| Contents Notes |
Executive Summary -- Statistical Design -- Chemical/Physical and Land Use/Cover Measurements -- Vegetation Community Indicators -- Invertebrate Community Indicators -- Fish Community Indicators -- Amphibian Community Indicators -- Bird Community Indicators -- Landscape-Based Indicators -- Cost Analysis for Sampling of Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands -- Data Management System -- Partnerships for Implementation -- Monitoring Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands: Summary Recommendations -- Appendix A. Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Classification -- Appendix B. Validation and Performance of an Invertebrate Index of Biotic Integrity for Lakes Huron and Michigan Fringing Wetlands During a Period of Lake Level Decline -- Appendix C. Fish Habitat Use Within and Across Wetland Classes in Coastal Wetlands of the Five Great Lakes: Development of a Fish-based Index of Biotic Integrity. The Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands Monitoring Plan recommends multiple biological protocols and metrics for monitoring the condition of Great Lakes coastal wetlands-- including those for plants, invertebrates, fish, amphibians, and birds. Also recommended is a design for sampling Great Lakes coastal wetlands that allows users to monitor condition of these wetlands on an annual basis. With a combination of repeated site visits and random sampling of other wetlands on an annual basis, users can establish status and trends (positive, negative, no change) of wetland condition for a given site, region, or for all Great Lakes coastal wetlands. |
