View source for Lake Erie

====Invasive species====
The lake has been plagued with a number of [[invasive species]], including [[zebra mussel|zebra]]<ref name=twsX312a/> and [[Quagga mussel|quagga]] mussels, the [[Round goby|goby]], and the [[grass carp]]. One estimate was that 180 invasive species are in the Great Lakes, some having traveled in ballast water in international ships.<ref name=twsZ28a/> Zebra mussels and gobies have been credited with the increased population and size of [[smallmouth bass]] in Lake Erie.<ref>[https://www.espn.com/outdoors/bassmaster/news/story?page=tourn_03_north_open_NY_erie_preview 2003–04 CITGO Bassmaster Northern Open].
BASS Communications – September 3, 2003</ref> In 2008, concerns arose that the "newest invader swarming in the Great Lakes", the [[Hemimysis anomala|bloody-red shrimp]], might harm fish populations and promote [[algae bloom|algal blooms]].<ref name=twsZ45 />

Environmentalists and biologists study lake conditions via installations such as the Franz Theodore Stone Laboratory on [[Gibraltar Island]]. The lab, which was established in 1895, is the oldest biological field station in the United States. Stone Laboratory was donated to the [[Ohio State University]] by Julius Stone in 1925 as part of the university's Ohio Sea Grant College program.<ref name=twsOhioStateUniv>Publishers: (1) Lake Erie Coastal Ohio Trail National Scenic Byway (2) Ohio Chapter of The Nature Conservancy (3) Ohio Sea Grant; Editors: Art Weber, Melinda Huntley of the Ohio Sea Grant College Program, [http://ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documents/publications/GS/GS-025ExploretheLakeErieIslandsAGuidetoNatureandHistoryAlongtheLakeErieCoastalTrail.pdf Explore the Lake Erie Islands] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222214756/http://www.ohioseagrant.osu.edu/_documents/publications/GS/GS-025ExploretheLakeErieIslandsAGuidetoNatureandHistoryAlongtheLakeErieCoastalTrail.pdf |date=February 22, 2012 }}, Retrieved September 1, 2014, (see page 5) "... Lake Erie's shallow, nutrient-rich western basin and the much deeper central and eastern basins. ... The western basin ... dolomite and limestone are more durable than the softer shales ... glacier dug through the stones ... resistance from the dolomite and limestone in the western basin ..."</ref><ref name=twsZ28a /> The Great Lakes Institute of the [[University of Windsor]] has experts who study issues such as lake sediment pollution and the flow of contaminants such as [[phosphorus]].<ref name=twsZ28a/>

Other invasive species in Lake Erie include [[Bythotrephes longimanus|spiny water fleas]], [[Cercopagis pengoi|fishhook water fleas]], [[sea lamprey]], and [[white perch]]. The invasive plant species in Lake Erie consist mainly of [[Eurasian milfoil]], ''[[Trapa natans]]'' and [[purple loosestrife]].<ref>{{cite web|title=Invasive Species of Lakes Erie and Ontario|url=https://seagrant.sunysb.edu/ais/pdfs/AIS-LErieOnt.pdf|access-date=November 28, 2020|pages=G–2|publisher=Stony Brook University|archive-date=January 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128141116/https://seagrant.sunysb.edu/ais/pdfs/AIS-LErieOnt.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The shore of the lake is also host to invasive species of the ''[[Phragmites]]'' reed genus.<ref>{{cite web|title=Great Lakes Phragmites Collaborative|url=https://www.greatlakesphragmites.net/resources/casestudies-3/lake-erie-cwma/|access-date=November 11, 2021|archive-date=November 11, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211111204642/https://www.greatlakesphragmites.net/resources/casestudies-3/lake-erie-cwma/|url-status=live}}</ref>