Life Sciences Commons^™

Long Term Monitoring Of Grand Ravines Park Restoration: An Authentic Research Opportunity For Jenison High School Students And Beyond, Karina C. White

Culminating Experience Projects

Access to authentic research is limited at the 7-12 science education level. At the same time, many local restoration projects would benefit from, but don’t have access to a long-term system of monitoring. This project seeks to unite those two needs by developing a protocol for 7-12 classrooms to be able to participate in authentic research through long-term monitoring of a local restoration project. The protocol developed in this project was used by Jenison High School students at Grand Ravines Park. Grand Ravines Park is a recently acquired Ottawa County park with a history of anthropogenic disturbances. Shortly after the …

Impacts Of Shoreline Restoration And Source Of Nutrient Enrichment On Macrophytes And Epiphytic Algal Communities, Paige Marie Kleindl

Masters Theses

Macrophytes and their epiphytic algal communities are integral for optimizing littoral ecosystem functioning in lakes. Epiphytic algae’s placement on the plant’s surface can reduce light and nutrient availability (i.e., nitrogen and phosphorus) for the host macrophyte. Macrophyte and epiphytic algal proximity complicates these primary producer group interactions and responses to bioavailable nutrients in the water column or porewater. For example, epiphytic algae may have a competitive advantage over surface water nutrients compared to macrophytes, which may have a competitive advantage over porewater nutrients via root systems.

Muskegon Lake’s industrial history and designation as an Area of Concern prompted shoreline restoration, …

Aquatic Ecosystem Response To Storm Water Abatement Measures In The Ravines Of The Gvsu Allendale Campus: Establishment Of Base-Line Biological Condition, Eric Snyder, Jason Nelson, Jason Drogowski, Michelle Harju

Technical Reports

The ravine tributary streams surrounding Grand Valley State Universities Allendale campus represent unique and understudied ecosystems, worthy of significant restoration efforts and of long-lasting protection. They are variously affected by storm water runoff, representing a spectrum from severely impacted to relatively pristine. Quantitative macroinvertebrate samples taken from six streams in late June 2007, indicated that insect diversity was positively correlated to ammonium (p=0.057), while total abundance was negatively correlated to phosphate and chlorophyll-a concentration (n.s.). In addition, phosphate, nitrate, sulfate and iron concentrations were elevated in streams that experience significant storm-water runoff and these streams also tended to have …