Great Lakes Region Research Articles

Multi‐Year Analysis of Rain‐Snow Levels at Marquette, Michigan

AbstractThis study uses observations from a ground‐based instrument suite to investigate the rain‐snow level (RSL) in stratiform rainfall from January 2014 to April 2020 in the Upper Great Lakes Region. The height above the surface where ice melts to rain, the rain‐snow level, influences microphysical assumptions in remote sensing precipitation retrievals and the ability of space‐based radar to discriminate surface precipitation phase because of ground clutter. The instrument suite is installed at the Marquette, MI (MQT) National Weather Service station adjacent to Lake Superior. Rain events and the RSLs are studied through a ground‐based vertically profiling radar (Micro Rain Radar), a custom NASA‐developed video disdrometer (Precipitation Imaging Package), and reanalysis products from ECMWF ERA5 and NASA MERRA‐2. Distinct macro and microphysical characteristics are observed in precipitation events with shallow RSLs (<1.8 km above ground level [AGL]) and intermediate RSLs (>1.8 km AGL). Intermediate RSLs correspond to rain events with relatively higher rain rates and a higher concentration of small drops in the drop size distributions (DSDs). Shallow RSL DSDs contain relatively higher concentrations of large drops with lower fall speeds suggesting that partially melted snowflakes may be reaching the surface. Reflectivity‐rain‐rate relationships are also impacted by microphysical differences associated with RSL regimes. Radar‐detected RSLs agree with reanalysis‐derived melt levels‐especially at wet‐bulb isotherms of 0.5°C and 1°C. Seasonal differences such as shallow RSLs in winter, fall, and spring have subsequent implications for satellite detectability.

Forest-clearing to create early-successional habitats: Questionable benefits, significant costs

A campaign is underway to clear established forests and expand early-successional habitats—also called young forest, pre-forest, early seral, or open habitats—with the intention of benefitting specific species. Coordinated by federal and state wildlife agencies, and funded with public money, public land managers work closely with hunting and forestry interests, conservation organizations, land trusts, and private landowners toward this goal. While forest-clearing has become a major focus in the Northeast and Upper Great Lakes regions of the U.S., far less attention is given to protecting and recovering old-forest ecosystems, the dominant land cover in these regions before European settlement. Herein we provide a discussion of early-successional habitat programs and policies in terms of their origins, in the context of historical baselines, with respect to species’ ranges and abundance, and as they relate to carbon accumulation and ecosystem integrity. Taken together, and in the face of urgent global crises in climate, biodiversity, and human health, we conclude that public land forest and wildlife management programs must be reevaluated to balance the prioritization and funding of early-successional habitat with strong and lasting protection for old-growth and mature forests, and, going forward, must ensure far more robust, unbiased, and ongoing monitoring and evaluation.

Angler preferences for management of aquatic invasive species in the USA and Canada: A discrete choice experiment

Aquatic invasive species (AIS) management in the Great Lakes region of North America requires coordination between multiple agencies and stakeholder groups. Because the Great Lakes are an internationally managed entity, an understanding of policy preferences among stakeholders across borders is crucial for making both comprehensive and evidence-based decisions about fishery resources. We evaluated angler preferences for how future fishing scenarios are affected by aquatic invasive species in the Great Lakes region. Using a mixed-mode survey of anglers in Illinois, Michigan, Wisconsin, New York, and the Canadian province of Ontario, we conducted a stated choice experiment to understand and compare American and Canadian anglers. Results from a mixed multinomial logit model suggested fish habitat quality, amount of native fish species, impact of invasive species, availability of wash stations, and cost significantly influenced hypothetical scenarios chosen by survey respondents. Fish habitat and increased availability of boat wash stations had the greatest influence on the likelihood that a given scenario would be chosen by a survey respondent. We observed predominantly similar patterns across the border but did find that Canadians had stronger preferences for limiting AIS impacts and improving habitat quality. Our research thus suggests that an internationally consistent management approach would likely be well received among the anglers engaged in this study.

Predictive Modeling of Kudzu (Pueraria montana) Habitat in the Great Lakes Basin of the United States.

Kudzu (Pueraria montana [Lour.] Merr. var. lobata [Willd.] Maesen & S.M. Almeida ex Sanjappa & Predeep) is an invasive woody vine widespread throughout much of the southeastern United States. New occurrences and recent studies using climatic parameters suggest that the Midwestern region of the United States is at the greatest risk of kudzu invasion. As there are already multiple reports of kudzu within the Great Lakes basin and no previous landscape models exist specifically for the basin, we developed probability models from existing spatial data (forest type, geology, land cover, precipitation, temperature, and known kudzu locations) by using maximum entropy methods at the national, regional, and basin scales. All three models had relatively high accuracy and strong positive correlation between predicted and observed values. Based on evaluation of the models using a testing data set, we determined a presence threshold and categorized areas within each model as suitable or unsuitable habitat. We pooled the models and calculated mean habitat suitability within the Great Lakes basin. Much of the southern half of the basin was suitable for kudzu. Continuing management and further monitoring of kudzu spread are likely necessary to limit further introduction and mitigate spread of kudzu within the Great Lakes region.

Land, Fur, and Copper: The Union of Settler Colonialism and Industrial Capitalism in the Great Lakes Region, 1815–1842

This article examines the relationship between settler colonialism and the rise of mineral-intensive industrial manufacturing in the United States. Land expropriated from Anishinaabe nations in what is currently the Upper Peninsula of the state of Michigan was one of the largest sources of copper for nineteenth-century U.S. industrial capitalists. The U.S. takeover of mineral-rich Anishinaabe land reflects the early union of settler colonial ambitions for the Great Lakes region with an emerging political economy of national self-sufficiency by way of continental supplies of raw materials typically imported from overseas. After the War of 1812, U.S. officials imagined the transformation of Anishinaabewaki into the material basis of an independent U.S. copper industry. Accordingly, they employed geologists to conduct fieldwork within Indigenous territories to help guide and facilitate the process of treaty making. However, the authority of the United States remained weak where they had little control over commerce and could not depend on the pressures of encroaching settler populations. Only by granting and enforcing a trade monopoly with the American Fur Company were U.S. leaders able to make inroads toward their goals of acquiring territorial control over the raw materials of industrial capitalism and dispossessing the Anishinaabeg.

Academic Productivity of Early Career Transfusion Medicine Specialists: A Workforce Study.

Blood Banking/Transfusion Medicine (BB/TM) specialists oversee all aspects of blood component transfusions and are often involved with apheresis, coagulation, and cellular therapy services as well. This study characterizes the BB/TM workforce to determine the scholarly productivity in the first 3 to 5 years after obtaining board certification and the impact of job type, job location, and academic rank on scholarly productivity. Academic productivity was assessed among individuals passing the American Board of Pathology BB/TM board exam between 2016 and 2018 using the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Office of Portfolio Analysis tool, iCite. One hundred and 28 BB/TM specialists were included in the analysis. The majority of BB/TM specialists work in academia, are located in the Great Lakes and Mid-Atlantic regions, and have a rank of Assistant Professor. Since passing the board exam, 76.5% (98/128) of BB/TM specialists have published papers, with 4.0 (IQR=1-8) total number of published papers per individual, and 791 total papers amongst the group. The median publications per individual per year since passing boards is 0.9 (IQR=0.2-2.3) the number of publications per year since passing boards for BB/TM specialists in academia is significantly higher compared to other jobs at 1.33 (IQR, 0.5-2.89, Kruskal-Wallis P=.03) per individual Assistant Professors and Associate Professors (1.3, IQR= 0.4-2.7 and 1.4, IQR=0.6-3.3, Mann-Whitney test P > .99). BB/TM specialists who passed the board exam between 2016 and 2018 are highly academically productive, especially those working in academia where publications are necessary for promotion. BB/TM physicians are an extensively trained and academically-minded group of practitioners.

A Model of Civilization: Imperial Projects, Indigenous Peoples, and “Domiciliation” in Upper Canada, 1784–1844

From the 1780s to the 1840s, First Nations leaders and imperial officials in the Great Lakes region frequently made common cause to promote the establishment of Indigenous communities within the territories claimed by the British Empire. Largely made up of refugees from across the newly established international border, these settlements offered Indigenous Peoples the possibility of safety and prosperity, while imperial administrators viewed them as crucial props to British power. Although these projects often invoked the discourse of civilization, the approach they advocated was a far cry from the vision of assimilation that is often understood by “civilization” in today’s historiography. Drawing on the model of the nations domiciliées of the St. Lawrence Valley, these projects could be better understood as following a model of “domiciliation,” defined by military alliance, Indigenous autonomy, and the selective adoption of elements of transatlantic culture. This model, however, was consistently challenged by a discourse of “half-civilization” that by the mid-1840s gave rise to a more totalizing policy of assimilation.

Climate forcing of regional fire years in the upper Great Lakes Region, USA

Background Drivers of fire regimes vary among spatial scales, and fire history reconstructions are often limited to stand scales, making it difficult to partition effects of regional climate forcing versus individual site histories. Aims To evaluate regional-scale historical fire regimes over 350 years, we analysed an extensive fire-scar network, spanning 240 km across the upper Great Lakes Region in North America. Methods We estimated fire frequency, identified regionally widespread fire years (based on the fraction of fire-scarred tree samples, fire extent index (FEI), and synchronicity of fire years), and evaluated fire seasonality and climate–fire relationships. Key results Historically, fire frequency and seasonality were variable within and among Great Lakes’ ecoregions. Climate forcing at regional scales resulted in synchronised fires, primarily during the late growing season, which were ubiquitous across the upper Great Lakes Region. Regionally significant fire years included 1689, 1752, 1754, 1791, and 1891. Conclusions We found significant climate forcing of region-wide fire regimes in the upper Great Lakes Region. Implications Historically, reoccurring fires in the upper Great Lakes Region were instrumental for shaping and maintaining forest resilience. The climate conditions that helped promote widespread fire years historically may be consistent with anticipated climate–fire interactions due to climate change.

Theorising repeated displacement: The role of anticipation and precedent. The case of Burundi

What drives mass displacement in the context of cyclical violence and repeated refugee flows? We take the context of Burundi and the Great Lakes region in Africa to show the limitations of available causal models, which are typically focused on war-related displacement, struggle to connect war and post-war displacement and where mass displacement is understood as a response to acute violence. Burundi is an excellent case study to problematise episodic, reactive and war-related causal models of displacement as this is a context with cyclical mass displacements spanning both war and peace and interconnected through dynamics such as people’s anticipation of worsening and reading of precedent. Taking the 2015 third-term contestation in Burundi as a starting point, we argue for a longue-durée approach to displacement and for complicating the dominant causality framework by bringing in three dynamics: anticipation, endogeneity and entrenchment. Anticipation considers how longer-term (violent) pasts rather than immediate events inform displacement. In Burundi, people drew on past experiences as well as rumours in an attempt to anticipate a deterioration. Endogeneity questions easy separations between displacement, violence and political crisis and rather sees them as co-constitutive. In Burundi, mass displacement cleared the opposition from domestic space and disenfranchised large populations in subsequent elections. It also drew increased transnational repression and triggered security fears on behalf of the regime. Finally, as the case of Burundi shows, redisplacement does not represent a ‘repeat’ or replication of past experience, but rather a new form of relation to exile and home. Against a long past of repeated displacements, many Burundians are entrenching in exile.

Evaluating the Performance of Seven Ongoing Satellite Altimetry Missions for Measuring Inland Water Levels of the Great Lakes.

Satellite altimetry can provide long-term water level time series for water bodies lacking hydrological stations. Few studies have evaluated the performance of HY-2C and Sentinel-6 satellites in inland water bodies, as they have operated for less than 1 and 2 years, respectively. This study evaluated the measured water level accuracy of CryoSat-2, HY-2B, HY-2C, ICESat-2, Jason-3, Sentinel-3A, and Sentinel-6 in the Great Lakes by in-situ data of 12 hydrological stations from 1 January 2021 to 1 April 2022. Jason-3 and Sentinel-6 have the lowest mean root-mean-square-error (RMSE) of measured water level, which is 0.07 m. The measured water level of Sentinel-6 satellite shows a high correlation at all passing stations, and the average value of all correlation coefficients (R) is also the highest among all satellites, reaching 0.94. The mean RMSE of ICESat-2 satellite is slightly lower than Jason-3 and Sentinel-6, which is 0.09 m. The stability of the average deviation (bias) of the ICESat-2 is the best, with the maximum bias only 0.07 m larger than the minimum bias. ICESat-2 satellite has an exceptionally high spatial resolution. It is the only satellite among the seven satellites that has retrieved water levels around twelve stations. HY-2C satellite has the highest temporal resolution, with a temporal resolution of 7.5 days at station 9075014 in Huron Lake and an average of 10 days in the Great Lakes region. The results show that the seven altimetry satellites currently in operation have their own advantages and disadvantages, Jason-3 and Sentinel-6 have the highest accuracy, ICESat-2 has higher accuracy and the highest spatial resolution, and HY-2C has the highest temporal resolution, although it is less accurate. In summary, with full consideration of accuracy and space-time resolution, the ICESat-2 satellite can be used as the benchmark to achieve the unification of multi-source data and establish water level time series.

<i>Solidago psammophila</i> (Asteraceae: Astereae), a New Sand Dune Endemic Goldenrod from Northern Michigan, U.S.A.

Solidago psammophila is described as a new species from open dune habitats along the southern shore of Lake Superior in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. Field and herbarium studies revealed that it is endemic to the state of Michigan, restricted to an approximately 100 km section of shoreline from Grand Sable Dunes in the west to Whitefish Point in the east. This goldenrod is ecologically similar to S. gillmanii (A. Gray) Steele in Solidago subsect. Humiles (Rydb.) Semple, sharing apparent adaptations to the sand dune environment. However, it differs from S. gillmanii and other members of subsect. Humiles in its vegetative pubescence and lack of glutinosity. It is morphologically most similar to the widespread S. hispida Muhl. in subsect. Erectae (G. Don) Semple & J.B. Beck. DNA ploidy determinations from flow cytometry revealed that this newly described species is tetraploid, whereas S. hispida has been shown to be uniformly diploid across its range. Solidago psammophila appears to be an example of the interplay of polyploidy and habitat specialization leading to ecological speciation in the recently glaciated Great Lakes region. A brief discussion of the other Great Lakes region endemic goldenrods and a revised key to all Michigan Solidago species are included.

Modeling of historical and current distributions of lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum (Acari: Ixodidae), is consistent with ancestral range recovery.

The lone star tick, Amblyomma americanum L., is a three-host hard tick notorious for aggressive feeding behavior. In the early to mid-20th century, this species' range was mostly limited to the southern USA. Since the 1950s, A. americanum has been detected in many new localities in the western, northcentral, and northeastern regions of the country. To examine the influence of climate on this apparent expansion, we used historical (1748-1950) lone star locations from the literature and museum records to model areas suitable for this species based on past environmental conditions in the late 1800s - early 1900s. We then projected this model forward using present (2011-2020) climatic conditions and compared the two for evidence of climate-associated distributional shifts. A maximum entropy distribution or Maxent model was generated by using a priori selected climatic variables including temperature, precipitation, and vapor pressure deficit. Temperature and vapor pressure deficit were selected as the most important factors in creating a sensitive and specific model (success rate = 82.6 ± 6.1%) that had a good fit to the existing data and was significantly better than a random model [partial ROC (receiver operating characteristic) to AUC (area under the ROC curve) ratio = 1.97 ± 0.07, P < 0.001]. The present projected model was tested with an independent dataset of curated museum records (1952-2020) and found to be 95.6% accurate. Comparison of past and present models revealed > 98% A. americanum niche overlap. The model suggests that some areas along the western fringe are becoming less suitable for A. americanum, whereas areas in some Great Lakes and coastal northeastern regions are becoming more suitable, results that are compatible with possible effects of climate change. However, these changes are minor, and overall climate in North America does not appear to have changed in ways significant to A. americanum's distribution. These findings are consistent with an alternative hypothesis that recent changes in A. americanum's distribution are a result of this species re-occupying its historical range, driven predominantly by factors other than climate, such as shifts in land use and population densities of major hosts.

Tracing toxic chemical releases embodied in U.S. interstate trade and their unequal distribution

Toxic chemicals have severe impacts on ecosystem, climate change and human health, and the current toxic releases are inequitably distributed across regions. Investigating the toxic release embodied in final demand by states and income groups can reveal the responsibility transfer of different entities. In this paper, we extended the U.S. multi-regional input–output (MRIO) model with toxic chemical release data in 2017 to conduct the production- and consumption-based accounting of toxic release by each state, and the inter-regional transfer of embodied toxic release between states. In addition, this paper analyzed how the toxic releases and inter-state transfer of embodied toxic release have been driven by income groups across states. The results showed that the toxic release from production was highly concentrated on the central states and the Great Lakes Region, while the consumption-based accounting of toxic release was more equally distributed across regions in the US. The non-metallic and metallic products manufacturing sectors were the most important sectors for most states from both production and consumption-based perspectives and were also the most essential sectors for interregional flows of embodied toxic release from Great Lake Region to Southeast, Mid-Atlantic and Northeast. Our results also showed that the largest portion (41.88%) of embodied toxic releases were triggered by households’ final demand, and that the consumption of the richest 35% of households contributed to more than 50% of the total toxic chemical releases triggered by total final demand of all households.

Natural Occurrence and Analysis of Nosema sp. Infection in the Adult Population of Western Bean Cutworm in Michigan.

An understanding of population dynamics and insect biology is important for effective crop management strategies. Biotic factors such as pathogens play a large role on the fitness and dynamics of insect populations. Microsporidia are obligate intracellular parasites that infect more than 150 insect species and range from sublethal and chronic to fast acting and deadly. The western bean cutworm, Striacosta albicosta (Smith) (Lepidoptera: Noctuidae), is a pest of both corn (Zea maize L. [Poales: Poaceae]) and dry beans (Phaseolus sp L. [Fabales: Fabaceae]) that is infected by a microsporidian parasite from the genus Nosema (Microsporidia: Nosematidae). Unfortunately, little is known about the interactions between the Nosema sp. (Microsporidia: Nosematidae) infecting the western bean cutworm and its prevalence and effects on the host population. This is especially true for the western bean cutworm population that has settled in the Great Lakes region over the last two decades. Using field caught samples and phase contrast microscopy, no consistent trends in pathogen load were observed over the course of the western bean cutworm flight season. A weak, but statistically significant relationship was observed between male body weight and pathogen load. Overall, we found a 100% prevalence of infection in the adult western bean cutworm population in Michigan.

Spheres of Life and Scales of Action among Gujarati and Omani Merchants in the African Great Lakes Region, 1920s–1930s

AbstractBased on bankruptcy and inheritance files and on population and business registers from Ruanda-Urundi, this paper reconstructs the local and long-distance professional and affective relations of Indian and Arab merchants operating in and around Bujumbura in the two decades before and after the Great Depression (1920s–1930s). The story complements the historiography on Asian diasporas in East Africa by going beyond the Indian Ocean coast, beyond the precolonial period, and beyond British-governed territories. Looking at different spheres of life and scales of action and assessing both commercial success and failure, this article makes a case for the importance of local dynamics and the relevance of cross-community relations within the relatively small foreign trade sector in the region. The reliance on “home” and kin remained important as mutual insurance at times of arrival and misfortune: firmly established first-comers assisted their relatives upon arrival, while at times of bankruptcy, death, or old age, long-distance family ties proved vital as well. However, facing discriminatory colonial measures, the Arab and Indian merchants were gradually relegated to the role of intermediaries in long-distance trade. Consequently, day-to-day business relations were increasingly a local, cross-community, and above all, precarious affair.

A new GTSeq resource to facilitate multijurisdictional research and management of walleye Sander vitreus.

Conservation and management professionals often work across jurisdictional boundaries to identify broad ecological patterns. These collaborations help to protect populations whose distributions span political borders. One common limitation to multijurisdictional collaboration is consistency in data recording and reporting. This limitation can impact genetic research, which relies on data about specific markers in an organism's genome. Incomplete overlap of markers between separate studies can prevent direct comparisons of results. Standardized marker panels can reduce the impact of this issue and provide a common starting place for new research. Genotyping-in-thousands (GTSeq) is one approach used to create standardized marker panels for nonmodel organisms. Here, we describe the development, optimization, and early assessments of a new GTSeq panel for use with walleye (Sander vitreus) from the Great Lakes region of North America. High genome-coverage sequencing conducted using RAD capture provided genotypes for thousands of single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs). From these markers, SNP and microhaplotype markers were chosen, which were informative for genetic stock identification (GSI) and kinship analysis. The final GTSeq panel contained 500 markers, including 197 microhaplotypes and 303 SNPs. Leave-one-out GSI simulations indicated that GSI accuracy should be greater than 80% in most jurisdictions. The false-positive rates of parent-offspring and full-sibling kinship identification were found to be low. Finally, genotypes could be consistently scored among separate sequencing runs >94% of the time. Results indicate that the GTSeq panel that we developed should perform well for multijurisdictional walleye research throughout the Great Lakes region.

Fear and Betrayal: Smallpox and the Turning Point of the French and Indian War

Fear and BetrayalSmallpox and the Turning Point of the French and Indian War John Booss (bio) The Indians fear nothing so much as this disease …. —Louis Antoine de Bougainville, Adventures in the Wilderness It is in the nature of great events, as Francis Parkman has said, to obscure the great events that came before them.1 The American Revolution has greatly eclipsed the French and Indian War in the popular imagination and in scholarly attention; yet, it has been called "The War That Made America."2 In this article, I examine the French and Indian War in which the two great colonizing powers, France and England, grappled for control of the North American continent.3 For Indigenous peoples, the conflict threatened their lands, their way [End Page 246] of life, and their very existence. In 1758 the Moravian minister Christian Post was told by Delaware Indian leaders that "you and the French contrived the war, to waste the Indians between you; and that you and the French intend to divide the land between you."4 The focus here is on the role of an outbreak of smallpox in the turning of the tide, or in marking the turning point from French and Indian victories to English dominance and ultimate triumph. I examine a smallpox outbreak among the Native allies of the French between August 1757 and the start of 1758. As suggested by my use of "turning point," the war can be split into two periods: the first, in which the French and their Indian allies predominated, from 1754 to 1757; and the second, in which the British predominated and ultimately prevailed, from 1758 to 1760. A major cause of the turn of the tide was the infection by smallpox of Indians from the upper Great Lakes region (Pays d'en Haut) following the siege of Fort William Henry on Lake George in August 1757. The infection was carried by the Indians back to their home villages and caused a massive outbreak and, subsequently, devastating mortality. The consequent refusal of the Indians of the Pays d'en Haut to join the French in their campaign of 1758 ensued. The role of smallpox in the participation by Amerindian allies of the French has been studied by D. Peter MacLeod.5 He examined reports of the annual number of Indians serving with the French and determined that smallpox was critical to decisions about whether the Indians would participate in the annual campaigns. He noted that the fluctuations of the numbers of Indian warriors were "of limited significance to the outcome of the war." His concern was the "political independence and freedom of action of the Indians."6 I examine the refusal of the Indians from the Pays d'en Haut to participate in the campaign of 1758 as a consequence of the smallpox epidemic in their villages, which had resulted from exposure during the campaign for Fort William Henry in 1757. Modifying MacLeod's conclusion, I contend that their refusal, subsequent to the outbreak of smallpox, was a critical component in the turning point of the war. The explicit connection between smallpox brought from the campaign for Fort William Henry and the turning point of the war does not appear to have been previously developed in detail. In contrast to the highly focused role of a smallpox outbreak in the French and Indian War, historians have recorded the massive effects of smallpox on other conflicts in the New [End Page 247] World. Smallpox epidemics played a major role in bringing down the Aztec and Inca cultures in Mexico and Peru, respectively.7 The role of smallpox in the defeat of the Aztec empire by the Spaniards and Indigenous allies in 1519–21 at Tenochtitlan was so dramatic that William H. McNeil began his epochal book Plagues and Peoples with that "extraordinary story."8 He later stated, "Clearly if smallpox had not come when it did, the Spanish victory could not have been achieved in Mexico."9 Alfred W. Crosby opened his 1967 paper titled "Conquistador y Pestilencia: The First New World Pandemic and the Fall of the Great Indian Empires" with the assertion, "The most sensational military conflicts in all history...

Emergence and Evolutionary Response of Vibrio cholerae to Novel Bacteriophage, Democratic Republic of the Congo1.

Cholera causes substantial illness and death in Africa. We analyzed 24 toxigenic Vibrio cholerae O1 strains isolated in 2015-2017 from patients in the Great Lakes region of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Strains originating in southern Asia appeared to be part of the T10 introduction event in eastern Africa. We identified 2 main strain lineages, most recently a lineage corresponding to sequence type 515, a V. cholerae cluster previously reported in the Lake Kivu region. In 41% of fecal samples from cholera patients, we also identified a novel ICP1 (Bangladesh cholera phage 1) bacteriophage, genetically distinct from ICP1 isolates previously detected in Asia. Bacteriophage resistance occurred in distinct clades along both internal and external branches of the cholera phylogeny. This bacteriophage appears to have served as a major driver for cholera evolution and spread, and its appearance highlights the complex evolutionary dynamic that occurs between predatory phage and bacterial host.

Drivers of Decadal Carbon Fluxes Across Temperate Ecosystems.

Long-running eddy covariance flux towers provide insights into how the terrestrial carbon cycle operates over multiple timescales. Here, we evaluated variation in net ecosystem exchange (NEE) of carbon dioxide (CO2) across the Chequamegon Ecosystem-Atmosphere Study AmeriFlux core site cluster in the upper Great Lakes region of the USA from 1997 to 2020. The tower network included two mature hardwood forests with differing management regimes (US-WCr and US-Syv), two fen wetlands with varying levels of canopy sheltering and vegetation (US-Los and US-ALQ), and a very tall (400m) landscape-level tower (US-PFa). Together, they provided over 70 site-years of observations. The 19-tower Chequamegon Heterogenous Ecosystem Energy-balance Study Enabled by a High-density Extensive Array of Detectors 2019 campaign centered around US-PFa provided additional information on the spatial variation of NEE. Decadal variability was present in all long-term sites, but cross-site coherence in interannual NEE in the earlier part of the record became weaker with time as non-climatic factors such as local disturbances likely dominated flux time series. Average decadal NEE at the tall tower transitioned from carbon source to sink to near neutral over 24years. Respiration had a greater effect than photosynthesis on driving variations in NEE at all sites. Declining snowfall offset potential increases in assimilation from warmer springs, as less-insulated soils delayed start of spring green-up. Higher CO2 increased maximum net assimilation parameters but not total gross primary productivity. Stand-scale sites were larger net sinks than the landscape tower. Clustered, long-term carbon flux observations provide value for understanding the diverse links between carbon and climate and the challenges of upscaling these responses across space.

TARIBAN1, TARIBAN2, TARIBAN3, and TARIBAN4 ‘Matooke’ Cooking Banana Cultivars for the Great Lakes Region of Africa

TARIBAN1, TARIBAN2, TARIBAN3, and TARIBAN4 ‘Matooke’ Cooking Banana Cultivars for the Great Lakes Region of Africa