Researchers at Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan are studying the role foreign quagga mussels play in noxious algae blooms and botulism outbreaks that have killed thousands of birds in recent year.

Great Lakes Restoration Initiative grants totaling $1.9 million are funding research that could reduce the botulism outbreaks, which have killed loons and the federally protected piping plover. Read more here.