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James Rusak

jim rusakScientist & Group Leader - Water Chemistry

phone: 705.766.0659
email: jim.rusak(@)ontario.ca

 current research interests.

current appointments.

education/experience.

 publications.

 students.

 links.

 

 

Current Research Interests.
 

Long-term Aquatic Ecosystem Research

Long-term ecological and environmental data represent one of the keys to understanding many, if not most, of the multiple stressors currently impacting aquatic ecosystems. My research uses biological (from phytoplankton to fish) as well as physical and chemical long-term and large-scale monitoring data to...
• improve the early detection of environmental problems
• understand ecosystem responses to multiple stressors
• investigate interactions and feedbacks in aquatic systems
 

Understanding Variability

Another aspect of my research focuses on understanding the interactions and feedbacks between a lake's biology and its physical and chemical attributes as well as the environmental context in which it is embedded. One way to understand biological patterns and processes are via an examination of their spatial and temporal variability - a fundamental property of nature and one that is interdisciplinary in its scope. Ultimately, incorporating variability will improve our attempts to monitor, manage, and understand aquatic ecosystems. I combine experimental studies, paleoecology, and long-term monitoring to...
• quantify baseline variabilty
• predict the response of variability to disturbance events
• develop variance-based metrics to detect and predict environmental change
 

Remote-Sensing of Lakes

We are currently developing Dorset’s capacity for acquiring automated high-resolution monitoring data in Muskoka area lakes and elsewhere. These data offer insight into processes occurring over short periods of time (minutes to hours) and can be used to investigate a variety of processes in lakes, such as...
• lake turnover, stratification and internal mixing dynamics
• nutrient loading
• oxygen depletion and lake metabolism
• carbon cycling
THELMA (The Harp Environmental Lake Monitoring Ark) is our first such installation and its near real-time data is currently available online.
 

Current Appointments.

  • Adjunct Professor: Nipissing University (Department of Biology)
  • Adjunct Professor: Queen's University (Department of Biology) 
  • Special Graduate Faculty: University of Guelph (School of Environmental Sciences)
  • Honorary Fellow: University of Wisconsin - Madison
  • Co-chair of the GLEON Collaborative Climate Committee
  • Vice President (anglophone) of the Society of Canadian Limnologists (2010-2012)

 

Education and Research Experience.

  • B.Sc., Marine Biology, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada.
  • M.Sc., Biology, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, ON, Canada.
  • Ph.D., Biology, York University, Toronto, ON, Canada.
  • Postdoctoral Fellow, Limnology Laboratory, University of Regina, Regina, SK, Canada.
  • Research Scientist / NTL-LTER Site Manager, Center for Limnology - Trout Lake Station, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Boulder Junction, WI, USA

 

Selected Publications.

    

  1.     Yao, H., J.A. Rusak, K. Somers, A. Paterson, M. Mackay, R. Girard, R. Ingram and C. McConnell. 2013. Temporal changes of ice phenology in Dickie Lake, south-central Ontario. Inland Waters 3: 1-14. (Click for PDF)
  2.     Read, J.S., D.P. Hamilton, A.R. Desai, K.C. Rose, S. MacIntyre, J.D. Lenters, R.L. Smyth, P.C. Hanson, J.J. Cole, P.A. Staehr, J.A. Rusak, D.C. Pierson, J.D. Brookes, A. Laas, and C.H. Wu. 2012. Lake-size dependency of wind shear and convection as controls on gas exchange. Geophysical Research Letters. 39 (9) doi:10.1029/2012GL051886 (Click for PDF)
  3.     Vogt R.J., J.A. Rusak, A. Patoine, and P.R. Leavitt. 2011 Differential effects of energy and mass influx on the landscape synchrony of lake ecosystems. Ecology 92: 1104–1114. (Click for PDF)
  4.     Buffam, I.M. Turner, A. Desai, P. Hanson, J.A. Rusak, N. Lottig, and S.R. Carpenter. 2011. Integrating aquatic and terrestrial components to construct a complete carbon budget for a north temperate lake district. Global Change Biology 17 (2): 1193-1211. (Click for PDF)
  5.     Preston, N.D. and J.A. Rusak. 2010. Homage to Hutchinson: Does inter-annual climate variability affect zooplankton density and diversity? Hydrobiologia 653: 165-177. (Click for PDF)
  6.     Krugner-Higby, L., D. Haak, P.T.J. Johnson, J.D. Shields, W.M. Jones, K.S. Reece, T. Meinke, A. Gendron and J.A. Rusak. 2010. Spatial and temporal patterns of an outbreak of ulcerative disease in crayfish (Orconectes propinquus) linked to Saprolegnia australis in Big Muskellunge Lake, Wisconsin.  Diseases of Aquatic Organisms 91: 57-66. (Click for PDF)
  7.     Shurin, J.B., M. Winder, R. Adrian, W. Keller, B. Matthews, A.M. Paterson, M. Paterson, B. Pinel-Alloul, J.A. Rusak, N. Yan. Environmental stability and lake plankton diversity- contrasting effects of chemical and thermal variability. Ecology Letters 13: 453-463. (Click for PDF)
  8.     Helmus, M.R., W.B. Keller, M.J. Paterson, N.D. Yan, C.H. Cannon, and J.A. Rusak. 2010. Communities contain closely related species during ecosystem disturbance. Ecology Letters 13: 162-174. (Click for PDF)
  9.     Leavitt, P.R., S.C. Fritz, N.J. Anderson, P.A. Baker, T. Blenckner, L. Bunting, J. Catalan, D.J. Conley, W. Hobbs, E. Jeppesen, A. Korhola, S. McGowan, K. Ruhland, J.A. Rusak, G. Simpson, N. Solovieva, and J. Werne. 2009. Paleolimnological evidence of the effects on lakes of energy and mass transfer from climate and humans. Limnology and Oceanography 54: 2330-2348. (Click for PDF)
  10.     Rusak J.A., and P.K. Montz. 2009. Sampling requirements and the implications of reduced sampling effort for the estimation of annual zooplankton population and community dynamics in north temperate lakes. Limnology and Oceanography: Methods 7:535-544. (Click for PDF)
  11.     Hodgsen, K.L., M.A. Xenopoulos, and J.A. Rusak. 2009. Asymmetrical food web responses in trophic-level richness, biomass, and function following lake acidification. Aquatic Ecology. (Click for PDF)
  12.     Rusak J.A., S.E. Jones, A.D. Kent, A.L. Shade, and T.M. McMahon. 2009. Spatial synchrony in microbial community dynamics: testing among-year and lake patterns. Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigung fur Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie. 30: 936-940 (Click for PDF)
  13.     Solomon, C.T., S.R. Carpenter, M.J. Vander Zanden and J.A. Rusak. 2008. Long-term isotopic baseline variation and implications for inferring consumer trophic niches. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 65: 2191-2200. (Click for PDF)
  14.     Fraterrigo, J.M. and J.A. Rusak. 2008. Disturbance-driven changes in the variability of ecological patterns and processes. Ecology Letters. 11: 756-770. (Click for PDF)
  15.     Rusak, J.A., N.D. Yan, and K.M. Somers. 2008. Regional climatic drivers of synchronous zooplankton dynamics in north-temperate lakes. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 65: 878-889. (Click for PDF)
  16.     Yan, N.D., K.M. Somers, R.E. Girard, A.M. Paterson, C. Ramcharan, J.A. Rusak, R. Ingram, G.E. Morgan, and J. Gunn. 2008. Long-term changes in crustacean zooplankton communities of Dorset, Ontario lakes: the probable interactive effects of changes in pH, TP, Dissolved Organic Carbon, and predators. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 65: 862-877. (Click for PDF)
  17.     Kent, A.D., A.C. Yannarell, J.A. Rusak, E.W. Triplett, and K.D. McMahon. 2007. Synchrony in aquatic microbial community dynamics. The International Society of Microbial Ecology Journal 1: 38-47. (Click for PDF)
  18.     Carpenter, S., B. Benson, R. Biggs, J. Chipman, J. Foley, S. Golding, R. Hammer, P. Hanson, P. Johnson, A. Kamarainen, T. Kratz, R. Lathrop, K. McMahon, B. Provencher, J. A. Rusak, C. Solomon, E. Stanley, M. Turner, J. Vander Zanden, C. Wu, H. Yuan. 2007. Understanding regional change: A comparison of two lake districts. BioScience 57: 323-335. (Click for PDF)
  19.     White, E.P., P.B. Adler, W.K. Lauenroth, R.A. Gill, D. Greenberg, D.M. Kaufman, A. Rassweiler, J.A. Rusak, M.D. Smith, J.R. Steinbeck, R.B. Waide, and J. Yao. 2006. A comparison of the species-time relationship across ecosystems and taxonomic groups. Oikos 112: 185-195. (Click for PDF)
  20.     P.B. Adler, E.P. White, W.K. Lauenroth, D.M. Kaufman, A. Rassweiler, and J.A. Rusak. 2005. Evidence for a general species-time-area relationship. Ecology 86: 2032-2039. (Click for PDF)
  21.     Rusak, J.A., P.R. Leavitt, S. McGowan, G. Chen, O. Olson, S. Wunsam, and B. Cumming. 2004. Millennial-scale relationships of diatom species richness and production in two prairie lakes. Limnology and Oceanography 49: 1290-1299. (Click for PDF)
  22.     Laird, K.R., B.F. Cumming, S. Wunsam, J.A. Rusak, R.J. Oglesby, S.C. Fritz and P.R. Leavitt. 2003. Lake sediments record large-scale shifts in moisture regimes across the northern prairies of North America during the past two millennia. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences 100: 2483–2488. (Click for PDF)
  23.     Rusak, J.A., N.D. Yan, K.M. Somers, K.L. Cottingham, F. Micheli, S.R. Carpenter, T.M. Frost, M.J. Paterson, and D.J. McQueen. 2002. A regional catalogue of crustacean zooplankton variability: temporal, spatial, and taxonomic patterns in unmanipulated north-temperate lakes. Limnology and Oceanography 47: 613-625. (Click for PDF)
  24.     Rusak, J.A., N.D. Yan, K.M. Somers, D.J. McQueen, and C.W. Ramcharan. 2001. Differences in the variability of crustacean zooplankton communities between manipulated and reference lakes. Archiv für Hydrobiologie - Advances in Limnology 56: 171-186. (Click for PDF)
  25.     Ramcharan, C.W., N.D. Yan, D.J. McQueen, A. Perez-Fuentetaja, E. Demers, and J.A. Rusak. 2001. Complex responses of Chaoborus to changes in fish populations. Archiv für Hydrobiologie - Advances in Limnology 56: 81-100. (Click for PDF)
  26.     Ramcharan, C.W., D.J. McQueen, A. Perez-Fuentetaja, N.D. Yan, E. Demers, and J.A. Rusak. 2001. Analyses of lake food webs using individual-based models to estimate Chaoborus production and consumption. Archiv für Hydrobiologie - Advances in Limnology 56: 101-126. (Click for PDF)
  27.     Yan, N.D., A. Perez-Fuentetaja, C.W. Ramcharan, D.J. McQueen, E. Demers, and J.A. Rusak. 2001. The Dorset food web piscivore manipulation project: changes in the crustacean zooplankton communities of Mouse and Ranger lakes. Archiv für Hydrobiologie - Advances in Limnology 56: 127-150. (Click for PDF)
  28.     Ramcharan, C.W., A. Perez-Fuentetaja, D.J. McQueen, N.D. Yan, E. Demers, and J.A. Rusak. 2001. Dynamics of zooplankton productivity under two different predatory regimes. Archiv für Hydrobiologie - Advances in Limnology 56: 151-170. (Click for PDF)
  29.     Cottingham, K.L., J.A. Rusak, and P.R. Leavitt. 2000. Increased ecosystem variability and reduced predictability following nutrient enrichment: evidence from paleolimnology. Ecology Letters 3: 340-348. (Click for PDF)
  30.     Rusak, J.A., N.D. Yan, K.M. Somers, and D.J. McQueen. 1999. The temporal coherence of zooplankton population abundance in neighboring north-temperate lakes. The American Naturalist 153: 46-58. (Click for PDF)
  31.     Micheli, F., K.L. Cottingham, J. Bascompte, O.N. Bjørnstad, G.L. Eckert, J.M. Fischer, T.H. Keitt, B.E. Kendall, J.L. Klug, and J.A. Rusak. 1999. The dual nature of community variability. Oikos 85: 161-169. (Click for PDF)
  32.     Rusak, J. A. and T. Mosindy. 1997. Seasonal movements of lake sturgeon in Lake of the Woods and Rainy River, Ontario. Canadian Journal of Zoology 75: 383-395. (Click for PDF)

 

Students.

Graduate

Jennifer Schmitz (Ph.D. candidate: University of Wisconsin - Madison)

Thesis: Lake Responses to Logging and Fire in Northern Wisconsin: A paleolimnological approach

 

Links.