SALT LAKE CITY–Today, Westminster University’s Great Salt Lake Institute announced its recent receipt of a year-long $50,000 grant from Northrop Grumman to expand its monitoring of brine flies on Great Salt Lake. This transformative gift will allow researchers and students at the world-renowned Institute, housed within Westminster University, to monitor how brine flies—a critical part of the lake’s food chain and ecosystem, feeding between 7-10 million birds annually—respond to changing salinity levels.
Research at other saline lakes suggests that increased salinity may impact brine flies by reducing their body mass and overall population, with potential impacts on bird populations that rely on the flies as a food source. Salinity levels go up as lake levels go down, which has been an issue in recent years with a record lake level low in 2022.
”In recent years, we’ve observed these impacts at Great Salt Lake, too,” said Georgie Corkery, the principal investigator on the grant and a coordinator at the Institute. “This funding will allow us to test our hypothesis that brine fly populations will be reduced at high salinity , and may rebound when the lake level rises and salinity lowers.“
Preliminary work funded by Northrop Grumman allowed the Institute to refine brine fly monitoring methods, which will now be put to use with this expanded project. As part of Westminster’s ongoing commitment to experiential, place-based learning, three Westminster University students will participate in ecosystem monitoring at Great Salt Lake while receiving valuable mentorship from faculty and staff. Researchers will also collaborate with the National Audubon Society and Sageland Collaborative, correlating their ongoing monitoring of shorebirds with the Institute’s brine fly monitoring for the first time.
The Great Salt Lake Institute was established in 2008 with support from Westminster University to connect people to the Great Salt Lake through research and education. Additional student projects underway at Great Salt Lake include research on microbe resiliency, soil microbiomes, and Pickleweed bioaccumulation.
Researchers on Great Salt Lake.
