Simulation of Dynamic Hypoxic Zone Movement in Lake Erie and Associated Impacts on Walleye Habitat

Session: 45. - Hypoxia: Causes, Impacts, and Management

Nina Beigzali, Queen's University, [email protected]
Leon Boegman, Queen's University, [email protected]
Yingming Zhao, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, [email protected]
Serghei Bocaniov, University of Waterloo, [email protected]
Josef Ackerman, University of Guelph, [email protected]

Abstract

The assessment of water quality impacts on the fish species habitat has played an integral role in fisheries science as well as aquatic resource management in the Great Lakes.  For example, rapid movement of hypoxic zones alter vulnerability to fishing gears (Kraus et al. 2015; Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci.). This study aims to determine the dynamic movement of walleye habitat in central Lake Erie as a function of dissolved oxygen (DO) and temperature by applying the three-dimensional (3D) hydrodynamic model ELCOM coupled with the biogeochemical model CAEDYM. To determine the physical-biogeochemical processes driving rapid hypoxic zone movement and assess the predictive accuracy of the model, simulations have been compared to field observations between April 2008 and October 2009. Optimal and usable fish habitat distributions, and their movements, have been computed; including optimal and usable lake-water volumes. Inter-annual and long-term effects of weather and climate forcing, respectively, on habitat are being simulated by forcing the models with climate model outputs. 

1. Keyword
hydrodynamic model

2. Keyword
habitats

3. Keyword
Lake Erie

4. Additional Keyword
Hypoxic zone