the role of nitrogen in driving differences in algal bloom composition and toxicity. They are sampling and experimenting with nutrient and phytoplankton dynamics in Lake Ontario and applying high-throughput DNA sequencing to increase knowledge about algal bloom community structure and the dynamics of toxic and non-toxic HAB strains.

The results of this project will benefit modeling for Lake Ontario and other Great Lakes and inland waterbodies in order to maintain sustainable ecosystem function in fresh waters. The New York State Federation of Lake Associations, Lafayette, N.Y., is a project collaborator.

3. RESTORING AMERICAN BEACHGRASS NATIVE to the GREAT LAKES: $24,811.00. Principal Investigator: Danilo D. Fernando, Ph.D., State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry, Syracuse, N.Y.

The preservation and conservation of native plant communities play an important role in ecosystem sustainability, climate change resiliency, and invasive species management. This project is utilizing a genetics approach to identify native beachgrass along Lake Ontario and is applying propagation methods of native species of American beachgrass to enhance the opportunity for long-term species persistence.

Data from a demonstration site along Lake Ontario will inform best management practices for current and future dune restoration efforts, particularly in response to fluctuating water levels. Whitney Carleton, Brigitte Wierzbicki, and David Rutherford with the New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation are project collaborators.

4. LAKE ONTARIO WATERSHED: THIAMINE DEFICIENCY as a POTENTIAL CAUSE of DIVING and SEA DUCK POPULATION DECLINE: $24,432.00. Principal Investigator: Jacob N. Straub, Ph.D., SUNY Brockport, Brockport, N.Y.

This project is the first step toward determining if wintering ducks in the Great Lakes are thiamine-deficient, which may be contributing to decreases in North American sea duck and diving duck populations.

Some waterfowl, including some species of sea ducks and diving ducks that congregate on the Great Lakes in winter, are experiencing population-level declines. Reasons for the declines remain elusive, but thiamine deficiency has been linked to population and reproductive declines in a variety of fish and wildlife species, including some bird populations in Europe. This project is measuring thiamine levels in diving and sea ducks and a common prey source: invasive dreissenid mussels, shown by Great Lakes research to contain elevated levels of thiaminase, which inhibits thiamine production. Datasets are being analyzed fpr insight into how thiaminase and thiamine levels interact between zebra mussels and the ducks that consume them. The New York State Department of Environmental Conservation is a project collaborator.

5. LAKE ONTARIO WATERSHED WATER QUALITY and HYDROLOGY: Impacts of 2 Non-Native Invasive Insects in Bergen Swamp: $24,995.00. Principal Investigator: Andie Graham, Professional Wetland Scientist, SUNY Brockport, Brockport, N.Y.

The invasion of emerald ash borer (EAB) in the northern portion of the Bergen Swamp wetland complex, and hemlock wooly adelgid (HWA), confirmed in nearby counties, could potentially lead to the loss of nearly 40 percent of the woody species in Bergen Swamp in the Genesee River Drainage Basin that empties into Lake Ontario in the Rochester Embayment Area of Concern. That would have devastating effects on the Lake Ontario watershed in terms of erosion, sedimentation, decreased water quality, and increased water temperature.

This project is examining the impact of EAB and HWA on water quality and hydrology with the goal of developing a future management plan to be used by the Genesee County Soil and Water Conservation District and Bergen Swamp Preservation Society, Byron, N.Y.