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Buoy observatory gives hourly updates on Muskegon Lake

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You don’t have to step into waders to get the latest information on Muskegon Lake. Thanks to the Muskegon Lake Buoy Observatory and Grand Valley State University, you can get updates on the lake’s water quality, food web structure and more without getting your feet wet. The solar-powered buoy observatory is anchored from April to November collecting information from the water and the air to put together a real-time picture of Muskegon Lake’s environment. The EPA dubbed the lake an Area of Concern in 1985 due to its history of trouble with water quality, habitat degradation and pollution, and is funding the project with a Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grant. With data updated hourly, researchers get a real-time picture of the lake’s environment, schools can keep tabs on the lake for classroom projects and the general public can get updates on weather and fishing conditions.

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Your chance to track down an invasive species

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An invasive species taking over an ecosystem is a familiar nightmare. Stories abound of quagga mussel, emerald ash borer and garlic mustard terrorizing the Great Lakes region. Now a group of scientists supported by the U.S. National Science Foundation called the Global Invasions Network is finding out if garlic mustard is just as aggressive in North America where it’s invasive, and Europe where it’s native. And they need your help. The Global Garlic Mustard Field Survey collects information about garlic mustard from samples gathered by citizen scientists in North America and Europe. The samples  tell about the sizes and density of the plant populations, and are used to compare the plant’s behavior in the two continents.

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monarch butterfly

The monarch migration rest stop at Point Pelee National Park

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Lake Erie’s Point Pelee National Park will turn a brighter shade of orange this month, as monarch butterflies begin their long migration from Canada to Mexico. The park is set on a peninsula jutting south into the lake and that funnels the monarchs on the shortest route across the water. Every year when the weather is right, the monarchs take flight and stop for a final rest on Point Pelee where visitors can see them decorate trees like tinsel at Christmas. A study published in March found that the area occupied by monarchs in Mexico reached an all-time low in 2009 and 2010, and remained low last winter. It cited habitat loss in Mexico, loss of breeding habitat in the U.S. and loss of milkweed as contributing factors that threaten the species and its great migration.