Water Resources

The program's goals are to understand the ecological structure and function of Minnesota's surface waters to predict, minimize and mitigate the effects of human impacts on biological communities, water quality, public health, and other beneficial uses of these resources.

Environmental Indicators

Current Projects:

• Algae and Paleoecology: Specializing in algal indicators and paleolimnology research to reconstruct human impacts and define remediation goals in freshwater systems.
• Great Rivers Assessment: Identifying biological indicators of health for the Mississippi, Missouri and Ohio Rivers.
• Great Lakes Biological Monitoring: Providing monitoring support to the USEPA, tracking changes in the phytoplankton of the Great Lakes due to climate change, pollution and invasive species.
• Great Lakes Indicators: Development of indicators of environmental condition for the coasts of the Great Lakes, including everything from wetlands and river mouths to beaches and rocky coasts.
• Amphibian Research: Frogs are believed to be sensitive sentinels of environmental conditions. Impacts of agricultural land use, forest fragmentation and climate change are investigated.
• Impacts on Minnesota’s aquatic resources from climate change Phase I
  (Legislative-Citizens Commission on Minnesota’s Resources - LCCMR)
  We are examining historic climate records and developing a database on key climatic measures and their variability. To assess the ecological consequences of those climate trends on aquatic resources we are analyzing hydrologic (e.g., streamflow, lake levels, water quantity and quality) and ecological response data (e.g., fish species distributions, and aquatic vegetation distribution).
• Minnesota's Water Resources: Impacts of Climate Change - Phase II
  (Legislative-Citizens Commission on Minnesota’s Resources - LCCMR)
  We are expanding Phase I (see above) to develop predictions for future climate specific to Minnesota, and then quantify the potential economic impact of climate-induced changes in precipitation and hydrology on the water resource infrastructure, including storm sewers, bridges, water treatment facilities, and shoreline development. The current biological analyses will be expanded beyond fish to invertebrates (e.g., mosquitos) and projections of future biotic responses from hydrologic and water quality models will be developed. Lastly, to assist the state’s natural resource managers and regulators, we will identify potential hydrologic and aquatic indicators and propose monitoring methods that can be implemented in Minnesota.

Water Quality

Current Projects:

• Vetting of Ballast Water Treatment Systems: Ballast water discharge from ships distributes aquatic invasive species. The Great Ships Initiative is evaluating shipboard treatment systems for their ability to prevent introduction of nuisance species.
• Impaired Stream Investigations: We provide supporting data on habitat, biota, and water chemistry to the government agencies charged with implementing water quality regulations for streams. Current and recent efforts include Little Rock Creek in Benton County; Knife River; Poplar River; Miller Creek.
• Stormwater Impacts: We operate a network of near real-time automated monitors of water quality for a set of urban and rural trout streams in order to better understand the relationships between weather, land cover, land use management, hydrology, water quality, and habitat in Superior basin streams.
  Listen to a 2009 interview with Elaine Ruzycki about the project by clicking the link below.
  Robo-Researching Lake Superior Streams (8 min. 49 sec.)
• Stormwater Mitigation: In concert with the Weber Restoration Initiative described below, we are collecting data and other information for on-line Internet viewing to allow local government agencies, developers and consultants to more accurately assess the efficacy of erosion and runoff control measures in our cold climate.