Major Goals and Objectives

Our three major objectives are to determine:

• The potential competitive interactions between exotic
  Eurasian ruffe and native yellow perch in Lake Michigan and throughout the Great Lakes, through new knowledge of their preferences for prey and habitat.
• How predators (e.g., pike) and another exotic animal, zebra mussels, might affect the success of ruffe and their interactions with yellow perch in the Great Lakes.
• The current composition of benthic macroinvertebrates in Lake Michigan to generate a baseline prior to the anticipated invasion by ruffe.