Use of Systems Practice for Great Lakes Ecosystem Research and Management

Session: Systems Practice: A Solution to Address “Wicked” Problems?

Stephen Hensler, Cerulean Center, [email protected]
Paula McIntyre, Loracs Design LLC, [email protected]

Abstract

The world's large lakes and their watersheds are complex ecosystems affecting numerous stakeholders from multiple perspectives and often span numerous political boundaries. Understanding and managing these ecosystems involves navigating human systems with issues that are also complex and often have a high degree of uncertainty. We present a system map developed to identify factors affecting ecosystem health of the Laurentian Great Lakes and highlight leverage areas to streamline system improvement. We further describe a pilot case study to use this map to attempt to prevent species invasions from a systems perspective.