Great Lakes Futures Project meets in Mich.

ANN ARBOR, Mich. (AP) -- The University of Michigan will host dozens of Great Lakes researchers, advocates and policymakers this week at its Ann Arbor campus.

They will be in town for a meeting of the Great Lakes Futures Project on Wednesday.

The consortium of universities and institutions in the U.S. and Canada are developing plans for long-term research projects to protect and restore the Great Lakes.

More than 75 Great Lakes researchers and others are expected to attend this week's meeting, hosted by the U-M Water Center.

Participants will discuss forces that shaped the Great Lakes region in the past and those that will shape it over the next half-century, including climate change, energy, economics, water quantity, biological and chemical contaminants, invasive species and demographics.