Dr. Ludsin worked with a team of researchers to explore the relationships between nutrient loading, fish populations, hypoxia, and temperatures in Lake Erie. While current nutrient loading favors yellow perch and walleye, it also causes increased hypoxia which harms whitefish; these relationships will be altered with warming temperatures and shifting nutrient management regimes. The authors refer to this as a “wicked problem” and assert that it can only be addressed through adaptive ecosystem-based management.

Colleagues at the Unviersity of Michigan also produced a press release for this publication.

Scavia, D., S.A. Ludsin, A.M. Michalak, D.R. Obenour, M. Han, L.T. Jonson, Y-C Wang, and G. Zhao. 2024. Water quality-fisheries tradeoffs in a changing climate underscore the need for adaptive ecosystem-based management. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 121(45):e2322595121 doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2322595121

Dr. Ludsin was featured in news reporting twice as the summer of 2024 came to a close. The Toledo Blade covered his remarks at a meeting of researchers at Stone Lab in August. He discussed how different nutrient regimes favor different fish taxa, which should shape how policy-makers think about choices around nutrient loading in Lake Erie. The Sandusky Register also covered this meeting, focusing on the portion between Lake Erie researchers and charter boat captains.

Three new publications from the Ludsin Lab group this summer, including press around the publication of Zoe Almeida’s dissertation research.

Almeida, L.Z., S.A. Ludsin, M.D. Faust, & E.A. Marschall. Lingering legacies: Past growth and parental experience influence somatic growth in a fish population. Journal of Animal Ecology doi.org/10.1111/1365-2656.14143

Ludsin, S.A., M. Munawar, S.A. Bocaniov, L.T. Johnson, D.D. Kane, N.F. Manning, and C.M. Mayer. 2023. Ecology of Lake Erie – Nutrients, microbes, algae, and dreissenid mussels: A synthesis. Aquatic Ecosystem Health & Management 26(4): 131-138. doi.org/10.14321/aehm.026.04.131

Budnik, R.R., K.T. Frank, L.M. Collis, M.E. Fraker, L.A. Mason, A.M. Muir, S.A. Pothoven, D.F. Clapp, P.D. Collingsworth, J.C. Hoffman, J.M. Hood, T.B. Johnson, M.A. Koops, L.G. Rudstam, and S.A. Ludsin. 2024. Feasibility of implementing an integrated long-term database to advance ecosystem-based management in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin. Journal of Great Lakes Research 50(2): 102308. doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2024.102308 

The Ludsin Lab welcomed one new graduate student this fall: Demetra Williams. Demetra will be pursuing a PhD project with Dr. Ludsin.

This summer we said farewell to longtime office manager, Melissa Marburger, who retired at the end of June. Dr. Ludsin has taken on two new undergraduate thesis students, Lyndy Heign and Kayla Geller, in addition to Emma Ficorilli who began her undergraduate thesis in the spring.

Many Ludsin Lab members attended the department of Evolution, Ecology, & Organismal Biology welcome event on Tuesday, August 20 at the Museum of Biological Diversity. They enjoyed food and a chance to socialize with others in the department. All of the new graduate students and postdocs in the department were introduced in an informal ceremony of sorts, in which new people receive an EEOB mug.

Ludsin Lab members Jacob Bentley, Andrew Foley, and Kylee Wilson met up with Dr. Ludsin and other AELers at the Crew game!

When the folks at the Ohio Supercomputer Center reached out to see if the AEL could talk about aquatic ecosystems for a group of 6th & 7th graders, we said, ABSOLUTELY! Their annual Youth Watershed Summer Institute is a weeklong camp for middle school students to learn about applying STEM skills to watershed problems.

On July 8, Jenny Pfaff and Ludsin Lab technicians, Neil Hamrick and Steven Gratz, walked next door to the super computer center to meet with the students. Neil gave a great presentation about foodwebs, ecosystems, and some of the work we do at the AEL. After a small activity to show how much more complex foodwebs can be compared to our simplistic ideas of food chains, we led the students back to the AEL for a tour of our labs.

Matthew Sens showed the students how we process samples from watersheds to assess nutrient content. Megan Garvey showed the students Lake Erie zooplankton and explained their role in the ecosystem. Finally, Neil dissected a yellow perch stomach for the students to see! What followed was a great discussion about how we sample the habitats we study, why we have to sample throughout the season, and how we take care to only take the fish we need to answer the questions we are asking.

Dr. Stu Ludsin hosted the Annual Meeting of the Early Life History Section of the American Fisheries Society in Huron, Ohio, May 12-16. Over four days 70+ researchers from at least 10 different countries across four continents gathered to share larval fish research in 43 talks and 23 posters.

Other AELers involved in the planning and organization of the conference include lab manager Jenny Pfaff, who coordinated most logistics with the conference venue and conference events, AEL alum Kristen Fussell (Ohio Sea Grant & Stone Laboratory), who helped coordinate a field trip and larval fish ID workshop at Stone Lab, and recent AEL graduate Paula Joseph, who presented her undergraduate thesis in the poster session.