What is the Aquatic Ecology Lab Research Partnership?

Links to AEL Partnership pages

Partnership with the Division of Wildlife (ODW), Ohio Department of Natural Resources.

Beginning in 1976, The Ohio State University Department of Zoology (now the Department of Evolution, Ecology, and Organismal Biology (EEOB)) and the Ohio Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit of the National Biological Service (OCFWRU) shared laboratory and office space, as well as research interests, at the Research Center. The administrative liaison duties for Ohio Division of Wildlife (ODW) sponsored Federal Aid research shifted from the OCFWRU to a member of the Zoology faculty (Dr. Roy A Stein) in 1991 and the name "Aquatic Ecology Laboratory" was also formally given to this new administrative unit within the Department of Zoology (now EEOB). Over the past 15 years, we have developed and now enjoy an excellent relationship with ODW, in which we are viewed as their experimentally oriented research branch, working cooperatively and collaboratively to solve outstanding fish management and research problems within the state. “We” in this context are the faculty supported by ODW via Sport Fish in Restoration funds, including Drs. Roy A. Stein (EEOB), Libby Marschall (EEOB), Dave Culver (EEOB), and Konrad Dabrowski (School of Natural Resources).

Operationally, we benefit in two primary ways: 1) specific direct funding of research projects and 2) associated funding that includes secretarial support, research equipment, equipment repair, building maintenance, travel to scientific meetings, training, and workshops. The partnership itself provides opportunities for 1) internships for our graduate students, 2) use of historical data sets (from Lake Erie and our inland reservoirs), 3) collection of field data by ODW personnel in direct support of our research projects, and 4) in-kind support of all things imaginable (electrofishing boat construction and maintenance, access to hatchery ponds for replicated, medium-scale experiments, etc.).

Results of this fruitful partnership are displayed every year during our Annual Lake Erie/Inland Waters Research Review meeting.

Dave Culver's Limnology Lab

Konrad Dabrowski's page

AEL researchers using ODW research boat in Lake Erie.

Processing fish at the ODNR-DOW lab in
Sandusky, Ohio.

Current AEL Partnership projects

• Improved Reliability of Percid Production in Rearing Ponds, David A. Culver (FADR39).
• Quantifying How Parental Attributes Influence Characteristics of Early Life History Stages of Ohio Stocks of Lake Erie Walleye, Roy A. Stein, Konrad Dabrowski, and Elizabeth A. Marschall (FADR42).
• Assessing the Potential for Differential Contributions of Spawning Stocks to Lake Erie Yellow Perch Populations, Elizabeth A. Marschall (FADR44).
• Effect of Water Supply Quality on Fish Production in Rearing Ponds, David A. Culver (FADR49).
• Habitat Mapping and Predator-Prey Dynamics in Ohio Reservoirs, D. Derek Aday and Elizabeth A. Marschall (FADR50).
• Lower Trophic Level Impacts on Fish Recruitment, David A. Culver (FADX09).