• Determine the importance of the trades in live bait, pets, water gardens, and biological supplies as pathways for the introduction of nonindigenous freshwater species
• Estimate the ecological and economic risks associated with given species in trade
• Reduce the numbers of high risk species in trade and to reduce the likelihood of release of organisms by customers

• Identify the contributions of land cover change and climate change on increasing flood discharges
• Provide tools to assist in projections of future flood magnitudes that can be used with existing management practices to reduce flooding impacts
• Provide input for flood study prioritization through a comparison of published regulatory discharges with flood discharges computed for current conditions
• Investigate possible future impacts of changes in land cover and precipitation on flood peaks

Since the early 2000s, alewife populations have been on the decline and at an all-time low. This is a major concern to many recreational fishery specialists and salmonid managers. Although some species of salmonids are flexible in their diets, Coho and Chinook Salmon are not very flexible and rely heavily on alewife for the majority of their diet. In years prior, it was believed that the main basin of Lake Michigan was responsible for the majority of alewife recruitment. In recent years, evidence has begun to show that alewife may utilize other habitats like creek and river tributaries and drowned river mouth lakes (DRMLs). These environments may provide additional habitat with warmer temperatures, greater vegetation cover, and greater abundance in prey availability. The main objectives of the study include: 1) estimation of relative contribution of recruits from DRMLs, 2) comparison of growth and survival rates of larvae between the main basin and DRMLs, and 3) prey availability and diet analysis between the main basin of Lake Michigan and DRMLs. With the additional support requested with this proposal, an increased number of samples would be able to be processed with technician support. Additionally, genetic verification of larval alewife will be performed to ensure the larvae being analyzed are not the closely related species Gizzard Shad.

• Use high performance liquid chromatography with fluorescence detection to track the distribution of fluorescent whitening agents along a southern portion of the Lake Michigan shoreline
• Examine the relationship between these fluorescent whitening agents and E. coli

• Develop a software platform to provide real-time, online access to advisories for consumption of recreationally-caught fish

• To provide information on past low lake levels of Lake Michigan, to better
  understand why there have been lower lake levels in the past, and to better predict and thus prepare for future low lake levels