CEM Awarded $1.18M NSERC Alliance Grant

We’re pleased to announce that the Centre for Ecosystem Management has been awarded a $1.18M National Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance grant for our "Rewired Great Lakes Food Webs" project.

Harmful algal blooms (HAB) are often triggered by excess nutrients in the water, particularly nitrogen and phosphorus, which can come from agricultural runoff.

Over the next four years, this research will tackle a major challenge in Canada by mitigating the impact of multiple stressors—such as nutrients, harvesting, climate change, and invasive species—on the sustainability of Great Lakes fisheries and their food webs. There is an increasing need, both within Canada and globally, to develop ecosystem management techniques that address the complex relationships between structure-function and structure-resilience in diverse ecosystems. By creating a highly integrative network of interest groups, including managers and scientists, we intend to advance world-leading research in ecosystem management under changing conditions. The iconic Great Lakes, a hotspot for biodiversity, agriculture, and global change, urgently require these innovative management tools.

This work is made possible through the financial support of NSERC as well as the Great Lakes Fishery Commission (GLFC), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), Department of Fisheries & Oceans (DFO) and the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR).

Cover photo by Giorgio Trovato on Unsplash