Image credit: Katie Steiger/Meister/USFWS/Wikimedia Commons.
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This project has been recommended for funding and is pending NOAA approval.
In 2022, Lake Superior experienced the largest recruitment event (a baby boom) of native ciscoes on record. For a lake that has struggled with low forage fish abundance for decades, this is a game-changer for Lake Superior predators. This project investigates how this sudden smorgasbord is rippling through the food web, affecting everything from native lake trout to non-native Pacific salmon. By tracking what predators eat, how fast they grow, and the indirect effects of native ciscoes on other species, this research is helping managers maintain a healthy balance for the lake's future.
Project description
This project, titled "Consequences of the 2022 Cisco Recruitment Event for the Lake Superior Food Web with Emphasis on Native and Non-Native Piscivores," uses a chronosequence approach, essentially a scientific timeline, to compare Lake Superior’s food web before and after the massive 2022 cisco boom. Minnesota and Wisconsin Sea Grant-funded researchers at the University of Minnesota Duluth and the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee are combining field data (specifically, what’s in the fish’s stomachs) with advanced computer modeling to see how native and introduced predators respond to this sudden abundance of food. The research team is specifically looking at:
- Diet shifts: Are predators becoming specialists on ciscoes?
- Isotopic niche: How does the energy flow from deep-water kiyi and bloaters to the top of the food chain?
- Bioenergetics: How much more biomass are these fish consuming now compared to lean years?
- Ecosystem modeling: What are the simulated long-term changes in the food web resulting from the cisco boom?
Why Sea Grant?
This project supports Minnesota Sea Grant's focus area in Sustainable Fisheries and Aquaculture.
Proposed findings of this study will help inform fishery managers by assessing how food web change impacts important fisheries for native and non-native species in Lake Superior.
Project team
Wisconsin Principal Investigator:
Brandon Gerig, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Assistant Professor, School of Freshwater Sciences
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Minnesota Principal Investigator:
Thomas Hrabik, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Professor of Biology
University of Minnesota Duluth
Funding
This project has been recommended for funding, pending NOAA approval, through the 2026-2028 Minnesota and Wisconsin Sea Grant Joint RFP. This work is supported by the Minnesota Sea Grant College Program and Wisconsin Sea Grant College Program using federal and/or matching funds under award NA24OARX417C0033-T1-01 and ######### from the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, U.S. Department of Commerce. The statements, findings, conclusions, and recommendations are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Sea Grant College Program, National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration, or the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Lead scientist(s)
Wisconsin Principal Investigator:
Brandon Gerig, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Assistant Professor, School of Freshwater Sciences
University of Wisconsin Milwaukee
Minnesota Principal Investigator:
Thomas Hrabik, Ph.D.
[email protected]
Professor of Biology
University of Minnesota Duluth