Ecosystem classification and mapping of the Laurentian Great Lakes
| Autor: | Edward S. Rutherford, Beth L. Sparks-Jackson, Thomas Hollenhorst, James E. McKenna, Christian Castiglione, Catherine M. Riseng, Lacey A. Mason, Li Wang, Scott P. Sowa, Lucinda B. Johnson, Kevin E. Wehrly |
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| Rok vydání: | 2018 |
| Předmět: |
0106 biological sciences
Geospatial analysis Ecosystem classification Resource (biology) 010504 meteorology & atmospheric sciences business.industry 010604 marine biology & hydrobiology Aquatic ecosystem Environmental resource management Aquatic Science computer.software_genre 01 natural sciences Freshwater ecosystem Geography Margin (machine learning) Expert opinion Submarine pipeline business computer Ecology Evolution Behavior and Systematics 0105 earth and related environmental sciences |
| Zdroj: | Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. 75:1693-1712 |
| ISSN: | 1205-7533 0706-652X |
| DOI: | 10.1139/cjfas-2017-0242 |
| Popis: | Owing to the enormity and complexity of the Laurentian Great Lakes, an ecosystem classification is needed to better understand, protect, and manage this largest freshwater ecosystem in the world. Using a combination of statistical analyses, published knowledge, and expert opinion, we identified key driving variables and their ecologically relevant thresholds and delineated and mapped aquatic systems for the entire Great Lakes. We identified and mapped 77 aquatic ecological units (AEUs) that depict unique combinations of depth, thermal regime, hydraulic, and landscape classifiers. Those 77 AEU types were distributed across 1997 polygons (patches) ranging from 1 to >48 000 km2in area and were most diverse in the nearshore (35 types), followed by the coastal margin (26), and then the offshore (16). Our classification and mapping of ecological units captures gradients that characterize types of aquatic systems in the Great Lakes and provides a geospatial accounting framework for resource inventory, status and trend assessment; research for ecosystem questions; and management and policy-making. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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