Grant Funded Research Projects in the Alm Lab

Establishing Gull Exclusion Zones at Public Beaches.

Gulls at Great Lakes beaches impair water quality and are an emerging public health and economic issue for coastal communities. This project will implement border collies as a cost-effective, public-friendly gull exclusion tool that will reduce beach closings related to gull-driven microbial impairments to beach quality. Gull exclusion success will be measured as: 1) reduced numbers of gulls in dog treatment beach zones; 2) reduced levels of E. coli and zoonotic pathogens in dog-treatment beach zones; and 3) reduced numbers of gull-related complaints that beach managers receive.

Gulls on the beach	E. coli from beach sand	Multiplex PCR of virulence genes