This project first collated more than 50,000 data records from creel surveys conducted in Illinois and Indiana waters of Lake Michigan. Linear models were used to explore relationships between fisheries data and ancillary data such as fish abundance, fish stocking, prey densities and environmental parameters. The project then estimated an economic valuation of the Lake Michigan shoreline and boat fishing activity to anglers.

This study aimed to estimate the total economic impact of recreational fishing in the Illinois waters of Lake Michigan, compare expenditure estimates from the creel survey with those from a mail and internet survey, and assess the economic impact of several fisheries within the Illinois and Indiana Lake Michigan fishery.

• Summarize model capabilities, model inputs, and simulation methods of different hydrologic and water quality models including
• Explore uncalibrated, calibrated, and validated outputs of these models and uncalibrated ensemble modeling in estimating average annual water quantity and quality for a 41.5 km2 agricultural watershed in Northeastern Indiana
• Provide suggestions on the selection and use of these models based
  on the results in this study

The researchers used molecular tools to characterize microbial communities in the changing biogeochemistry of Lake Michigan (2012-2015) and across the Laurentian Great Lakes.

Story: IISG researchers identify microbes throughout the Great Lakes

• Determine how Lake Michigan microbial communities compare between near- to offshore sites and sites experiencing different nutrient inputs
• Evaluate which organisms are breaking down and assimilating various dissolved organic matter sources
• Determine how the response to a dissolved organic matter pulse is transmitted through the community over time

• Determine whether important Lake Michigan sport fish, such as yellow perch, bass, salmon, and walleye, utilize coastal wetland habitat during various  periods of their lives and to what degree they depend on food provided by coastal wetlands