New Land-Lake Sensor Network
at The University of Toledo’s
Lake Erie Center
www.utoledo.edu/nsm/lec
www.facebook.com/lakeeriecenter
Setting: Lake Erie Ecosystem Today
• Lake Erie is the shallowest &
most productive of the GL
with the largest watershed
• Heavily impacted by agriculture
& industry
• Houses the world’s largest
freshwater fisheries
walleye, yellow perch
& smallmouth bass
• Harmful algal blooms, declining
habitats, E. coli, sedimentation &
invasive species are growing
concerns
• Our Lake Erie Center programs are
dedicated to developing &
implementing solutions
LEC Environmental Research
Developing Hands-on Solutions to key
environmental problems at the land-lake
ecosystem interface
Multidisciplinary cutting-edge
scientific and engineering tools:
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DNA & acoustic tracking of fish stocks (NOAA, USEPA)
HAB monitoring (NOAA)
Lake sensor network (NSF, USFS, USDA)
eDNA to track invasive species (NOAA)
Bioremediation (USDA)
Artificial wetlands (USEPA GLRI)
Education & Outreach Programs:
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NSF Gk-12 “Graduate Fellows in High
School STEM: An environmental Science
Learning Community at the Land-Lake
Ecosystem Interface”
-2012-13 focus on the sensor network data
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Monthly Public Lecture Series
NSF URM Undergraduate
Research & Mentoring
Sensor Network Faculty Team:
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Dr. Jiquan Chen (Carbon flux data)
Dr. Kevin Czajkowski (GIS)
Dr. Tom Bridgeman (HABs, water quality)
Dr. Ricky Becker (remote sensing)
Dr. Carol Stepien (integration, education)
New LEC Land-Lake Sensor Network
Lake Sensor
equipment funded
by NSF FSML
Builds off Dr. Jiquan
Chen’s land sensor
network
Working Framework for our Sensor Network
Sensor Network Station Designs
Route of the LEC VesselMounted Flux Tower
• Through the Microcystis
algal bloom at the
estuarine of the
Maumee River
• Through the
sedimentary flow south
of the Detroit River
• Measurements taken
near permanent
stations in the Western
basin (PermS1, PermS2)
Preliminary Data from Marshland (coastal wetland)
versus Cropland (agricultural field) Sites
• Marshland releases evident
methane during the day
• Cropland releases methane
during the day and uptakes
small amounts during the
night
• The orders of methane fluxes
are much smaller in the
cropland than in the
marshland
• (Data from LEES Lab, Dr.
Jiquan Chen)