Old Woman Creek

Plankton Tow from Lake Erie

Friday

It was 5:00 on a sunny, Cleveland day. Aquatic resources students were loading up the Biology van for an hour long drive west to Old Woman Creek (OWC). OWC is located in Huron Ohio and is one of Ohio’s last remaining examples of a natural estuary. It is protected by the State Nature Preserve and serves as a field laboratory site for many different research projects. The estuary is separated from Lake Erie by a barrier beach, whereby the field station is located. Upon arrival, we unpacked our things and explored the site where we were to spend the weekend. The algae master, Dr. Jeff Johansen, was awaiting our arrival and had started to prepare dinner. While he was cooking, students went out to Lake Erie and did a plankton tow to gather water samples. After our delicious dinner, which consisted of garlic bread, pasta, and salad, was consumed, we examined the water samples under a microscope and identified the zooplankton and phytoplankton in it.

Old Woman Creek map and overhead picture of research station

Saturday

Nelumbo 

Phragmites

It started at 8:00 in the morning. We met with an Old Woman Creek ranger who showed us to the canoes and gave us a little bit of background on the creek. We partnered up and headed out for a leisurely canoe trip down the estuary. Along the way, we stopped to observe some Phragmites australis, an extremely invasive reed plant that is overtaking much of the northeast Ohio wetlands. It can grow up to 15 feet high and will crowd out native plants and animals, obstruct views and will generally degrade wetlands (Department of Environmental Quality). They tend to thrive in shallow, littoral zones of wetlands. Attempts have been made to control Phragmites, including controlled burning and herbicide application, and wetland floodings but these have not been successful. The only semi-successful method that seems to have worked at OWC is to apply pesticide, and then mow or pull out the remaining Phragmites. However, this is very time consuming and costly. The OWC ranger also talked to us about the many samplers they have on the estuary that take water samples and environmental data and send them to NOAA.  We also examined the many Nelumbo lotus scattered throughout the estuary. The leaves of Nelumbo extend out of the water from a central stalk and are highly hydrophobic. We attempted to collect algae and invertebrates that were on the underside of the leaves. Additionally, while we were canoeing, we threw out multiple plankton tows to collect zooplankton and phytoplankton that live in the estuary. While out on the water, we were able to spot some birds which included: Wood Ducks, Blue- winged Teal, Mallards, Cormorants, Osprey, Great Egrets, and Great Blue Herons. OWC has a Bald Eagle nesting program to bolster Bald Eagle numbers in Northern Ohio, however we were not fortunate enough to spot one.

Seining for fish in the estuary

 

Canoeing

After the canoe trip ended, it began to rain. Actually, pour. However, since we are aquatic resources students, we did not fear the rain, and instead tried to sein for fish in the estuary. Seining is done by gathering at least 5 enthusiastic volunteers and sending them into the water with a net and some sticks. Two people hold the net, which is weighted at the bottom, by the wooden posts on either end of it. At least three other people stand upstream of the net and begin to shuffle towards it to corral in any fish or other organisms. Once the shufflers and net meet, the net is lifted from the bottom, to ensure nothing escapes, and the trapped fish are collected. The majority of fish we found were Emerald Shiners, but we also found Round Goby’s, which are an invasive

Emerald Shiner from drn.state.oh.us

species. The shiners were saved for OWC fish collection. While some of the class were seining, the others were sampling for invertebrates around the banks of the estuary using dip nets. If any organism was caught in the nets, it was placed in a vial containing 70% alcohol.

That afternoon, we went to the Old Woman Creek Visitor Center where we looked at all of our samples from the plankton tows and the invertebrate sampling under dissecting and compound microscopes. We identified what we had found using the sheets provided and the “Guide to aquatic macroinvertebrates of the upper Midwest”.  The following is a list of what we found:

Following our masterful identification, we toured the OWC visitor center and even got a VIP, backstage pass where we saw how water quality is tested using pH analysis and dissolved oxygen percentages. We got the opportunity to do these things first hand using samples we had collected on the canoe trip. We also heard about all of the different research projects being done at OWC. Some of these include: migratory bird route research, chemical from agriculture impacts on Lake Erie, algae, plant, mammal, and fish surveys, and Phragmites control. Once we finished up at the Visitor Center, we went to get pizza at one of the many pizza restaurants in Huron.

Identifying samples at OWC visitor center

Sunday-

Hiking at Magee Marsh

We arose on Sunday and headed West to Sheldon Marsh Nature Preserve. Sheldon Marsh is home to a wide variety of marsh plants, however is heavily impacted with Phragmites, which has overtaken much of the native cattail (Genus: Typha). Additionally, a golf course is located nearby which has negatively impacted the marsh because of the large amounts of fertilizer they use, which ultimately runs off into the marsh. We did not see or collect any invertebrates or fish at this marsh, and instead, just observed the plant community. One of the most interesting plants we found was the goldenrod (Solidago). Goldenrod has an interesting association with the Goldenrod gall fly. The gall fly larvae is inserted into the stems by adults and will feed on the nutrients inside the stem, causing the stem to bulge up to the size of a golf ball. Once the larvae has metamorphosized into an adult, it tunnels out of the gall, mates and the cycle starts again. Sheldon Marsh is one of Ohio’s best examples of a barrier beach. Barrier beaches protect lagoons, estuaries, and salt marshes from direct sea action, allowing for greater diversity to exist. After Sheldon Marsh, we continued driving west to Oak Harbor, OH to reach Magee Marsh. Magee Marsh is world renowned for its annual bird migrations. People from all over the world visit the marsh in the fall to see swan, duck, and songbird migrations. We had very limited access to the marsh, however, due to controlled hunting. Therefore, we were not able to see as much as we may have wanted. However, we were able to see two small brown snakes and an Giant Asian Mantis (Hierodula membranacea). We did observe the plant diversity and take in the magnificent views the marsh provided. Once we finished hiking at Magee Marsh, we headed home with memories to last a life time.

Maps of Sheldon and Magee Marsh from ohiodnr.com