Lake Erie is a big lake and many native and invasive species call it home.

• What techniques do researchers use to discover what lives in Lake Erie?
• How do they determine the overall size of a certain animal and plant population?

Lesson Plan

Student Worksheet

Additional Resources

Supplemental Resources:

• "Something Fishy" - Capture-Recapture simulation from PBS Teacherline
• Capture-Recapture - Simulation activity from National Council of Teachers of Mathematics
• Lake Monitoring Field Manual (PDF) - Handbook on monitoring methods for lake management, including program design, sampling methods and protocol, biota and chemical sampling methods, laboratory methods, preservation of data and samples, glossary, and bibliography (92 pp.)
• Walleye PIT Tagging - Michigan Division of Natural Resources



Video Supplements (click on the links below to view additional footage not included in the program):

• Native Fish of Lake Erie- In this segment, Eugene Braig from Stone Lab, pulls out and describes a few native fish from the sample taken from Lake Erie
• Plankton- Under the Microscope- In this segment, John Hageman from Stone Lab, shows Dante what a plankton sample looks like under a microscope