Home Toxic Substances INFO-SHEET: Toxic Substances and Areas of Concern Projects for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative Determine Baseline and Sources of Toxic Contaminant Loadings Mercury Cycling and Bioaccumulation in the Great Lakes Birds as Indicators of Contaminant Exposure in the Great Lakes Great Lakes Legacy Act Support Toxicity Studies for EPA Invasive Species Development of Chemical Tools to Control Asian Carp Innovative Phragmites-Control Strategies Identify Pathways for Inter-Basin Invasive Species Transfer Controlling Dreissenid Mussels with Pseudomonas fluorescens CL145A Nearshore Health Forecast/Nowcast Great Lakes Nutrient and Sediment Loadings Enhance Great Lakes Beach Recreational Water Quality Decision Making Development of Watershed TMDLs in the Great Lakes Basin Building Local Capacity to Address Nonpoint Source Problems Habitat & Wildlife Fish Habitat Enhancement Strategies for the Huron-Erie Corridor New Strategies for Restoring Coastal Wetland Functions Improving Strategies to Restore Aquatic Habitats and Species Avian Botulism in Distressed Great Lakes Environments Changes in Nutrient Transfer Within Great Lakes Food Webs Accountability Implementation of the Great Lakes Observing System Forecasting Potential Phragmites Coastal Invasion Corridors Forecasting Great Lakes Basin Responses to Future Change Watershed Modeling for Stream Ecosystem Management Characterization of Rivermouth Ecosystems Geospatial Information for Decision Support in AOCs and Ecosystems Compilation of USGS Data for the Great Lakes Basin Lakewide Management Plan Capacity Support by USGS

Development of Chemical Tools to Control Asian Carp.

Template #66: (Projects under this template also include biological controls and risk assessment)

Technologies Using Oral Delivery Platforms for Species-Specific Control

• Problem: The technology does not currently exist to specifically target Asian carp for control within aquatic ecosystems. Methods with high specificity for Asian carp are necessary to control or eradicate them without further harm to native species and habitat.
  
  
• Action: Development of a targeted oral delivery platform using novel incorporation technologies that have the capacity to deliver biocides to specific target sites in AIS may increase the selectivity and specificity of both current and potential new management chemicals. This large integrated project will focus on developing these approaches for application throughout the Great Lakes. In FY 2010, work will focus on initiating development of new integrated pest management approaches for Asian carps and other invasive aquatic species of concern to Great Lakes managers, including researching candidate bioactive agents, pathogens, and specific targeted delivery platforms.
  
  

Expand Research on the Identification of Asian Carp Attraction Pheromones

• Problem: Technologies presently do not exist to specifically target Asian carp for control within aquatic ecosystems. Current applications of non-selective toxicants (e.g. rotenone) harm native fish species and must be applied to broad expanses of aquatic habitat if they are to have effect. The lack of a species-specific method of attraction (e.g. pheromone) limits managers’ ability to achieve maximal control while minimizing risk to native fishes. Developing attractants with high specificity for Asian carp are necessary to control or eradicate them without further harm to native species and habitat.
  
  
• Action: USGS will conduct research to better define the active pheromone components and the response of Asian carps to pheromone products. Conceptual models will be developed in which pheromones could be integrated into management programs to control or limit Asian carps. Methods will be developed to synthesize active pheromone components.
  
  

Identify Potential Compounds for Inclusion in a Toxicant Screening Program to Identify Potential Selective Toxicants for the Control of Asian Carp

• Problem: Current toxicants used to control aquatic invasive species are general toxicants with limited to no selectivity (e.g. antimycin, rotenone). Agrichemical and pesticide laboratories create thousands of new chemical compounds per annum. Although toxicity information is generally not available for these new compounds in aquatic organisms, structure activity relationship analysis could identify likely candidates for inclusion in a toxicant screening program.
  
  
• Action: USGS will develop cooperative research and development agreements to access pharmaceutical or agrochemical company chemical libraries to identify potential candidate toxicants. Identification of potential toxicants will either be through structure activity relationships or through known activity models. Studies will be required to assess selective toxicity of candidate toxicants between Asian carp versus native fishes. Additional data sets would be required to support registration. Efforts would be made to target those compounds/formulations with present agrichemical/pesticide use to reduce costs and time required to obtain full registration.
  
  

Characterization of Organism-Level Target Delivery Sites in Native Aquatic Animals

• Problem: Current toxicants used to control aquatic invasive species are non-selective and applied as immersion exposures – resulting in equal exposure of native and invasive species to the toxicant. Development of a targeted delivery system which reduces non-target species exposure to the toxicant could greatly enhance selectivity and reduce effects to non-target species. Development of such delivery methodologies will require full understanding of native and invasive species gill and gut enzyme activity and physiology since a targeted delivery system will likely use an oral or gill adhesion delivery route.
  
  
• Action: Research will be conducted to identify and characterize potential bioactive agent delivery sites within AIS including the gill, skin, and gastrointestinal tract (gastric or post-gastric). Research will focus on collection of data on the physiological characteristics of both AIS and native species (e.g., enzyme, protein, lipid, carbohydrate components, pH) to provide an understanding of factors that might affect delivery of a bioactive agent. While some basic research is available in this area, additional basic and applied research will lead to development of optimized delivery components to enhance selectivity and sensitivity. Research planned to characterize Asian carp gastrointestinal pH and digestive enzyme profiles will be expanded to include identification and characterization of native fish gastrointestinal tracts.
  
  

Great Lakes’ Tributary Assessment for Asian Carp Habitat Suitability   >LEARN MORE

• Problem: Tributaries that would be suitable for bighead carp spawning need to be identified to focus management efforts for evaluating invasion success, as well as sites to launch control actions.
  
  
• Action: Although bighead carps are preferentially inhabitants of lakes and slow moving waters, they are thought to require a long river for spawning and recruitment. An often-cited value in the literature is a minimum length of 100 km. Kolar et al. (2007) identifies 22 rivers on the USA boundaries of the Great Lakes that have a minimum undammed river length of 100 km, and an Asian carp risk assessment performed by the Canadian Department of Fisheries and Oceans includes an inventory of the Canadian Rivers with a minimum length of 50 km. However, the estimates of river length required are based on locations where populations of bighead carps are known to be found, and thus do not describe a true minimum. Recent research at CERC has determined the developmental stage at which bighead carp larvae are capable of swimming and migrating laterally from flowing water into nursery habitats. This knowledge can be used in a model of river velocity and temperature to describe an actual river length required. This more accurate minimum river length, taken together with the temperature and velocity regimes of individual rivers, can be used to more accurately determine which rivers are suitable for spawning and recruitment of bighead carps.
  
  

Risk Assessment of Asian Carp Establishment in the Great Lakes, Based on Available Food Sources

• Problem: Bighead carps have yet to become established in waters as oligotrophic as the open waters of the Great Lakes. However, under varying conditions bighead carps have been observed to diversify their diet beyond their preferred pelagic plankton sources and feed on detritus. Feeding studies are needed under controlled conditions where the flexibility in the carp diet can be defined thus establishing their ability to maintain large populations in the Great Lakes.
  
  
• Action: USGS has observed bighead carp feeding on sediment detritus in ponds, and silver carp feeding on attached algae in aquaria. Also, silver carp are thought to derive substantial nutrition from bacteria, both consumed and cultured in the gut. However, it is not known whether these food sources are adequate for carp growth and survival. It is unknown whether they could feed adequately on planktonic resources currently found in the Great lakes, or if they could take advantage of sediment detritus or attached algae (like Cladophora, now a substantial problem in parts of the Great Lakes because of the dreissenid mussel invasion) to a degree that would allow them to maintain large populations. USGS proposes investigating these questions using laboratory (juvenile fish) and pond (adult or sub-adult fish) mesocosm studies combined with bioenergetic techniques, to assess the risk of bighead carp establishment in the Great Lakes based on these food sources.
  
  

Understanding Asian Carp and Bluegreen Algae Dynamics

• Problem: 1. Bluegreen algae (primarily Microcystis) blooms resulting from the dreissenid invasion may provide an excellent food source for bighead carp, enhancing their invasion. 2. Noxious bluegreen algae blooms can under some circumstances be enhanced by interaction with bighead carps.
  
  
• Action: The risk of enhanced noxious algal blooms, and the possibility that use of bluegreen algae blooms might enhance bighead carp invasiveness, could be assessed by modeling, and parameterized with mesocosm experiments that fill in some of the holes in our understanding of this relationship.
  
  

Feasibility Assessment of Inter-Basin Transfer of AIS   >LEARN MORE

• Problem: Continued transfer of Aquatic Invasive Species between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi River Basins in spite of the Dispersal Barrier. Additional hydraulic connections between the two basins could provide transfer and need to be addressed.
  
  
• Action: 1) Determine the frequency via the surface-water pathway that there was the potential for migration of invasive species from the Des Plaines River to the CSSC during flooding conditions observed previously. 2) Determine the potential for migration of invasive species from the Des Plaines River and/or the I&M Canal to the SSC via groundwater flow through the fractured bedrock that is present between these surface water bodies. The area of investigation is where the Des Plaines River, CSSC, and I&M Canal are located near each other in the vicinity of Lockport, Illinois, which includes the area surrounding the electric fish barrier. The investigation will involve a review of the life cycle of the Asian carp; surface topographic mapping; characterization of the bathymetry and water levels in the Des Plaines River, SSC, and I&M canal; assessment of the fracture network in the karstic bedrock system between these surface-water bodies; characterization of groundwater flow through the fracture network; and assessment of select water-quality parameters in the bedrock. Coordination efforts with USACE to avoid duplication are underway.
  
  

Use of Seismic Technology to Divert or Eradicate Invasive Asian Carp   >LEARN MORE

• Problem: Technologies presently do not exist to specifically target Asian carp for control within aquatic ecosystems. Current physical controls (e.g., electrofishing or netting) are of limited success in altering populations. The development of physical methods to disrupt Asian carp spawning activities in identified tributaries coupled with attractant pheromones has the potential to limit Asian carp reproduction success.
  
  
• Action: Research will focus on identification of sound wave amplitude and frequency which elicit silver carp avoidance behavior to disrupt spawning aggregations and limit recruitment. Research will also be conducted to evaluate the response of Asian carp eggs to electrical fields, sonication, etc., in order to develop methods to reduce egg viability while the eggs drift downstream of Asian carp spawning areas. The research will enable integrated approaches to prioritize locations of potential physical controls in identified spawning habitat coupled with application of attractant/dispersal pheromones.