Feasibility of implementing an integrated long-term database to advance ecosystem-based management in the Laurentian Great Lakes basin.

The North American Great Lakes have been experiencing dramatic change during the past half-century, highlighting the need for holistic, ecosystem-based approaches to management. To assess interest in ecosystem-based management (EBM), including the value of a comprehensive public database that could serve as a repository for the numerous physical, chemical, and biological monitoring Great Lakes datasets that exist, a two-day workshop was organized, which was attended by 40+ Great Lakes researchers, managers, and stakeholders. While we learned during the workshop that EBM is not an explicit mission of many of the participating research, monitoring, and management agencies, most have been conducting research or monitoring activities that can support EBM.

A Meta-analysis on the Effectiveness of Offsetting Strategies to Address Harm to Freshwater Fishes.

Offsetting aims to compensate for negative impacts due to authorized anthropogenic impacts associated with development. While anchored into legislation, residual or chronic impacts can occur after offset establishment. Advice and best practice on how to approach these impacts is rare.

The consequences of null model selection for predicting mortality from multiple stressors.

Many ecological systems are now exposed to multiple stressors, and ecosystem management increasingly requires consideration of the joint effects of multiple stressors on focal populations, communities and ecosystems. In the absence of empirical data, ecosystem managers could use null models based on the combination of independently acting stressors to estimate the joint effects of multiple stressors. Here, we used a simulation study and a meta-analysis to explore the consequences of null model selection for the prediction of mortality resulting from exposure to two stressors.

A review and meta-analysis of collaborative research prioritization studies in ecology, biodiversity conservation and environmental science.

Collaborative research prioritization (CRP) studies have become increasingly popular during the last decade. By bringing together a diverse group of stakeholders, and using a democratic process to create a list of research priorities, these methods purport to identify research topics that will better meet the needs of science users. Here, we review 41 CRP studies in the fields of ecology, biodiversity conservation and environmental science that collectively identify 2031 research priorities.

Delineation of the role of nutrient variability and dreissenids (Mollusca, Bivalvia) on phytoplankton dynamics in the Bay of Quinte, Ontario, Canada.

The Bay of Quinte, a Z-shaped embayment at the northeastern end of Lake Ontario, has a long history of eutrophication problems primarily manifested as spatially extensive algal blooms and predominance of toxic cyanobacteria. The purpose of this study was to identify the structural changes of the phytoplankton community induced by two environmental alterations: point-source phosphorus (P) loading reduction in the late 1970s and establishment of dreissenid mussels in the mid-1990s. A combination of statistical techniques was used to draw inference about compositional shifts of the phytoplankton assemblage, the consistency of the seasonal succession patterns along with the mechanisms underlying the algal biovolume variability in the Bay of Quinte over the past three decades.

Behavior as biomarker? Laboratory versus field movement in round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) from highly contaminated habitats.

Changes in animal movement (frequency or speed of locomotion) following exposure to a toxicant are frequently considered a biomarker of contaminant exposure and are some of the most widely reported behavioral results in toxicological literature. However, the ecological consequences of such behavioral changes, such as effects on toxicant transfer in foodwebs, are far less well understood, complicated in part by the short-term nature of laboratory experiments and the lack of complementary field studies where the nature of toxicant exposure is more complex. Here we examine whether naturally exposed individuals of the round goby, a benthic, site-loyal fish, move in a manner similar to conspecifics from less contaminated habitats.

Integrating the roles of information and competitive ability on the spatial distribution of social foragers.

Understanding and predicting the spatial distribution of social foragers among patchily distributed resources is a problem that has been addressed with numerous approaches over the 30 yr since the ideal free distribution (IFD) was first introduced. The two main approaches involve perceptual constraints and unequal competitors. Here we present a model of social foragers choosing among resource patches.