Great Lakes Research Institute for Sustainability
Like most places on earth, the Great Lakes region has many different environments, varying in temperature, moisture, light, and other factors. Each of these habitats has distinct life forms living in it, forming complex communities of interdependent organisms and biomes. Traditionally these biomes are characterized solely by the composition of the aggregate of plants and animals. Unfortunately this ignores the superior relevance of the microbiome of prokaryotic organisms and their key influence in the healthy sustainability of the Great Lakes regional environment, and hence of its human inhabitants. But this dilemma is further exacerbated by the reality of the microbial omni-presence. Strictly by the numbers they dominate their host environment. Paradoxically, however, these host environments include the population of plants and animals. For example, the vast majority — estimated at 90 percent — of the cells in what the human thinks of as its body are actually bacteria, not human cells. The number of bacterial species in the human gut is estimated to be about 40,000 and the total number of individual bacterial cells in the gut is projected to be on the order of 100 trillion. The micro-biosphere is like a web, with information of all kinds, including genes, traveling in all directions simultaneously. Microbes also appear to take a much more active role in their own evolution in the form of the organisms themselves making intentional changes to their heritable genetic scaffolding thereby controlling their own evolution. The point of the foregoing is that to entertain the concept of a GLCS to be built on the potential designation of the Erie Niagara National Marine Sanctuary and to promote science and society research and development thereby would itself be sustainable if and only if the Great Lakes Research Institute for Sustainability (GLRIS) were solidly grounded on a core competence in MicroBio Research, Technology Development, and Engineered Applications as a key sustaining revenue source for the GLCS. For more information go to our contact page |
Habitat Wildlife Corridor and Restoration
Many on our team have experience working as naturalists, designers, and planners. The shorelines of the Great Lakes and the particular shorelines that could be impacted by a Marine Sanctuary designation are particularly in our wheelhouse. Our team has been especially focused on both the Buffalo Outer Harbor and the shorelines of the Niagara River Corridor "globally significant" Important Bird Area. We are working with a variety of agencies, organizations, and individuals toward building appropriate wildlife and habitat restoration programs in the face of rampant development and pollution of water, soil, and air resources. Two of our concentrations involve pollinator conservation and avian conservation. We are working to create wildlife corridors in places such as the Buffalo Outer Harbor and along the shorelines of the Niagara River strait, and along the watershed corridors to the headwaters forests miles inland from the shorelines of the proposed Erie Niagara Marine Sanctuary. We have created and promoted with appropriate agencies, Smart-bird development practices, and are heavily engaged in promoting butterfly and bee conservation practices, including concentrations on Monarch Butterflies which rely on our area for critical breeding and migrating habitat. For more information go to our contact page |
Team Building
A primary focus of our work is to build teams of collaborators and to support projects that help create a truly sustainable Great Lakes region. We are working with local and regional governments, organizations, educational institutions, and individuals building and strengthening our plans for the Great Lakes Center for Sustainabilty. If you have ideas or want to know more, contact us. Media and Community Engagement
A featured project of the Great Lakes Sustainability Center is centered on creating and informing media and the wider community regarding the contexts of sustainability and the Great Lakes. For more information go to our contact page. |