The science of ecosystem-based management on a global scale: The Laurentian Great Lakes, Lake Ontario, and the Bay of Quinte as a nested case study
Keywords:
integrated, adaptive, sustainableAbstract
Lake ecosystems are our sentinels of environmental change and their effective management is one of our key planetary challenges in the 21st century. The evolution of ecosystem science as a basis for management is reviewed using the nested set of the Laurentian Great Lakes, Lake Ontario, and the Bay of Quinte as a primary focus. Other great lakes of the world, many of which are in Canada, provide a secondary focus. Ecosystem science has a long history in the Laurentian Great Lakes with developments driven in large part by the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, Lake-Wide Management Plans, and Remedial Action Plans for Areas of Concern. By comparison most other large Canadian lakes have received little attention as is the case with many of the world's great lakes. The substantial arsenal of tools and knowledge accumulated in the Great Lakes can serve as a model for other lake systems. As the range of ecosystem management problems has continued to grow, the motivating theme has shifted from restoration through rehabilitation to adaptation. The main challenge is to coalesce the many stresses we previously have sought to manage singly: land use, population growth, habitat degradation, resource exploitation, invasive species, pollutant and contaminant loadings, and, finally, climate change. Essential features of effective ecosystem-based management are: a whole system view, active adaptive management, acceptance of science-based evidence, and shared goals with common objectives. The last two may prove the greatest hurdle as society becomes ever more divided and fractious given the global onslaught of environmental and societal challenges. The Great Lakes experience shows there is hope.
References
Christie, W. J., Becker, M., Cowden, J. W. and Vallentyne, J. R. 1986. Managing the Great Lakes Basin as a home. J. Great Lakes Res., 12: 2–17.
Chu, C., Minns, C. K., Moore, J. E. and Millard, E. S. 2004. Impact of oligotrophication, temperature, and water levels on Walleye habitat in the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario. Trans. Amer. Fish. Soc., 133: 868–879.
Curtin, R. and Prellezo, R. 2010. Understanding marine ecosystem based management: a literature review. Marine Policy, 34: 821–830.
Dasgupta, P. 2010. Nature's role in sustaining economic development. Philo. Trans. Roy. Soc. B, 365: 5–11. 2010
Downing, J. A., Prairie, Y.T., Melack, J.M. and Middelburg, J.J. 2006. The global abundance and size distribution of lakes, ponds, and impoundments. Limnol. Oceanogr., 51(5): 2388–2397.
Ehrlich, P. R. 1990. Don't forget the big picture. Environ. Toxicol. Chem., 9: 249–251.
Farber, F., Costanza, R., Childers, D. L., Erickson, J., Gross, K., Grove, M., Hopkinson, C. S., Kahn, J., Pincet, S., Troy, A., Warren, P. and Wilson, M. 2006. Linking ecology and economics for ecosystem management. BioScience, 56(2): 117–129.
Gavaris, S. 2009. Fisheries management planning and support for strategic and tactical decisions in an ecosystem approach context. Fisheries Res., 100(1): 6–14.
ILEC. 1997. Guidelines of Lake Management, Volume 8: The World's Lakes in Crisis, Kusatsu, Shiga, Japan: International Lake Environment Committee.
Jackson, T. 2009. Prosperity without Growth: Economics for Finite Planet, London, Sterling, VA: Earthscan.
Johnson, B. L. 1999. Introduction to the special feature: adaptive management - scientifically sound, socially challenged?. Conservation Ecology, 3(1): 10 [online] URL: http://www.consecol.org/vol3/iss1/art10/
Koops, M. A., Irwin, B. J., MacNeil, J. E., Millard, E. S. and Mills, E. L. 2006. Comparative ecosystem modelling of the ecosystem impacts of exotic invertebrates and productivity changes on fisheries in the Bay of Quinte and Oneida Lake, Ann Arbor, MI: Great Lakes Fishery Commission Project Completion Report.
Koops, M. A., Dermott, R. M., Leisti, K. E., Johannsson, O. E., Millard, E. S., Minns, C. K., Munawar, M., Nicholls, K. H. and Hoyle, J. A. 2009. The Bay of Quinte: a model for large lake ecosystem management. Verh., 30(7): 1024–1029. Int. Ver. Limnol.
Leopold, A. 1949. A Sand County Almanac, UK: Oxford University Press.
Minns, C. K. 1999. The ecosystem pyramid and the means for attaining ecological sustainability: an essay in honour of Jack Christie. Aquat. Ecosystem Health and Manage., 2(3): 197–208.
Minns, C. K. 2009. The potential future impact of climate warming and other human activities on the productive capacity of Canada's lake fisheries: a meta-model. J. Aquat. Ecosystem Health Manage., 12: 152–167.
Minns, C. K. 2010. Limnological characteristics of Canada's poorly known large lakes. J. Aquat. Ecosystem Health Manage., 13: 107–117.
Minns, C. K. and Moore, J. E. 2004. Modelling phosphorus management in the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario in the past, 1972 to 2001, and in the future. Can. Manuscr. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 2695:v+42p
Minns, C. K., Hurley, D. A. and Nicholls, K. H. 1986. Project Quinte: Point-source phosphorus control and ecosystem response in the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario. Can. Spec. Pub. Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, 86
Minns, C. K., Moore, J. E. and Seifried, K. E. 2004. Nutrient loads and budgets in the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario, 1972 to 2001. Can. Manuscr. Rep. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 2694 v+49p
Minns, C. K., Bernard, A., Bakelaar, C. N. and Ewaschuk, M. 2006. A Fish Habitat Classification Model for the Upper And Middle Sections of the Bay Of Quinte, Lake Ontario. Can. MS Rpt. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 2748 vii+61p
Minns, C. K., Moore, J. E., Shuter, B. J. and Mandrak, N. E. 2008. A preliminary analysis of some key characteristics of Canadian lakes. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci., 65: 1763–1778.
Moss, B. 2008. The Water Framework Directive: Total environment or political compromise. Science of the Total Environment, 400: 32–41.
Norgaard, R. B. 2010. Ecosystem services: from eye-opening metaphor to complexity blinder. Ecol. Econ., 69: 1219–1227.
Randall, R. G., Koops, M. A., Munawar, M. and Minns, C. K. 2009. Risk assessment of threats to large lakes around the world – a pilot survey. Verh., 30(7): 1030–1034. Int. Ver. Limnol.
Randall, R. G., Koops, M. A. and Minns, C. K. 2011. A comparison of approaches for integrated management in coastal marine areas of Canada with the historical approach used in the Great Lakes (Bay of Quinte). Aquat. Ecosystem Health and Management, 14: 104–113.
Reeves, G. H. and Duncan, S. L. 2009. Ecological history vs. social expectations: managing aquatic ecosystems. Ecology and Society, 14(2): 8 [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art8/
Rockström, J. and Karlberg, L. 2010. The quadruple squeeze: defining the safe operating space for freshwater use to achieve a triply green revolution in the Anthropocene. Ambio, 39: 257–265.
Rockström, J., Steffen, W., Noone, K., Persson, Å., Chapin, F. S. III, Lambin, E., Lenton, T. M., Scheffer, M., Folke, C., Schellnhuber, H., Nykvist, B., De Wit, C. A., Hughes, T., van der Leeuw, S., Rodhe, H., Sörlin, S., Snyder, P. K., Costanza, R., Svedin, U., Falkenmark, M., Karlberg, L., Corell, R. W., Fabry, V. J., Hansen, J., Walker, B., Liverman, D., Richardson, K., Crutzen, P. and Foley, J. 2009. Planetary boundaries: exploring the safe operating space for humanity. Ecology and Society, 14(2): 32 [online] URL: http://www.ecologyandsociety.org/vol14/iss2/art32/
Scheffer, M. and Westley, F. R. 2007. The evolutionary basis of rigidity: locks in cells, minds, and society. Ecol. Soc., 12(2): 36 [online]
Stride, F., German, M., Hurley, D. A., Millard, E. S., Minns, C. K., Nicholls, K. H., Owen, G. E., Poulton, D. A. and de Geus, N. 1992. “An overview of the modelling and public consultation processes used to develop the bay of Quinte Remedial Action Plan”. In Under RAPs: toward grassroots ecological democracy in the Great Lakes Basin, Edited by: Hartig, J. H. and Zarull, M. A. 161–183. Ann Arbor, Michigan: University of Michigan Press.
Tilzer, M. M. and Bossard, P. 1992. Large lakes and their sustainable development. Aqua. Sci., 54(2): 91–103.
Vignola, R., Locatelli, B., Martinez, C. and Imbach, P. 2009. Ecosystem-based adaptation to climate change: what role for policy-makers, society, and scientists?. Mitig. Adapt. Strateg. Glob. Change, 14: 691–696.
Walters, C. J. and Holling, C. S. 1990. Large-scale management experiments and learning by doing. Ecology, 71: 2060–2068.
Published
Issue
Section
License
Manuscripts must be original. They must not be published or be under consideration for publication elsewhere, in whole or in part. It is required that the lead author of accepted papers complete and sign the MSU Press AEHM Author Publishing Agreement and provide it to the publisher upon acceptance.
