Karen Alofs 🐟
@kmalofs.bsky.social
fishes and impacts of env change; associate prof aquatic ecology @ university of michigan seas
sites.google.com/umich.edu/alofs
sites.google.com/umich.edu/alofs
Great to see new work lead by @pjflood.bsky.social out in @globalchangebio.bsky.social this week. Another piece from our collaboration with @michigandnr.bsky.social examining recently digitized historical lake survey data.
news.umich.edu/fishes-young...
news.umich.edu/fishes-young...
November 7, 2025 at 4:42 PM
Great to see new work lead by @pjflood.bsky.social out in @globalchangebio.bsky.social this week. Another piece from our collaboration with @michigandnr.bsky.social examining recently digitized historical lake survey data.
news.umich.edu/fishes-young...
news.umich.edu/fishes-young...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
Come work at the UMich Biological Station as a Michigan Fellow (you don't have to be a biologist)! Apply today: societyoffellows.umich.edu/uncategorize...
Apply Now: Michigan Society of Fellows 2026-2029 Postdoctoral Fellowships – University of Michigan Society of Fellows, Established 1970
societyoffellows.umich.edu
August 2, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Come work at the UMich Biological Station as a Michigan Fellow (you don't have to be a biologist)! Apply today: societyoffellows.umich.edu/uncategorize...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
If you're in northern Michigan, drop by the U-M Biological Station in Pellston on July 30 for MISG Director Silvia Newell's talk about nitrogen as a driver of harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes: buff.ly/V5tTtjA @newelllab.bsky.social
July 15, 2025 at 3:29 PM
If you're in northern Michigan, drop by the U-M Biological Station in Pellston on July 30 for MISG Director Silvia Newell's talk about nitrogen as a driver of harmful algal blooms in the Great Lakes: buff.ly/V5tTtjA @newelllab.bsky.social
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
Michigan Sea Grant is a smart investment: We turned $19 million of federal and state funding into nearly $86 million in direct economic benefits for Michigan in 2018-23 💪
July 8, 2025 at 12:25 PM
Michigan Sea Grant is a smart investment: We turned $19 million of federal and state funding into nearly $86 million in direct economic benefits for Michigan in 2018-23 💪
Also a highlight by Carol Thompson in the Detroit News www.detroitnews.com/story/news/l...
June 20, 2025 at 8:46 PM
Also a highlight by Carol Thompson in the Detroit News www.detroitnews.com/story/news/l...
Please share this commentary by scientists and collaborators at the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) outlining the enormous benefits of investments in Great Lakes Research. kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...
kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me
June 20, 2025 at 8:43 PM
Please share this commentary by scientists and collaborators at the Cooperative Institute for Great Lakes Research (CIGLR) outlining the enormous benefits of investments in Great Lakes Research. kwnsfk27.r.eu-west-1.awstrack.me/L0/https:%2F...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
The USGS ecosystems research program doesn't just study wildlife. Its researchers work on rangelands and forests, fisheries and aquaculture, and critically, wildfire.
Trump's proposed budget eliminates this program entirely, allocating $0 for 2026.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/c...
Trump's proposed budget eliminates this program entirely, allocating $0 for 2026.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/c...
Trump’s Proposed Budget Would Cut a Major Ecology Program
www.nytimes.com
June 2, 2025 at 7:38 PM
The USGS ecosystems research program doesn't just study wildlife. Its researchers work on rangelands and forests, fisheries and aquaculture, and critically, wildfire.
Trump's proposed budget eliminates this program entirely, allocating $0 for 2026.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/c...
Trump's proposed budget eliminates this program entirely, allocating $0 for 2026.
www.nytimes.com/2025/05/31/c...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
New publication from our group at UMich in collaboration with MI DNR.
Mismatch between climate-based bioenergetics model of fish growth and long-term and regional-scale empirical data
🐟 🧪 🌎
doi.org/10.1139/cjfa...
Mismatch between climate-based bioenergetics model of fish growth and long-term and regional-scale empirical data
🐟 🧪 🌎
doi.org/10.1139/cjfa...
Mismatch between climate-based bioenergetics model of fish growth and long-term and regional-scale empirical data
Climate-driven decreases in body size have been documented for a variety of taxa and proposed as a universal response to climate change. However, empirical support among taxa, including fishes, has be...
doi.org
March 27, 2025 at 7:39 PM
New publication from our group at UMich in collaboration with MI DNR.
Mismatch between climate-based bioenergetics model of fish growth and long-term and regional-scale empirical data
🐟 🧪 🌎
doi.org/10.1139/cjfa...
Mismatch between climate-based bioenergetics model of fish growth and long-term and regional-scale empirical data
🐟 🧪 🌎
doi.org/10.1139/cjfa...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
New OA paper out this week!🚨This one is particularly meaningful for me as it is the final part of my dissertation to be published, and it is the project I set out to do when I started my PhD – Did African Jewelfish alter the Everglades aquatic food web? 1/n 🧪🐟🌎🧵
doi.org/10.1002/ecs2...
doi.org/10.1002/ecs2...
Trophic disruption by an invasive species linked to altered energy fluxes
The Trophic Disruption Hypothesis (TDH) predicts that invasive species may cause native species to undergo trophic dispersion (change in trophic-niche area) and trophic displacement (diet switching),...
doi.org
May 16, 2025 at 5:58 PM
New OA paper out this week!🚨This one is particularly meaningful for me as it is the final part of my dissertation to be published, and it is the project I set out to do when I started my PhD – Did African Jewelfish alter the Everglades aquatic food web? 1/n 🧪🐟🌎🧵
doi.org/10.1002/ecs2...
doi.org/10.1002/ecs2...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
It is hard to imagine a world without the USGS Ecosystems Mission, the bird banding lab, the Coop Unit program, etc. but apparently that is what America voted for and what this administration plans to do: wildlife.org/usgs-cuts-wo...
USGS cuts would jeopardize leading wildlife research - The Wildlife Society
The loss of personnel and entire research arms would affect our ability to monitor wildlife populations
wildlife.org
May 3, 2025 at 11:15 PM
It is hard to imagine a world without the USGS Ecosystems Mission, the bird banding lab, the Coop Unit program, etc. but apparently that is what America voted for and what this administration plans to do: wildlife.org/usgs-cuts-wo...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
A light in the midst of a lot of chaos and uncertainty in #GreatLakes science-
Using genetics and morphology, we discovered a fish that was once presumed extinct still swims in Lake Superior. #CiscoInferno🔥 🐟🧬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Using genetics and morphology, we discovered a fish that was once presumed extinct still swims in Lake Superior. #CiscoInferno🔥 🐟🧬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
The search for Lake Superior ciscoes as described by W. Koelz in 1929 yields a surprising discovery: Shortnose Cisco (Coregonus reighardi), a presumed extinct species
The Laurentian Great Lakes (LGL) formed following the retreat of the Wisconsin glaciation 15-9 ka and provided a vast volume of freshwater habitat for coregonines, which included a diverse endemic com...
www.biorxiv.org
April 24, 2025 at 9:49 PM
A light in the midst of a lot of chaos and uncertainty in #GreatLakes science-
Using genetics and morphology, we discovered a fish that was once presumed extinct still swims in Lake Superior. #CiscoInferno🔥 🐟🧬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Using genetics and morphology, we discovered a fish that was once presumed extinct still swims in Lake Superior. #CiscoInferno🔥 🐟🧬
www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
While this is good news, the #GreatLakes lamprey control program is now several weeks behind schedule for this year's treatment, and it’s still unclear how many of the previously-fired workers will actually choose to return www.michiganpublic.org/environment-...
Sea lamprey control program receives OK to rehire federal workers after initial scare
The Great Lakes sea lamprey control program has the OK to rehire three dozen federal employees it needs to combat the eel-like, invasive fish species.
www.michiganpublic.org
March 27, 2025 at 11:44 AM
While this is good news, the #GreatLakes lamprey control program is now several weeks behind schedule for this year's treatment, and it’s still unclear how many of the previously-fired workers will actually choose to return www.michiganpublic.org/environment-...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
My latest: The mass firings at NOAA can feel abstract. Here's what was lost at one research center -- the birthplace of climate modeling.
Fired staff became U.S. citizens to pursue these dream jobs, only to have their dreams upended.
Fired staff became U.S. citizens to pursue these dream jobs, only to have their dreams upended.
NOAA firings hit the birthplace of weather and climate forecasting
Dismissed researchers were improving severe weather predictions
www.science.org
March 4, 2025 at 8:01 PM
My latest: The mass firings at NOAA can feel abstract. Here's what was lost at one research center -- the birthplace of climate modeling.
Fired staff became U.S. citizens to pursue these dream jobs, only to have their dreams upended.
Fired staff became U.S. citizens to pursue these dream jobs, only to have their dreams upended.
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
The National Science Foundation benefits communities in every state.
March 2, 2025 at 11:02 PM
The National Science Foundation benefits communities in every state.
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
Among the other great points in this statement, “Every dollar spent on conservation in the US has a positive return of 2.4 times its original investment.” Conserving natural resources is good business. 🐟🐠🎣
February 28, 2025 at 1:45 AM
Among the other great points in this statement, “Every dollar spent on conservation in the US has a positive return of 2.4 times its original investment.” Conserving natural resources is good business. 🐟🐠🎣
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
NOAA's #GreatLakes Environmental Research Lab will be taking an "indefinite hiatus" from communications due to staff cuts. GLERL communicates critical weekly updates about the extent of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie - like the one that left my hometown of Toledo without drinking water in 2014
February 27, 2025 at 11:45 PM
NOAA's #GreatLakes Environmental Research Lab will be taking an "indefinite hiatus" from communications due to staff cuts. GLERL communicates critical weekly updates about the extent of harmful algal blooms in Lake Erie - like the one that left my hometown of Toledo without drinking water in 2014
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
Dozens of workers focused on lamprey control were among scores of Michigan federal workers fired without notice in the past week
Story by @bridgemi.com: www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/trum...
Story by @bridgemi.com: www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/trum...
Trump firings hit Great Lakes sea lamprey program, Michigan forestry workers | Great Lakes Now
Fish and wildlife officials tasked with holding back a species that would otherwise decimate the Great Lakes fishery were among those caught up in a mass purge of federal workers.
www.greatlakesnow.org
February 20, 2025 at 9:02 PM
Dozens of workers focused on lamprey control were among scores of Michigan federal workers fired without notice in the past week
Story by @bridgemi.com: www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/trum...
Story by @bridgemi.com: www.greatlakesnow.org/2025/02/trum...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative cleans up our lakes and rivers. Literally removing toxic substances that cause things like fish deformities. It’s been supported by both parties for decades (including JD Vance)
This is our money. The people of Michigan want it used to clean up our Lakes.
This is our money. The people of Michigan want it used to clean up our Lakes.
"But funding can’t protect the #GreatLakes if there’s nobody to direct it."
Recent staffing cuts could cost the EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office approximately 200 employees - one-fifth of its workforce.
www.wbez.org/2025/02/14/a...
Recent staffing cuts could cost the EPA's Great Lakes National Program Office approximately 200 employees - one-fifth of its workforce.
www.wbez.org/2025/02/14/a...
A Great Lakes restoration project may lose funding as Trump targets climate programs
As senator, Vice President JD Vance voted to increase funding for the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative. Advocates hope he still supports it.
www.wbez.org
February 17, 2025 at 2:26 PM
The Great Lakes Restoration Initiative cleans up our lakes and rivers. Literally removing toxic substances that cause things like fish deformities. It’s been supported by both parties for decades (including JD Vance)
This is our money. The people of Michigan want it used to clean up our Lakes.
This is our money. The people of Michigan want it used to clean up our Lakes.
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
Today, we share our love for federal #fisheries professionals who work tirelessly to address the myriad problems facing our nation’s fisheries. We urge the Administration to stop indiscriminate mass firings and to build and maintain a sufficient federal natural resource workforce.
February 14, 2025 at 7:27 PM
Today, we share our love for federal #fisheries professionals who work tirelessly to address the myriad problems facing our nation’s fisheries. We urge the Administration to stop indiscriminate mass firings and to build and maintain a sufficient federal natural resource workforce.
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
NOAA includes offices like us! We fund and conduct work like:
- hands-on teacher trainings
- sturgeon restoration
- grad student research
- learn-to-fish camps
- flood recovery and prevention
Every federal $1 that goes to a Sea Grant program reaps $3 in benefits for coastal communities!
- hands-on teacher trainings
- sturgeon restoration
- grad student research
- learn-to-fish camps
- flood recovery and prevention
Every federal $1 that goes to a Sea Grant program reaps $3 in benefits for coastal communities!
NOAA does a lot more than weather forecasting. Here's the list of line offices. Its value extends to so many different sectors that the public would be shocked to realize the volume of decisions made based on what NOAA provides. This is an agency where the "trickle down" theory legitimately occurs.
February 7, 2025 at 9:34 PM
NOAA includes offices like us! We fund and conduct work like:
- hands-on teacher trainings
- sturgeon restoration
- grad student research
- learn-to-fish camps
- flood recovery and prevention
Every federal $1 that goes to a Sea Grant program reaps $3 in benefits for coastal communities!
- hands-on teacher trainings
- sturgeon restoration
- grad student research
- learn-to-fish camps
- flood recovery and prevention
Every federal $1 that goes to a Sea Grant program reaps $3 in benefits for coastal communities!
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
After decades, lake trout restored to sustainable levels in Lake Superior
#GreatLakes
www.wmuk.org/2024-11-20/a...
#GreatLakes
www.wmuk.org/2024-11-20/a...
After decades, lake trout restored to sustainable levels in Lake Superior
After the population of Lake Superior's top predator fish fell by 95%, the lake trout restoration effort has returned it to sustainable levels, researchers say.
www.wmuk.org
November 20, 2024 at 1:50 PM
After decades, lake trout restored to sustainable levels in Lake Superior
#GreatLakes
www.wmuk.org/2024-11-20/a...
#GreatLakes
www.wmuk.org/2024-11-20/a...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
Freshwaters of the Amazon are experiencing unprecedented impacts, but decades of research and practice have produced a rich foundation for advancing management solutions. We identified 63 actions that combined could change the game. In Cons Sci & Pract
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Translating science into actions to conserve Amazonian freshwaters
Freshwaters of the Amazon are experiencing unprecedented changes, but decades of research and practice have produced a rich foundation for advancing management solutions. Through a comprehensive revi...
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com
October 14, 2024 at 2:10 PM
Freshwaters of the Amazon are experiencing unprecedented impacts, but decades of research and practice have produced a rich foundation for advancing management solutions. We identified 63 actions that combined could change the game. In Cons Sci & Pract
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
One of our weird discoveries: 1st field-documented case of a zebra mussel attached to a fish (lake chub). This phoretic association could facilitate 1) within-basin spread of zebra mussels via fish migration & 2) overland transport by anglers moving baitfish. redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/ricciardi/Ri...
November 15, 2024 at 3:14 AM
One of our weird discoveries: 1st field-documented case of a zebra mussel attached to a fish (lake chub). This phoretic association could facilitate 1) within-basin spread of zebra mussels via fish migration & 2) overland transport by anglers moving baitfish. redpath-staff.mcgill.ca/ricciardi/Ri...
Reposted by Karen Alofs 🐟
See what lies below the waves of the Great Lakes. An excellent doc that explores the impact of invasive mussels on the underwater ecosystem. Very nice ROV images of fish, wrecks, bottom habitats, etc.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=udbk...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=udbk...
The Last Whitefish | Episode 1 | All Too Clear: Beneath the Surface of the Great Lakes |TVO Original
YouTube video by TVO Docs
www.youtube.com
October 31, 2024 at 7:39 PM
See what lies below the waves of the Great Lakes. An excellent doc that explores the impact of invasive mussels on the underwater ecosystem. Very nice ROV images of fish, wrecks, bottom habitats, etc.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=udbk...
www.youtube.com/watch?v=udbk...