Each of the five Great Lakes shares common histories of exploitation and environmental degradation, though to varying degrees.  Throughout the 20^th century, fish communities of all of the Great Lakes underwent massive changes and change continues to be a hallmark of these communities in the 21^st century.  In the lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario, many native species have been lost and replaced largely with invasive and introduced exotics; only Lake Superior retains a relatively natural assemblage.  Moreover, the invasion and expansion of dreissenid mussels in the lower lakes has drastically altered their ecosystems by shunting energy and nutrients into a benthic sink and caused trophic cascades in some lakes like Huron.  In order to better understand similarities and differences among the lakes, researchers in the past decade have been comparing trends in abundance of prey species, trophic structure and organization, and energy transfers and linkages. The goal of these studies is to assess the potential for restoration of native fishes in the lower lakes (especially with the decline of alewives in lakes Michigan and Huron) and to restore a level of ecosystem stability comparable to that in Lake Superior.  We invite contributions that compare physical environments of the Great Lakes and their biological communities.  We would like to present a range of papers that describe differences and trends in lower trophic levels (microbial, nanoplankton, plankton) to upper trophic levels (prey and predator fishes) and use of models to compare and contrast ecosystem structure and organization.  Finally, we invite papers that address the potential for restoration of native fish communities in the Great Lakes.