University field stations are located off site from the main campuses and
frequently in a natural setting, providing opportunity for students, faculty, and the
public to engage with - and appreciate - local ecosystems. Their missions usually
encompass the three cornerstones of environmental research, education, and
outreach/community engagement, which go hand-in-hand with understanding and
furthering sustainability. University field stations enhance environmental sustainability
by helping to preserve a natural setting for coming generations, fostering research and
monitoring of local ecosystems and their component biodiversity, and training the next
generation and citizen scientists for field and laboratory work. Here we provide an
example of how we are addressing sustainability through growth of the Lake Erie
Center, a mid-sized university center with modest funding and staff that is located at
the heart of land-water issues of runoff, sedimentation, algal blooms, legacy
contaminants, and habitat loss facing the world’s largest freshwater ecosystem of the
Laurentian Great Lakes. We have networked our mission by building an Environmental
Science Learning Community, which brings together faculty, students, educators,
agencies, stakeholders, and the public to work towards the common goal of improving
land-lake ecosystem services. This background has allowed us to rapidly respond to the
August 2014 “Toledo Water Crisis” in which the Lake Erie water supply to 500,000 local citizens was contaminated by the algal toxin microcystin, resulting in a “do not
drink” health advisory. The Lake Erie Center’s strategic location, both geographically
and scientifically, has enhanced our effective education, research, and community
engagement programs.
Keywords: Biodiversity, Climate change, Dreissena polymorpha, Dreissenid
mussel, Eddy covariance, Field station, Graduate student education, Harmful algal
bloom, Invasive species, Lake Erie, Microcystis, Quagga mussel, Sander vitreus,
Sensor network, Sustainability, Tiered mentoring, Toledo, Undergraduate
education, Unionid mussel, Walleye, Water quality, Zebra mussel.
