Researching the Great Lakes since 1966
The Great Lakes Center is an institute of researchers and educators at SUNY Buffalo State University dedicated to investigating the ecology of the Great Lakes and their tributaries. Our staff are full time research scientists or technicians and one is also a professor with the Biology department. In addition to lab facilities on the main campus, the GLC also has a field station on the waterfront and a fleet of boats to conduct our field studies. The center offers Master of Arts and Master of Science degrees in Great Lakes Environmental Science.
Events
Help Plant Trees, Bushes, and Flowers at Big Dig VIII, October 24 - NEW DATE
Rescheduled from October 17 to October 24
Buffalo State is holding its 8th Big Dig on Saturday, October 24, 2026, 8:00 a.m. at the Great Lakes Center. The Buffalo State Great Lakes Center is located at 196 Porter Avenue, Buffalo, NY, 14201. This popular pro-sustainability event engages faculty, staff, students, and community members. The primary sponsor is the Friends of the Buffalo State MGH Arboretum. Co-sponsors include the Buffalo State Facilities Department, the Office of Finance and Management, Buffalo State Sustainability Committee and the Buffalo State Student Sustainability Club.
This year’s Big Dig will include a wide range of plants, including honey locust, American plum, serviceberry, staghorn sumac, butterfly weed, New England aster and many more. The long-term impact of the Big Dig is substantial. Benefits include carbon sequestration, pollinator support, air filtration, and beautification of our amazing waterfront campus. The event is also a lot of fun!
Breakfast and treats provided. All are welcome to help.
Please register at: Buffalo State Big Dig VIII – fill out form.
For questions, please email Dr. Susan McCartney at mccartsa@buffalostate.edu.
GLC and Biology Seminar: Dr. Mary-Alice Coffroth - October 19
“Caribbean octocorals in a changing ocean: Inheritors, survivors or relict populations?”
Dr. Mary-Alice Coffroth, University at Buffalo
Monday, October 19, 3:00 p.m.
Science and Mathematics Complex (SAMC) 151
Seminar Abstract: In oceans worldwide, scleractinian (hard) corals are on the decline due to a range of anthropogenic and natural perturbations. These disturbances, such as increased ocean temperatures, have led to repeated episodes of coral bleaching (loss of their algal symbionts) and rampant disease. In contrast to their scleractinian relatives, Caribbean octocorals (gorgonians or soft corals) are not undergoing this rapid decline; rather, at least until recently, octocorals are maintaining benthic cover and at some sites, increasing in abundance. These observations suggest that octocorals may be more resilient than scleractinians to thermal stress, yet the basis for this is unclear. Like scleractinians, shallow water octocorals depend on a symbiosis with single cell dinoflagellates within the family Symbiodiniaceae. There are hundreds of symbiont species within this family, and these symbionts vary in many functional traits, including thermal tolerance. These symbionts harbored by octocorals may contribute to the increased resilience of octocorals. Indeed, symbiont species within the genus Breviolum, the dominant symbiont genus in most Caribbean octocorals, exhibit thermal tolerance, growing at 30C and above (the common bleaching threshold for corals in the Caribbean). Although octocorals may bleach, monitoring symbionts within three octocoral species before, during and after the 2015-2016 global bleaching event, we determined that the symbiont species within the host generally does not change across the bleaching event and the octocoral host quickly recovers. Furthermore, the extent of bleaching between octocoral species depended on symbiont species suggesting that thermal tolerance of the resident symbionts likely contributes to octocoral resistance to bleaching and subsequent recovery. More recently even octocorals are succumbing to the ever-increasing ocean temperatures. Recent efforts in coral restoration, preserving tolerant genotypes, breeding and human-assisted evolution offer some hope for the survival of these diverse ecosystems.
Buoys
Four things to know about Buffalo State's Great Lakes Center
Multi-use research, education, and training venue
Staff engage in year-round research
Part of the Great Lakes Observing System (GLOS)
Offers two graduate degree options
Why it matters
The Great Lakes are the largest system of accessible freshwater on Earth: these inland seas are bounded by eight states and one province and contain about 20 percent of the world's supply of fresh water. Over 30 million people live within the watershed, including more than one-tenth of the U.S. population and one-quarter of the Canadian population. It's easy to see just how many people depend on the Great Lakes for drinking water, agriculture, transportation, industry, power generation, fisheries, and recreation.
Though incredibly vast, the Great Lakes are threatened by decades of hard use. Lake Erie in particular is densely populated, heavily industrialized, and heavily cultivated for agriculture. Toxic chemicals and nutrients accumulated over time from direct disposal, runoff, and atmospheric deposition are still within the basins of these lakes. This is partially due to their incredibly slow outflow rate as well as the large input of pollutants, especially nutrients from agricultural and municipal runoff. Other stressors to the Great Lakes are aquatic invasive species and habitat degradation. Continued urbanization reduces habitat refuges for native species, while increased international shipping can increase the risk of the invasion of non-native species.
Buffalo, New York, is one of 17 large city regions on the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Center at Buffalo State University is in a unique position to provide high-quality research and education opportunities to people who are living on and being impacted by Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The center has a research facility located on the waterfront, a fleet of boats, and field equipment that it can use to help answer questions about the ecological processes and patterns acting on the system. This is a prime site for students who wish to study how humans both create and resolve ecosystem-scale problems, especially those related to freshwater systems.
