Hongyan Zhang, Ph.D., is an assistant research scientist at the NOAA-funded Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research (CILER), which is located in Ann Arbor, Mich., near the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory. Zhang uses computer models to investigate various topics, like the impact of invasive mussels on plankton, the occurrence of blue-green algal blooms, and the effectiveness of the phosphorous reduction program in Lake Erie.

My research interests focus on investigating ecosystem responses to natural and anthropogenic stressors (e.g., eutrophication, invasive species and contaminants), and how the responses will be affected by climate change and land-use changes.  I have been using numerical models (water quality model, Ecopath with Ecosim, and the Atlantis Ecosystem Model) to study those impacts on the Great Lakes Ecosystems. 

Projects I have been involved include:

Calibration of Lake Erie Food web Models with Field Data, funded by the Ohio Lake Erie Protection Fund, 2000-2006.  EcoLE modified CE_QUAL_W2.
Advisor - Professor David Culver

NGOMEX 2006 – Spatially-explicit, High-resolution Mapping and Modeling to Quantify Hypoxia Effects on the Living Resources of the Northern Gulf of Mexico, funded by DOC NOAA NOS CSCOR.  2007- 2008
Supervisors - Drs. Stuart Ludsin and Doran Mason

ECOFORE 2006 – Assessing the causes, consequences and remedies for hypoxia in Lake Erie” funded by DOC NOAA CSCOR.  2008- 2010.
Supervisors - Drs. Ed Rutherford and Doran Mason

Forecasting spread and bioeconomic impacts of aquatic invasive species from multiple to improve management and policy in the Great Lakes, funded by DOC NOAA NOS CSCOR and GLRI, 2009-2013.
Supervisors - Drs. Ed Rutherford and Doran Mason

Assessing risk of Asian carp invasion and impacts on Great Lakes food webs and fisheries, funded by GLRI, 2012-2013.  Supervisors - Drs. Ed Rutherford and Doran Mason

Application of site screening tools to evaluate ecological effects from trace organics in the aquatic environment, funded by WERF.  2013-2014.  Supervisor – Professor G. Allen Burton

U.S. – China Planning Visits: Catalyzing Collaboration on Forecasting the Potential Impacts of Invasive Species, funded by NSF.  2013-2014.  Supervisors - Drs. Ed Rutherford and Doran Mason