Post Archive:
Planning
Chemical composition of incubation substrates and their effect on survival of cisco (Coregonus artedi) embryos
Development of eDNA markers for Coregonids in the Great Lakes
Determining when and how Cisco and Lake Whitefish recruitment can be reliably indexed to support evaluation, restoration, and management
Investigating past and future climate conditions of coregonine restoration habitats: A case study of Cisco in Saginaw Bay
Cisco (Coregonus artedi) was once one of the most abundant pelagic fishes in Lake Huron (Koelz 1929), supporting a large fishery in Saginaw Bay throughout the early 1900s (GLFC 2022, Rook et al. 2024). The population supporting this fishery, however, began to collapse...
Genetic Monitoring of Bloater Broodstock using a GTSeq (Genotypes by thousands sequencing) Panel
Hatchery production is a central component of coregonine restoration within the Great Lakes ecosystem, and active supplementation programs are currently underway in Lakes Ontario and Huron. As the development of coregonine broodstock lines and methods associated with...
Integrating historical records to compare historical and contemporary coregonine habitat use in the great lakes – Year 4
A methodology for the Gap Analysis (Box 2 of the Coregonine Restoration Template, or CRF; Bunnell et al. 2023) is published as a USGS Cooperator Publication. Our team has begun implementation of the Gap Methodology based on Joint Strategic Plan committee requests...
Implementation of Coregonine Population Viability Analysis within the Coregonine Restoration Framework – Year 4
The Coregonine Restoration Framework (CRF) provides an adaptive management structure to guide restoration of this suite of species in the Great Lakes Region. Initial steps in this effort established four science teams—Resolve Taxonomy, GAP Analysis, Population...
Implementing science planning methods within the Coregonine Restoration Framework via expert knowledge elicitation and workshop facilitation – Year 2
The Coregonine Restoration Framework (Bunnell et al. 2023) includes a Planning Phase that is divided into four elements: (1) resolving coregonine taxonomy using genetics and ecology and delineating spatial units for conservation and restoration, (2) describing and...
Expanding efforts to document and understand Great Lakes coregonine river spawning – Year 2
Restoration and conservation efforts hinge on the identification of key habitats, such as fish spawning habitats (Lewis et al. 1996; Kondolf 2000), and the potentially distinct populations that use them. Knowledge of these habitats can help to ensure that conservation...
Expanding efforts to document and understand Great Lakes coregonine river spawning
Coregonines were once among the most diverse and ecologically, economically, and culturally important groups of fishes in the Great Lakes (Koelz 1929; Smith 1968; Eshenroder et al. 2016; Duncan 2020). Coregonines declined dramatically throughout the Great Lakes in...
Implementing science planning methods within the Coregonine Restoration Framework via expert knowledge elicitation and workshop facilitation
The Coregonine Restoration Framework includes a Planning Phase that is divided into four elements: (1) resolving coregonine taxonomy using genetics and ecology and delineating spatial units for conservation and restoration, (2) describing and mapping historical and...
Implementation of Coregonine Population Viability Analysis within the Coregonine Restoration Framework – Year 3
The Coregonine Restoration Framework (CRF) provides an adaptive management structure to guide restoration of this suite of species in the Great Lakes Region. Initial steps in this effort established four science teams [Resolve Taxonomy, GAP Analysis, Population...
Development of conceptual early life history models and evaluation of sampling techniques in support of long-term monitoring for cisco and lake whitefish
Recruitment is set early during life (<2 years of age) for many fish populations (Hjort 1914, Houde 1987). From fertilization to juvenile stages, fishes are susceptible to abiotic and biotic factors that directly or indirectly influence growth, condition, and survival (Ludsin et al. 2014, Pritt et al. 2014). The mechanistic processes influencing recruitment, their interactions,and the timing at which they are most influential remains unclear for many fishes. By improving understanding of early life history (ELH) ecology and recruitment constraints, we can improve monitoring and support more informed management decisions. Long-term ELH monitoring programs that inform management are limited for cisco (Coregonus artedi) across the Great Lakes.
Detection of Lake Erie Cisco using eDNA – Applications to Cisco Restoration in the Laurentian Great Lakes
Understanding extant diversity in compromised and healthy ecosystems is important to maintaining or restoring species diversity. Cisco (Coregonus artedi) and other coregonines were once found in all five Great Lakes and were central to Great Lakes food webs. The loss...
Enhancing Kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) research to support the conservation and restoration of deep-water coregonine diversity in the Laurentian Great Lakes
The deep-water coregonines of the Coregonus species complex (including C. hoyi, C. kiyi, C. nigripinnis, C. zenithicus, C. johannae, and C. reighardi) in the Laurentian Great Lakes were among the fishes most impacted by overfishing, invasive species, and habitat...
How have changes to coregonine spawning habitat influenced reproductive success?
Lake Ontario’s Cisco, Coregonus artedi, and Lake Whitefish, Coregonus clupeaformis populations have declined for centuries and surveys suggest populations are impeded during early life stages. This project developed methods to quantify habitat specific coregonine egg...
Resolving taxonomy of the cisco (Coregonus) species complex in the Laurentian Great Lakes and Lake Nipigon
The manager endorsed Coregonine Restoration Framework (CRF) identified a need for reviewing and updating the taxonomy of ciscoes, and this task was assigned to the first of four science teams established in the Planning Phase of the CRF. The ‘Resolve cisco taxonomy’...
Developing a Great Lakes-wide database of coregonine stocking
A database of information associated with the release of hatchery-raised Coregonine fishes of Great Lakes origin was constructed and populated with all available records (>4,700) of stocking events. The information includes species, quantities, life stages, source...
Lake Superior ciscoe spawning and winter ecology
This proposal expands on our recent work collecting ciscoes in winter near Grand Island, Michigan. This previous Coregonine Restoration Program funded project started the process of gathering data necessary to base Kiyi (Coregonus kiyi) restoration management...
Resolving the cisco complex of Lake Superior using morphological and genetic tools
Here we seek additional funding to follow-up a previous GLRI-funded project, “Morphologic, geographic and genetic variation among Lake Superior ciscoes.” Our goal was to conduct a comprehensive description of the morphological and genetic diversity of the Lake...
Establishing genetic baselines for historic coregonine diversity in Lake Superior
New research surveying morphological and genetic data across contemporary diversity in the cisco species complex has highlighted critical gaps in our understanding of the historic deepwater diversity in Lake Superior. Historic ciscoe diversity in Lake Superior, which...
Implementation of a gap analysis: comparing historical and contemporary coregonine habitat use in the Great Lakes
Understanding and comparing historic and contemporary habitat use and distributions of coregonines (Gap Analysis, Box 2) has been deemed essential to inform all boxes (Planning Phase) of the Great Lakes coregonine restoration framework (CRF). We are requesting support...
Implementation of Coregonine population viability analysis within the Coregonine restoration framework – Year 2
The Coregonine Restoration Framework provides an adaptive management structure to guide restoration of this suite of species in the Great Lakes Region. Initial steps in this effort are underway with the establishment of four science teams [Resolve Taxonomy, GAP...
Morphological and genomic assessment of putative hybridization among deepwater ciscoes and between deepwater ciscoes and typical artedi in Lakes Michigan and Huron – Year 2
Although species diversity can be lost through hybridization (Mallet 2005; Seehausen 2006) and hybridization has been common among ciscoes (genus Coregonus, subgenus Leucichthys; Smith 1964; Todd and Stedman 1989; Eshenroder et al. 2016; Ackiss et al. 2020), the...