front cover of 5 Years of 4th Genre
5 Years of 4th Genre
Martha Bates
Michigan State University Press, 2006

In 1999, Michigan State University Press launched Fourth Genre: Explorations in Creative Nonfiction, a journal that began with and has maintained a devotion to publishing notable, innovative work in nonfiction. The title reflects an intent to give nonfiction its due as a literary genre—to give writers of the 'fourth genre' a showcase for their work and to give readers a place to find the liveliest and most creative works in the form. 
     Given the genre's flexibility and expansiveness, journal editors Michael Steinberg and David Cooper have welcomed a variety of works— ranging from personal essays and memoirs to literary journalism and personal criticism. The essays are lyrical, self-interrogative, meditative, and reflective, as well as expository, analytical, exploratory, or whimsical. In short, Fourth Genre encourages a writer- to-reader conversation, one that explores the markers and boundaries of literary/creative nonfiction. 
     Since its inaugural issue, contributors have earned many literary awards: 5 Notable Essays of the Year (Best American Essay); the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Award; Notable Essay of the Year (Best American Travel Writing); and 4 Pushcart Prizes. Five Years of 4th Genre is a celebration of this significant literary journal. Culling a selection of some of the most creative of Fourth Genre’s first five years—the Pushcart winners are here, as well as those essays that are unique, those that tell us something new, those that startle us, and those that touch our hearts —this volume presents a representative sampling.

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front cover of Checking the Pulse of Lake Erie
Checking the Pulse of Lake Erie
M. Munawar
Michigan State University Press, 2008
The progress of research on Lake Erie has been marked by several milestone publications during the long struggle to restore the system. The reports of the U.S. Federal Water Pollution Control Administration (1968) and the International Joint Commission (1969) described Lake Erie in the depths of degradation. “Lake Erie in the Early Seventies” (1976) recorded the status of limnology and fisheries in the lake before remedial programs were implemented. “State of Lake Erie” (1999) described the state of the lake in response to remedial actions and at early stages of the invasion of dreissenid mussels. Checking the Pulse of Lake Erie is an update of “State of Lake Erie” in light of continued efforts at restoration and impacts from nonindigenous species. This book contains twenty papers contributed by authors from a broad spectrum of disciplines and research interests.
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front cover of For Love of Lakes
For Love of Lakes
Darby Nelson
Michigan State University Press, 2011

America has more than 130,000 lakes of significant size. Ninety percent of all Americans live within fifty miles of a lake, and our 1.8 billion trips to watery places make them our top vacation choice. Yet despite this striking popularity, more than 45 percent of surveyed lakes and 80 percent of urban lakes do not meet water quality standards. For Love of Lakes weaves a delightful tapestry of history, science, emotion, and poetry for all who love lakes or enjoy nature writing. For Love of Lakes is an affectionate account documenting our species’ long relationship with lakes—their glacial origins, Thoreau and his environmental message, and the major perceptual shifts and advances in our understanding of lake ecology. This is a necessary and thoughtful book that addresses the stewardship void while providing improved understanding of our most treasured natural feature.

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front cover of The Freshwater Imperative
The Freshwater Imperative
A Research Agenda
Robert J. Naiman, John J. Magnuson, Diane M. McKnight, and Jack A. Stanford; Foreword by Kathryn D. Sullivan
Island Press, 1995

This volume summarizes the two-year effort of a working group of leading aquatic scientists sponsored by NSF, EPA, NASA, TVA, and NOAA to identify research opportunities and frontiers in freshwater sciences for this decade and beyond. The research agenda outlined focuses on issues of water availability, aquatic ecosystem integrity, and human health and safety. It is a consensus document that has been endorsed by all of the major professional organizations involved with freshwater issues.

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The Great Lake Sturgeon
Nancy Auer and Dave Dempsey
Michigan State University Press, 2013
The first book of its kind to explore this magnificent creature, this collected volume captures many aspects of the remarkable Great Lakes sturgeon, from the mythical to the critically real. Lake sturgeon are sacred to some, impressive to many, and endangered in the Great Lakes. A fish whose ancestry reaches back millions of years and that can live over a century and grow to six feet or more, the Great Lakes lake sturgeon was once considered useless, then overfished nearly to extinction. Though the fish is slowly making a comeback thanks to the awareness-raising efforts of Native Americans, biologists, and sturgeon supporters, it remains to be seen if conservation and stewardship will continue to the degree this remarkable animal deserves. Blending history, biology, folklore, environmental science, and policy, this accessible book seeks to reach a broad audience and tell the story of the Great Lakes lake sturgeon in a manner as diverse as its subject.
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Great Lakes Chronicle
Essays on Coastal Wisconsin
Wisconsin Coastal Management
Wisconsin Historical Society Press, 2018
Lakes Superior and Michigan have long played a vital role in shaping our state’s history, culture and economy. For forty years, the Wisconsin Coastal Management Program has collaborated with governments and nonprofit organizations to preserve and protect this crucial resource, and, since 2002, has promoted public awareness of issues affecting the lakes in its annual Wisconsin Great Lakes Chronicle. Great Lakes Chronicle: Essays on Coastal Wisconsin brings together more than one hundred articles by coastal management practitioners, providing a broad perspective on issues affecting Wisconsin’s Great Lakes shorelines, and advocating for the wise and balanced use of our coastal environment for the benefit of people now and in the future.
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front cover of The Great Lakes of the World (GLOW)
The Great Lakes of the World (GLOW)
Food-Web, Health and Integrity
M. Munawar
Michigan State University Press, 2001
The Great Lakes of the World (GLOW) is a series of international symposia organized by the Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society in order to promote interaction and communication between Great Lakes scientists and communities around the world. The purpose of GLOW is to establish a platform where understanding of structure, function, and performance of healthy and damaged ecosystems from integrated, multidisciplinary, and sustainable perspectives is promoted. This book includes papers originating in part from the first of many international symposia—Exploring the Great Lakes of the World: Food-Web Dynamics, Health and Integrity, held at Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe. The following is adapted from the editorial: “As scientists, we accept that we can never know everything at one time about large aquatic ecosystems, due to temporal and spatial measurement limitations. This uncertainty can be reduced through sharing our knowledge of large systems so that others can incorporate our results into analyses of their systems. To that end, this book is a remarkable achievement as it does accomplish global coverage of large and great lakes.”
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front cover of The Lake Huron Ecosystem
The Lake Huron Ecosystem
Ecology, Fisheries and Management
M. Munawar
Michigan State University Press, 1995
Lake Huron is the second largest of the Great Lakes and the fifth largest lake in the world (surface area: 59,000 km2). It is also one of the least known lakes in the Great Lakes system in terms of limnology and food web dynamics. To rectify this, the Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society organized an international symposium in September 1993, which they followed with the publication of this peer-reviewed book. In total, forty-five papers were presented during the conference on topics ranging from microbial ecology, the role of exotic species, and sediment toxicology, to fisheries and wildlife of Lake Huron and its basin. With few existing comprehensive reports on the limnology and fisheries of Lake Huron, this detailed book helps bridge the information gap by introducing a multidisciplinary and ecosystematic approach to Great Lake (particularly Lake Huron) research.
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front cover of Lake Michigan in Motion
Lake Michigan in Motion
Responses of an Inland Sea to Weather, Earth-Spin, and Human Activities
Clifford H. Mortimer
University of Wisconsin Press, 2004
Written in a clear, readable style by an acknowledged expert in limnology and biology, Lake Michigan in Motion is certain to become a classic reference book on the subject of the Great Lakes. Its blend of history, science, and public policy will give it broad appeal to limnologists, graduate students, researchers, public officials, elementary and high school teachers, those who live near the Lake, and those who use it for their livelihood and recreation.
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front cover of Lakeshore Living
Lakeshore Living
Designing Lake Places and Communities in the Footprints of Environmental Writers
Paul J. Radomski
Michigan State University Press, 2014
In this remarkable and remarkably accessible synthesis of ecology, landscape design, and social sciences, the authors present an approach to lakeshore living that addresses the need to create rich, sustainable places and communities on the water, where both the loon and the family find a place, and where the cabin can be handed down with integrity to the grandchildren. Fragile shorelands require care, and that caring comes from knowledge, experience, and an environmental ethic. Radomski and Van Assche argue that an environmentally sensitive lakeshore place and community design is the way forward. While many factors affect the quality of lakes and lakeshore living, property owners and local communities do not have to wait until policies are perfect: the design approach advocated here can be applied in any place people living lakeside can get together and collaborate. The approach presented here is proactive and context sensitive: new designs have to fit the existing ecological, cultural, and policy landscapes. Development is always re-development in this sense. The authors introduce the reader step-by-step to this approach and carefully discuss leverage points that can be helpful in implementation and system change.
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A Lakeside Companion
Ted J. Rulseh
University of Wisconsin Press, 2018
Why do fish jump? Why don't lakes freeze all the way down to the bottom? Which lake plants are invasive? What are those water bugs? Is that lake healthy? Whether you fish, paddle, swim, snowshoe, ski, or just gaze upon your favorite lake, A Lakeside Companion will deepen your appreciation for the forces that shape lakes and the teeming life in and around them.

You'll discover the interconnected worlds of a lake: the water; the sand, gravel, rocks, and muck of the bottom; the surface of the lake; the air above; and the shoreline, a belt of land incredibly rich in flora and fauna. Explained, too, are the physical, biological, and chemical processes that determine how many and what kinds of fish live in the lake, which plants grow there, the color and clarity of the water, how ice forms in winter and melts in spring, and much more. Useful advice will help you look out for your lake and advocate for its protection.
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front cover of Liminal Zones
Liminal Zones
Where Lakes End and Rivers Begin
Kim Trevathan
University of Tennessee Press, 2013
     After the death of his paddling companion, a German shepherd–labrador retriever mix named Jasper, Kim Trevathan began a series of solitary upstream kayaking quests in search of what he calls “liminal zones,” transitional areas where dammed reservoirs give way to the current of the rivers that feed them. For four years he scoured the rivers and lakes of America, where environmentally damaging, and now decaying, man-made structures have transformed the waterways. In this thoughtful work, he details his upriver adventures, describing the ecological and aesthetic differences between a dammed river and a free-flowing river and exploring the implications of what liminal zones represent—a reassertion of pure, unadulterated nature over engineered bodies of water.
     Trevathan began by exploring the rivers and creeks of his childhood: the Blood River and Clarks River in western Kentucky. He soon ventured out to the Wolf River, the Big South Fork of the Cumberland, and other waterways in Tennessee. In 2008, he looped around the country with trips to Indiana’s Tippecanoe River, Montana’s Clearwater River, Oregon’s Deschutes and Rogue Rivers, and Colorado’s Dolores River, as well as adventures on such southeastern rivers as the Edisto, the Tellico, and the Nantahala. To Trevathan, paddling upstream became a sort of religion, with a vaporous deity that kept him searching. Each excursion yielded something unexpected, from a near-drowning in the Rogue River to a mysterious fog bank that arose across the Nantahala at midday.
     Throughout Liminal Zones, Trevathan considers what makes certain places special, why some are set aside and protected, why others are not, and how free-flowing streams remain valuable to our culture, our history, and our physical and spiritual health. This contemplative chronicle of his journeys by water reveals discoveries as varied and complex as the rivers themselves.
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front cover of The Microflora of Lakes and Its Geochemical Activity
The Microflora of Lakes and Its Geochemical Activity
By S. I. Kuznetsov
University of Texas Press, 1975

The geochemical processes that take place in water bodies do not stem entirely from the activity of bacteria, but are also determined by the biological activity of higher plants and animals. The Microflora of Lakes and Its Geochemical Activity, the first English translation of the work of S. I. Kuznetsov, renowned Soviet microbiologist, is a detailed description of these processes.

The Microflora of Lakes opens with a complete outline of the ecology and physical and chemical properties of water bodies and a discussion of the entire complex of hydrobionts, since these factors exert tremendous influence on the microbial population. The work then focuses on the principles of the morphology and physiology of the living cell, background knowledge essential to the understanding of the role of microorganisms in the chemical cycle. Having laid the groundwork for the discussion, Kuznetsov follows with chapters on the distribution of bacteria and transformations of organic matter in lakes. He then examines the role of bacteria in the oxygen regime, and the cycles of organic matter, nitrogen, sulfur, iron, manganese and phosphorus. The last chapter describes the role of microorganisms in sediments of calcium carbonate waters.

The Microflora of Lakes and Its Geochemical Activity provides a wealth of information on the microbial limnology of fresh-water lakes throughout the world, particularly in the Soviet Union. As a summary of the geochemical activities as related to the geographic, geological, and physical relationships of fresh-water lakes, it is a monumental study.

The Microflora of Lakes was translated for the National Science Foundation, Washington, D.C., by the Israel Program for Scientific Translations in Jerusalem.

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front cover of The Paleoarchaic Occupation of the Old River Bed Delta
The Paleoarchaic Occupation of the Old River Bed Delta
David B. Madsen, Dave N. Schmitt, and David Page
University of Utah Press, 2015
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front cover of Phytoplankton Dynamics in the North American Great Lakes
Phytoplankton Dynamics in the North American Great Lakes
Volumes 1 and 2
M. Munawar
Michigan State University Press, 2013
Phytoplankton Dynamics in the North American Great Lakes is the compilation of two volumes, originally published 1996 and 2000. Both volumes provide a thorough treatment of the community structure, function, and dynamics of phytoplankton in the North American Great Lakes and represent the culmination of nearly three decades’ worth of work by Mohiuddin Munawar and Iftekhar F. Munawar.
With these volumes, the phycology of the North American Great Lakes has been brought into the new millennium. Volume 1 focuses on the Lower Great Lakes—Lakes Ontario and Erie—while volume 2 highlights Lakes Michigan, Huron, and Superior. Phytoplankton Dynamics in the North American Great Lakes also includes a chapter devoted to the integration, summarization, and synthesis of the two volumes’ major findings, as well as a discussion of the current and future status of food-web research in the Great Lakes.
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front cover of Ripple Effects
Ripple Effects
How We're Loving Our Lakes to Death
Ted J. Rulseh
University of Wisconsin Press, 2022
Lakes are among the Upper Midwest’s greatest treasures and most valuable natural resources. The Great Lakes define the region, and thousands of smaller lakes offer peace, joy, and recreation to millions. And yet, in large part because of the numbers of people who enjoy the local waterways, the lakes of Wisconsin, Michigan, and Minnesota face numerous challenges. Invasive species, pollution, defective septic systems, inadequate shoreland zoning laws, and climate change are present and increasingly existential threats. We are, quite possibly, loving our lakes to death.

In his engaging and conversational style, Ted Rulseh details each of these challenges and proposes achievable solutions. He draws on personal experience, interviews, academic research, and government reports to describe the state of the lakes, the stresses they are under, and avenues to successful lakeside living for a sustainable future. Ripple Effects will be a go-to source for all who love lakes and who advocate for their protection; its driving question is summed up by one of Rulseh’s interviewees: “We love this lake. What can we do to keep it healthy?”
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front cover of State of Lake Michigan
State of Lake Michigan
Ecology, Health, and Management
T. Edsall
Michigan State University Press, 2005
State of Lake Michigan is part of the Ecovision World Monograph Series, which is devoted to exploring the state, ecology, and integrity of the lakes. It is the formal outcome of an international symposium on Lake Michigan, organized by the Aquatic Ecosystem Health and Management Society, and chaired by T. Edsall and M. Munawar.
State of Lake Michigan reviews the status of the major Lake Michigan ecosystem components and provides a basis for evaluating the health of the lake and for promoting integrated management of this exceptional natural resource. The book consists of papers by professionals in the Great Lakes region who are recognized for their contributions to the advancement of Great Lakes science and management. The book also includes an extensive subject index. Other sections explore physical and chemical regimes, food web, water birds, wetlands, and management and initiatives.
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front cover of State of Lake Ontario
State of Lake Ontario
Past, Present and Future
M. Munawar
Michigan State University Press, 2003
The State of Lake Ontario is a giant step forward in the study of Lake Ontario’s fisheries and limnology. The sixty-three authors have contributed twenty-two papers on physical and chemical limnology, food-web linkages, fish community dynamics, contaminants, water birds, and impacts of nonindigenous species. As the “lake below the Falls,” Lake Ontario has long been impacted by invasive species. The historic invaders (sea lamprey, alewife, and white perch) were trouble enough, but recent invasions of dreissenid mussels, gobies, and crustaceans have further disrupted an unstable system. Contaminant burdens in fish and water birds have been a persistent problem. As the smallest of the Great Lakes, Lake Ontario has some of the biggest ecosystem health problems.
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front cover of State of Lake Superior
State of Lake Superior
M. Munawar
Michigan State University Press, 2009
Lake Superior was saved from the extremes felt elsewhere because it is the top of the drainage landscape. Superior offered the prospects of greatest success because it was, in general, least altered. Many decades later, Superior serves as the best example of success in recovering from environmental adversity. This is not to say that restoration is complete or that all ecological problems are resolved. The heavy hand of humanity continues to cause important threats to the present and future state of Lake Superior. State of Lake Superior offers a polythetic view of current conditions in Lake Superior and insightful suggestions about where and how improvements should continue. The chapters range from basic reviews of what we know as a consequence of effective research to explorations of what little we know about challenging environmental issues for the future. Among these are the continuing concerns about contaminants, the burgeoning march of invasive species, and the portent of global change. We find some encouragement in the resilience of this large lake ecosystem. In many respects, it is a success story, as is shown from the insights of research merged with the mindful attention of management agencies.
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