The Elusive Ecosystem Approach: Progress and Challenges
G. Doug Haffner, Great Lakes Institute, Univ. of Windsor, [email protected]
Abstract
Dr. Jack Valentyne developed the basic concepts of the Ecosystem Approach that was endorsed in the 1978 Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. Limited success has been achieved in implementing this approach although it is recognized to be critical to future preservation and conservation of ecosystem resources and services in the Great Lakes. The size and temporal dynamics of large lake ecosystems make environmental and ecological assessment challenging, and it is difficult to scale up from small lake research to predict outcomes in large lake ecosystems. The development and calibration of environmental tracers such as stable isotopes, persistent organic pollutants and metals such as Hg and Cs provide for the opportunity to develop management models that integrate large temporal and spatial scales. This presentation will demonstrate the use of POPs as environmental tracers to develop new management models integrating fisheries and water quality management and to test predictions of the Metabolic Theory of Ecology in large lake ecosystems.
1. Keyword
ecosystem health
2. Keyword
ecosystems
3. Keyword
management