UTSC OVPRI Celebration of Research Excellence Lecture Series #2 Session – Professor Nicholas Mandrak

UTSC OVPRI Celebration of Research Excellence Lecture Series with Professor Nicholas Mandrak

“A Brief History of the Fish Communities of the Great Lakes: Past, Present, Future”

The fish communities of the Laurentian Great Lakes are young, having colonized the basin since the recession of the last Ice Age about 12,000 years ago. Despite their young age, distinct species and communities were evolving prior to European colonization. However, colonization led to impacts on the fish communities, such as overexploitation and habitat degradation, that resulted in the loss of native, and the gain of invasive, species. As a result, the Great Lakes environment and, hence, the fish communities, are very different now and face an uncertain future under climate change.