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.

• Identify the main mechanisms affecting physical transport in the Illinois and Hudson Rivers
• Model the less well-understood mechanisms in detail 
• Construct a single model that combines the physical transport mechanisms with the biology and population dynamics
• Identify the processes controlling the transport and settlement patterns

• Establish methods for the culture of fish primordial germ cells (PGCs)

• 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

• Investigate the reduction of 17β-estradiol (E2) and Estrone
  (E1) in treated wastewaters that were subjected to a tertiary treatment composed of a coupled wetland and ground water flow through system
• Quantify the presence of E2 and E1 in treated wastewater and along ground water pathways from a wetland
• Determine the potential reduction of E2 and transformation of E2 to E1 along the ground water pathways
• Expand upon the results by Peterson and Lanning (2009) showing the effectiveness of wetlands as a treatment for E2 removal
• Use the pilot data gathered to develop a more thorough assessment of the wastewater treatment process

In the proposed work, we will explore opportunities and tradeoffs associated with the use of green infrastructure for stormwater management. In particular, we seek to quantify the extent to which increased percolation of stormwater, driven by increased use of green infrastructure, may be increasing groundwater chloride (Cl-) concentrations in communities surrounding Southern Lake Michigan.