Lake Erie Science Series: Mayflies

Learn more about Mayflies in this Lake Erie Science program at 2 p.m. Tuesday, June 13 on the Train Station patio.

Dr. Kristen Fussell has been an active researcher in the Western basin of Lake Erie since 2004, when she began her master’s research with Dr. Christine Mayer at the University of Toledo’s Lake Erie Center. She studied the impacts of invasive zebra and quagga mussels on sediment properties and the native invertebrate community.

Fussell received her master’s degree in December 2006 and continued as a PhD student with Christine Mayer. For her PhD, Fussell worked on a similar project, examining the effects of soft sediment quagga mussel clusters on the native burrowing mayfly population. She received her PhD from the University of Toledo in August 2011.

Fussell’s post-doctoral research with Dr. Stuart Ludsin at Ohio State in the Department of Evolution, Ecology and Organismal Biology focused on a project funded by the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, examining how physical and biological processes can act together to influence larval fish survival and recruitment to the fishery.

Fussell joined Ohio Sea Grant in July 2014 and currently manages Ohio Sea Grant’s research program, including grants funded or managed by Ohio Sea Grant as well as development of Ohio Sea Grant research proposals and programs to be funded by external sources.

Fussell regularly interacts with the investigators funded through Ohio Sea Grant and synthesizes project updates and results to disseminate to other scientists, agencies and the general public.