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FINDING THE SCALES OF ECOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AND TRIBUTARY INPUTS TO OPEN NEARSHORE WATERS, A GREAT LAKES COAST-WIDE EXPERIENCE
Citation:
Kelly, J. R., P. M. Yurista, J A. Morrice, A M. Cotter, AND G. S. Peterson. FINDING THE SCALES OF ECOLOGICAL RESPONSE TO LANDSCAPE CHARACTER AND TRIBUTARY INPUTS TO OPEN NEARSHORE WATERS, A GREAT LAKES COAST-WIDE EXPERIENCE. Presented at Estuarine Reserch Foundation 17th International Conference, Seattle, WA, September 14-18, 2003.
Description:
In 2002 we sampled over 40 stretches of open coastline across the US portion of the Great Lakes with an equal effort planned for 2003. Sites were selected to represent an intended gradient of landscape disturbance in watersheds hydrologically-connected to nearshore waters. Half the sites were centered on tributaries, the other half were at adjacent locations not immediately receiving tributary inputs. In addition to fixed site sampling, we towed in situ sensors and had underway acoustic seabed classification to semi-synoptically map water and sediment conditions in grids. We use the spatially-rich data to explore responses in the lower trophic levels, specifically in terms of how detectable scales of response may relate to differences, across our sites, in attributes like: contributing watershed area and flow, tributary quality/loading metrics, and the physical/geomorphic character of the nearshore system itself. This research will provide a basis to establish appropriate spatial units for ecological monitoring of open coastal waters.