Monitoring Great Lakes benthos from the R/V Lake Guardian 2013 | Great Lakes Center

Twelve people pose for a group picture near the wheelhouseof a large boat

1/23

In 2013, we received a grant to monitor Great Lakes Benthos aboard the EPA research vessel, the Lake Guardian. We joined a number of researchers from around the Great Lakes who monitor different parameters every year.

Download Image

The stern of a large boat tied up at dock by a building with a clock tower. The boat is labeled "Lake Guardian"

2/23

For this project, researchers spend about one month aboard the 180-foot R/V Lake Guardian. There are a number of rooms for bunking, a galley, and scientific labs on board. Research takes place 24 hours a day.

Download Image

Four people in red survival suits on the deck of a large boat

3/23

The first thing our researchers did was safety training. These survival suits are important if anything should happen to the boat. Safety first! Here are Susan Daniel, Josh Fisher, Alexander Karatayev, and Lyubov Burlakova.

Download Image

Several people in hard hats and life jackets fill bottles of water from a water sampler on the deck of a boat

4/23

Researchers collect water for multiple parameters, as well as using an instrument to measure physical parameters. This setup is called the rosette.

Download Image

A large frame and winch is used to lower equipment into the water off the side of a large boat

5/23

The rosette is deployed by a winch off the starboard side of the boat.

Download Image

A person wearing a hard hat and life jacket stands by a bulkhead door labeled "exit" on a large boat

6/23

Josh Fisher on board the R/V Lake Guardian.

Download Image

Two people in safety gear open a metal grab sampler into a tub and rinse the mud from the grab sampler into the tub while working on a large boat

7/23

GLC researchers are monitoring the benthos, or the organisms living in the sediment at the bottom of the lake. Here is Josh collecting a ponar grab of benthos.

Download Image

Someone opens a metal grab sampler into a tub and while a second person rinses the mud inside into the tub

8/23

The sample of sediment is put in a tub and the ponar is rinsed out.

Download Image

A bisected rectangle of mud with some mussels on it in muddy water in a tub

9/23

A ponar sample of sediment and benthic organisms. There are dreissenid mussels on the surface of the mud.

Download Image

A person in a hat and life jacket stands by a tub of muddy water, holding up one muddy hand while using a hose with the other. He is on a large boat.

10/23

Next, the sample is put into the elutriator. We add water to the sample and rinse it through a mesh sleeve to remove most of the sediment while leaving the organisms behind to wash down into a bottle. Here, Sasha rinses the sediment out of a ponar sample.

Download Image

A person in a hard hat and life jacket stands on the back deck of a boat next to a metal table with something on it.

11/23

Susie Daniel on the R/V Lake Guardian. Susie is the main researcher in charge of sample collection and processing for this grant for the GLC.

Download Image

Two people in hard hats and life jackets pull a long conical net over the side of a boat. The water is very green.

12/23

The GLC collaborates on this grant with Cornell University. They are in charge of collecting zooplankton and analyzing chlorophyll levels in the water. We help each other collect our samples.

Download Image

Two people in hard hats and life jackets sit on the back deck of a boat at night

13/23

Research takes place 24 hours every day, so the work is split into 12 hour shifts, with one during the day and one at night. Susie (right) is working the overnight shift.

Download Image

Several people sit or stand inside a lab on a boat.

14/23

Susie (right) prepping sample bags and bottles in the lab area of the boat.

Download Image

Three people in a lab on a boat wearing hard hats, life jackets, and rain pants.

15/23

When working on the back deck, researchers must wear life jackets, hard hats, and steel-toed boots. People working at the elutriator usually wear rain pants too. Susie and some researchers from Cornell are ready to sample!

Download Image

A large freight boat in a large canal lock

16/23

To move between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, the Lake Guardian goes through the Welland Canal in Ontario, Canada. Many shipping vessels move through this waterway.

Download Image

A person in a rain coat watches from the deck of a boat as it pulls up alongside a dock near a commercial building

17/23

Sasha Karatayev watches as the boat docks in Rochester, NY.

Download Image

Sunset over the water, seen through the A-frame on a large boat.

18/23

One of many spectacular sunrises from the R/V Lake Guardian.

Download Image

Labeled jars sitting on a shelf in a lab. There is a plant on the shelf also.

19/23

After a month of collecting samples, we bring them back to the lab to process them.

Download Image

A person wearing gloves works at a microscope in a lab

20/23

Technicians or student workers pick through the sample to find the organisms so they can be counted and identified. Brianne Tulumello is picking a sample.

Download Image

A person wearing gloves sits at a counter in a lab, holding calipers. In front of them is a plastic tray with mussels.

21/23

Graduate student Keith Pawlowski counting and measuring dreissenid mussels.

Download Image

Mussels drying on round pieces of paper on a counter

22/23

Quagga mussels from Lake Guardian samples drying before taking their weight.

Download Image

A smiling person sits near a counter with two microscopes in a lab. A binder is open in front of her.

23/23

Susie Daniel is the chief taxonomist and identifies benthic organisms in the lab.

Download Image