Ecology of Lake Erie – Wetlands and lake-wide planktonic communities: A synthesis

Abstract

Lake Erie is a large, naturally dynamic, and
heterogeneous ecosystem that supports diverse
biological communities integral to ecosystem
functioning and the provision of services valued
by society (Allan et al., 2017; Fraker et al., 2022;
Reutter, 2019; Sly, 1976). Despite its importance, a
comprehensive accounting of Lake Erie’s biological
diversity is lacking as is a thorough understanding
of the mechanisms driving variation in community
structure (e.g. species composition) during recent
decades (Fraker et al., 2022). These information gaps
reflect multiple challenges, including inconsistent
monitoring, reporting, and data accessibility
(Budnik et al., 2024; Fraker et al., 2022), the impacts
of multiple, interacting human-driven stressors (e.g.
climate change, altered nutrient inputs, invasive
species, habitat destruction; Smith et al., 2015; Smith
et al., 2019), and the need for more mechanistic
research and modeling tools (Mohamed et al., 2019;
Neumann et al., 2021) – challenges common across
the Great Lakes (Munawar and Hecky, 2001; Jenny
et al., 2020; Sterner et al., 2017). These uncertainties
are especially conspicuous in Lake Erie’s coastal
wetlands, which are characterized by complex
hydrology and biology and have been dynamic in
part due to human-driven environmental change
(Cvetkovic and Chow-Fraser, 2011; Herdendorf,
1992; Kowalski and Wilcox, 1999; Munawar and
Heath, 2008). Thus, investigations that assess how
and why wetland community structure has varied
during recent decades, as well as the implication
of these changes for ecosystem function and
ecosystem-service provisioning, are needed, as such
information could benefit ongoing and planned
wetland restoration efforts (Cvetkovic and Chow
Fraser, 2011; Rumball et al., 2025; Sierszen et al.,
2012).