The Great Lakes Research Consortium (GLRC) and New York State have awarded more than $136,000 in grant funding to area schools for research projects focused on the Great Lakes.
The six research projects address “priority” areas in the Great Lakes “action agenda” for New York, GLRC said in a news release.
The GLRC is a consortium representing 18 colleges and universities in New York, along with nine affiliate campuses in Ontario, Canada. It is based at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry (SUNY ESF) in Syracuse.
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GLRC awarded the funding in cooperation with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) Great Lakes Program.
New York’s Environmental Protection Fund (EPF) provided the funding for the grants through an agreement with SUNY ESF in Syracuse.
“The 2017 Great Lakes Research Consortium grant awards represent critical projects that will advance the science-based understanding of the opportunities and challenges facing the Great Lakes system as a dynamic and essential resource supporting human, fishery, and wildlife populations,” Gregory Boyer, executive director, of the Great Lakes Research Consortium, said in the release.
Boyer is also a chemistry and biochemistry professor at SUNY ESF.
“Our Great Lakes ecosystems are very complex, highly treasured and ever-changing,” DEC Commissioner Basil Seggos said. “It is imperative we continue to expand our scientific knowledge of these waters and evaluate what management actions are needed to sustain the unique quality of the Great Lakes, its watersheds and its communities.”
The Great Lakes Research Consortium — in cooperation with the DEC and New York Great Lakes Basin Advisory Council — administer the Great Lakes small grants research program.
The goal of this small grant research program is to provide seed funding for “new, cooperative” projects that “improve our understanding and management” of New York’s Great Lakes resources, the GLRC said. EPF funding is allocated for the New York Ocean-Great Lakes Ecosystem Conservation Act and New York Great Lakes Action Agenda.
Grant awards
SUNY ESF will use an award of nearly $22,000 on a project “informing restoration of the endangered piping plover to Lake Ontario.” The piping plover is a small, sand-colored shorebird.
Collaborators on the project include Audubon New York of Troy; the DEC; New York State Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation; Onondaga Audubon Society in Syracuse; and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
SUNY ESF and the Thousand Islands Biological Station in Clayton will use a grant of $22,500 on the project researching the “influence of spawning and nursery habitat in shaping the northern pike gut microbiome.”
Researchers at Syracuse University will use a grant of more than $24,500 for a research project focused on “screening and risk assessment of contaminants of emerging concern in the Onondaga Lake-three rivers system.”
The Upstate Freshwater Institute in Syracuse is listed as a collaborator on the Syracuse project.
Clarkson University will deploy a $22,500 grant on a project examining the economic value of controlling aquatic invasive species in New York.
It’ll also use a grant of more than $20,000 on a project focused on “mercury mobilization from wetlands along the upper St. Lawrence River in support of ecosystem-based management.”
St. Lawrence University in Canton; New York Power Authority in Massena; and the St. Lawrence River Institute of Environmental Sciences, Cornwall, Ontario are listed as collaborators on the project.
The Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart and William Smith Colleges in Geneva will use a $25,000 grant in a project focused on assessing the role of nitrogen in harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes basin, including Honeoye Lake. Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio is listed as a collaborator on the research.
Contact Reinhardt at ereinhardt@cnybj.com
