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Research about southern Lake Michigan

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including southern Lake Michigan.

4 recordsLinked to original sources
USGS2014

Evidence for free-living Bacteroides in Cladophora along the shores of the Great Lakes

Bacteroides is assumed to be restricted to the alimentary canal of animals and humans and is considered to be non-viable in ambient environments. We hypothesized that Bacteroides could persist and replicate within beach-stranded Cladophora glomerata mats in southern Lake Michigan, USA. Mean Bacteroides concentration (per GenBac3 Taqman quantitative PCR assay) during summer 2012 at Jeorse Park Beach was 5.2 log calibrator cell equivalents (CCE) g -1 dry weight (dw), ranging from 3.7 to 6.7. We monitored a single beach-stranded mat for 3 wk; bacterial concentrations increased by 1.6 log CCE g -1 dw and correlated significantly with ambient temperature (p = 0.003). Clonal growth was evident, as observed by >99% nucleotide sequence similarity among clones. In in vitro studies, Bacteroides concentrations increased by 5.5 log CCE g -1 after 7 d (27°C) in fresh Cladophora collected from rocks. Partial sequencing of the 16S rRNA gene of 36 clones from the incubation experiment showed highly similar genotypes (≥97% sequence overlap). The closest enteric Bacteroides spp. from the National Center for Biotechnology Information database were only 87 to 91% similar. Genomic similarity, clonality, growth, and persistence collectively suggest that putative, free-living Bacteroides inhabit Cladophora mats of southern Lake Michigan. These findings may have important biological, medical, regulatory, microbial source tracking, and public health implications.

southern Lake Michigan↗
USGS2006

Seasonal persistence and population characteristics of Escherichia coli and entercocci in deep backshore sand of two freshwater beaches

We studied the shoreward and seasonal distribution of E. coli and enterococci in sand (at the water table) at two southern Lake Michigan beaches—Dunbar and West Beach (in Indiana). Deep, backshore sand (∼20 m inland) was regularly sampled for 15 months during 2002–2003. E. coli counts were not significantly different in samples taken at 5-m intervals from 0–40 m inland (P=0.25). Neither E. coli nor enterococci mean counts showed any correlation or differences between the two beaches studied. In laboratory experiments, E. coli readily grew in sand supplemented with lake plankton, suggesting that in situ E. coli growth may occur when temperature and natural organic sources are adequate. Of the 114 sand enterococci isolates tested, positive species identification was obtained for only 52 (46%), with E. faecium representing the most dominant species (92%). Genetic characterization by ribotyping revealed no distinct genotypic pattern (s) for E. coli , suggesting that the sand population was rather a mixture of numerous strains (genotypes). These findings indicate that E. coli and enterococci can occur and persist for extended periods in backshore sand at the groundwater table. Although this study was limited to two beaches of southern Lake Michigan, similar findings can be expected at other temperate freshwater beaches. The long-term persistence of these bacteria, perhaps independent of pollution events, complicates their use as indicator organisms. Further, backshore sand at the water table may act as a reservoir for these bacteria and potentially for human pathogens.

Michigan, Indiana↗
USGS1992

Beach-ridge development and lake-level variation in southern Lake Michigan

The most accurate source of information on lake-level fluctuations in the Great Lakes is the historical record from lake-level gauges. Although it can be semiquantitatively extended back into the late 1700's, the historical record is too short to recognize long-term patterns of lake-level behavior. To extend the historical record, information must be obtained from the Great Lakes geologic record. Such information includes the elevation and age of geomorphic features and stratigraphic sequences. One of the longest geologic records of late Holocene lake-level variation is preserved in a beach-ridge complex along the southern shore of Lake Michigan called the Toleston Beach. This strandplain contains over 150 beach ridges that arc across northwestern Indiana and fan out into northeastern Illinois. Each ridge was formed during the fall from a high lake level, and the elevation of the foreshore deposits in each ridge provides information on the upper physical limit of lake level over the past 4000 years. Three scales of quasi-periodic lake-level variation were determined by radiocarbon-dating basal peats of wetlands between the ridges and by measuring the elevation of foreshore (swash) deposits within ridges. These three scales are: (1) a short-term and small-scale fluctuation of 25 to 35 years with a range of about 0.5 to 0.6 m; (2) an intermediate-term and meso-scale fluctuation of 140 to 160 years and a range of about 0.8 to 0.9 m; and (3) a long-term and large-scale fluctuation of 500 to 600 years and a range of 1.8 to 3.7 m. The short-term and intermediate-term fluctuations are reflected in the historical record. An increase in the rate of shoreline progradation from east to west across Indiana's shoreline causes differential preservation of the lake-level fluctuations. That is, groups of four to six ridges in the western part of the strandplain that formed in response to the small-scale fluctuations combine eastward into single ridges and groups of ridges representing the meso-scale fluctuations. The large-scale fluctuations produced the most dramatic response in the western part of the Toleston Beach. Here, following each high stand, individual spits prograded southward off of a bedrock headland. The successive spit extensions created several small lakes landward of the spits and started the 20 km eastward stream-mouth deflection of the Grand Calumet River across Indiana's western lakeshore.

Illinois, Indiana↗