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CMG Scientist Observes, Assists Biologists Studying Nearshore Habitat in Lake Erie
Peter Barnes spent several days at the beginning of this month assisting Biological Resources Division
(BRD) colleagues in Vermillion, Ohio, with freshwater fish-habitat studies. As part of a project headed
by Mary Fabrizio (USGS Great Lakes Science Center), we dodged Great Lakes thunderstorms to sample nearshore
habitat-monitoring sites in Lake Erie. During at least part of their first year, 129 species of fish are
found in nearshore lake habitats less than 2 m deep. Mary's hypothesis is that habitat changes alter the
advantage of the nearshore zone as a critical habitat for young fish.
Peter's initial effort focused on learning how biologists examine the ecology of aquatic communities in
these understudied fish communities, and how biologists begin to assess the role of water-column properties
and substrate geology, as well as nearshore sediment dynamics. Peter also talked with Scudder Mackey and
Nate Fuller at the Ohio Geological Survey in Sandusky, Ohio, regarding plans to re-map the nearshore lake
bottom in Fabrizio's project area to compare with limited survey coverage from the early 1990s.
This geologist was humbled by the temporal and spatial ecosystem complexities with which biologists must deal.
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September 2000
in this issue:
cover story:
Recovery of Confederate Submarine H.L. Hunley
Crater Lake Mapping
Lake Erie Nearshore Habitat
Channel Islands
Pinnacles Area—Gulf of Mexico
Gulf of Maine
Seafloor Mapping Seminar
Ocean Science Forums
Blacks in Government
SF Bay Oil-Spill Hazards
Gas Hydrates
Presentations
Arrivals
Visitors
September Publications List
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U. S. Department of the Interior | U.S. Geological Survey
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