Research Interests: 

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 (e.g., regional landscape and climate) in which it is embedded. One way to understand biological pattern and process is via an examination of its spatial and temporal variability.

Variability is a fundamental property of nature and its quantification and interpretation cross the boundaries between many different disciplines. My research combines experimental manipulations, paleoecology, and long-term monitoring to provide a better understanding of variability in lakes by 1) quantifying and comparing its spatial and temporal extent, 2) investigating the mechanisms controlling its transmission among trophic levels, and 3) determining how it scales between populations, communities and ecosystems. I am also interested in using changes in variability as a metric to detect and predict environmental change. Ultimately, incorporating a better understanding of variability will improve our attempts to monitor, manage, and manipulate aquatic ecosystems.

Research Projects:

  1. North Temperate Lakes LTER
  2. The paleolimnological response of lakes to disturbance and climate change
  3. Freshwater Microbial Ecology

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:

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 link to PDF)

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 link to PDF)

Hodgsen, K.L., M.A. Xenopoulos, and J.A. Rusak. In Press. Asymmetrical food web responses in trophic-level richness, biomass, and function following lake acidification. Aquatic Ecology. (Click for link to PDF)

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 link to PDF)

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 link to PDF)

Rusak J.A., S.E. Jones, A.D. Kent, A.L. Shade, and T.M. McMahon. In Press. Spatial synchrony in microbial community dynamics: testing among-year and lake patterns. Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigung fur Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie.

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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)

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

Undergraduate

  • Samantha Mueller (The spatial and temporal dynamics of spiny water flea (Bythotrephes longimanus) in Stormy Lake, WI)
  • Laura Randall (Human-mediated spread of spiny water flea among Northern Highland lakes)
  • Megan Phillips (Seasonal patterns of diel vertical migration for a glacial relict zooplankton species in Trout Lake, WI)
  • John Walters (Rusty crayfish induced shifts in zooplankton size structure among lakes)
  • Danielle Haak (Disease dynamics in a native crayfish population)
  • James Morrison (Paleolimnological variation among lakes differing in shoreline development)
  • Meagan Kratz (Paleolimnological variation among lakes differing in shoreline development)
  • Ava Murphy (Intra-annual changes in zooplankton C and N isotopic signatures)

Media Coverage:

  1. Spiny Water Flea invasion in Northern Wisconsin:

    University of Wisconsin - Madison News Release

  2. Bacterial communities and climate change clues:

    University of Wisconsin - Madison News Release

  3. Unpredictable Ecosystem changes caused by fertilization:

    Dartmouth News
  2008-09-30