SALT LAKE CITY— Westminster University’s Great Salt Lake Institute is a recipient of a year-long grant from Northrop Grumman. The money will go toward brine fly research.
Great Salt Lake Institute’s project will explore brine fly responses to changing salinity levels.
Georgie Corkery, the Great Salt Lake Institute Coordinator, said brine flies thrive in water between 12% and 15% salinity. In comparison, the ocean is only 3% salinity.
The research could help develop future Great Salt Lake management plans.
“If we find out that brine flies actually do better in a different salinity level or during a different time of year, or a different water level … all that information will help them manage [the lake],” Corkery said.
Brine flies are an important part of Great Salt Lake’s ecosystem. They serve as a food source for thousands of migratory birds that land on the lake each year.
“It’s part of the Pacific flyway and these birds are coming from kind of either end of the … Western Hemisphere,” Corkery said. “If they don’t have this place to nest, stage, rest, eat and fatten up before flying again for hundreds of miles, that could be pretty devastating.
The life of a brine fly
The majority of the life of a brine fly happens below the water’s surface.
Corkery explained that brine flies begin as larvae. Then, they begin to pupate, which Corkery said is similar to a butterfly’s cocoon stage.
“That whole process is done underwater on the microbialite mats, which are themselves these really cool things in Great Salt Lake,” Corkery said.
If the water is too salty, or if it ceases to exist, brine fly populations can quickly decline. If the flies ceased to exist, part of the ecosystem would collapse.
Great Salt Lake Institute undergrads to work on project
Undergraduate researchers will be working on the projects. The $50,000 grant will pay them for their work.
The institute gives young scientists the opportunity to participate in research projects.
“Sometimes they’ll come to us with projects that they want to do. Other times we have projects that we’ve been doing,” said Corkery. “We have two students … who will be taking on this project.”
