You are here:
CONNECTING WATERSHED CHARACTERISTICS TO NUTRIENT REGIME FROM HEADWATERS TO RECEIVING WATERS IN THE LAURENTIAL GREAT LAKES
Citation:
Morrice, J A., J. R. Kelly, P. M. Yurista, J A. Thompson, M E. Sierszen, T. Hollenhorst, AND N. P. Danz. CONNECTING WATERSHED CHARACTERISTICS TO NUTRIENT REGIME FROM HEADWATERS TO RECEIVING WATERS IN THE LAURENTIAL GREAT LAKES. Presented at ASLO (American Society of Limnology and Oceanography) Annual Meeting, Salt Lake City, UT, February 20-25, 2005.
Description:
We are evaluating the influence of position along the tributary-coastal wetland-lake continuum on the expression of watershed characteristics in the water quality of Great Lakes (GL) coastal ecosystems as part of an EPA study focused on determining stressor-response relationships for nutrients. Between 2002 and 2004, we sampled more than 100 tributary, coastal wetland and nearshore sites distributed across the GL basin. Our goal in site selection was to represent basin-wide gradients in nutrient loading and we used a GIS-based characterization of watershed land use and land cover conducted by our collaborators in the Great Lakes Environmental Indicators project to guide this process. Highlighted results to date: 1) Principal components derived from land use statistics and land cover data are each predictors of in situ nutrient concentrations in GL coastal ecosystems. 2) The signal of landscape character, expressed as nutrient concentrations, diminishes in fidelity as one moves downstream from waters more firmly embedded within the landscape (tributaries and coastal wetlands) to embayments and more open nearshore receiving waters. This abstract does not necessarily reflect EPA policy.