Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Coupling ecosystem science with management: A Great Lakes perspective from Green Bay, Lake Michigan, USA

  • Profile
  • Published:
Environmental Management Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Continued resource degradation in various areas of the Great Lakes has led to doubts of the adequacy of conventional science and management approaches. The need for a more holistic approach, identified as an ecosystem approach, appears now to be more widely accepted although progress with implementation is slow. We argue here that ecosystem science is an integral part of an ecosystem approach and is a prerequisite to effective management planning.

One of the problems of implementing an ecosystem approach is forging the link between ecosystem based research and management. For Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA, certain structural and functional qualities of the ecosystem have been used to define operational guides and to formulate management objectives. These objectives are being utilized in the development of a remedial action plan for Green Bay.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

Literature cited

  • Auer, M. T., M. S. Kieser, and R. P. Canale. 1986. Identification of critical nutrient levels through field verification of models for phosphorous and phytoplankton growth.Canadian Journal of Fishery and Aquatatic Science 43:379–388.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bosley, T. R. 1976. Green Bay's west shore coastal wetlands: a history of change. MS thesis, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay, 92 pp.

  • Cairns, J., Jr. 1985. Evaluating the options for water quality management.Water Resources Bulletin 21:1–6.

    Google Scholar 

  • Carpenter, S. R., J. F. Kitchell, and J. R. Hodgson. 1985. Cascading trophic interactions and lake productivity.BioScience 35:634.

    Google Scholar 

  • Christie, W. J., M. Becker, J. W. Cowden, and J. R. Vallentyne. 1986. Managing the Great Lakes Basin as a home.Journal of Great Lakes Research 12:2–17.

    Google Scholar 

  • Environmental Protection Agency. 1985. Five year program strategy for Great Lakes National Program Office. EPA document 905/9-85-002. Great Lakes National Program Office, Chicago, Illinois, 49 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Francis, G. R., J. J. Magnuson, H. A. Regier, and D. R. Talhelm. 1979. Rehabilitating Great Lakes ecosystems. Technical Report 37, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, 99 pp.

  • Francis, G. R., A. P. Lino Grima, H. A. Regier, and T. H. Whillans. 1985. A prospectus for the management of the Long Point ecosystem. Technical Report 43. Great Lakes Fishery Commission, 109 pp.

  • Goedmakers, A. 1985. Ecological water quality policy: an attempt at concept clarification and a plea for the use of biological ecosystem parameters.Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigang Limnologie 22:2277–2280.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, H. J., and P. E. Sager. 1984. Water management and estuarine productivity: a freshwater view of the Great Lakes. Pages 63–74in Research for managing the nation's estuaries: proceedings of a conference in Raleigh, NC, March 13–15, 1984.

  • Harris, H. J., D. R. Talhelm, J.J. Magnuson, and A.M. Forbes. 1982. Green Bay in the future: a rehabilitative prospectus. Technical Report 38, Great Lakes Fishery Commission, 59 pp.

  • Harris, H. J., T. J. Kubiak, and J. A. Trick. 1985. Microcontaminants and reproductive impairment of Forster's tern on Green Bay. Final Report to US Fish and Wildlife Service, UW Sea Grant Institute, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, and Green Bay Metropolitan Sewerage District. Sea Grant Office, ES-105, UW-Green Bay, Wisconsin, 42 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Harris, H. J., P. E. Sager, C. J. Yarbrough, and H. J. Day (1987) Evolution of water resource management: a Laurentian Great Lakes case study.International Journal of Environmental Studies 29:53–70.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Joint Commission. 1978. Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978. IJC, Ottawa, 52 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • International Joint Commission. 1985. Report on Great Lakes water quality. Great Lakes Water Quality Board, IJC, Kingston, Ontario, 212 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kahn, J. R., and W. M. Kemp. 1985. Economic losses associated with the degradation of an ecosystem: the case of submerged aquatic vegetation in Chesapeake Bay.Journal of Environmental Economics and Management 12:246–263.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, S. R. 1974. Structural analysis of aquatic communities. Pages 69–74in Proceedings of 1st International Congress of Ecology. The Hague, Pudoe, Wageningen, Netherlands.

  • Lee, B. J., H. A. Regier, and D. Rapport. 1982. Ten ecosystem approaches to the planning and management of the Great Lakes.Journal of Great Lakes Research 8:505–519.

    Google Scholar 

  • Lin, C. K., and M. S. Simmons. 1981. Effects of pentachlorobiphenyl on growth of nutrient enriched phytoplankton from Lake Michigan.Journal of Great Lakes Research 7:481–485.

    Google Scholar 

  • Magnuson, J. J., H. A. Regier, W. J. Christie, and W. C. Zonzogni. 1980. To rehabilitate and restore Great Lakes ecosystems. Pages 95–112in J. Cairns, Jr. (ed.), The recovery process in damaged ecosystems. Ann Arbor Science, Ann Arbor, Michigan.

    Google Scholar 

  • McNaught, D. C., D. Grieamer, M. Buzzard, and M. Kennedy. 1984. PCBs in Saginaw Bay: development of functional indices to estimate inhibition of ecosystem fluxes. Report to EPA, EPA-600/3-84-008. Environmental Research Laboratory, US Environmental Protection Agency, Duluth, Minnesota, 95 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council. 1984. Review of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement: working papers and discussion, National Academy Press, Washington, DC.

    Google Scholar 

  • National Research Council of the United States and the Royal Society of Canada. 1985. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement: an evolving instrument for ecosystem management. National Academy Press, Washington, DC, 172 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Odum, E. P. 1985. Trends expected in stressed ecosystems.BioScience 35:419–422.

    Google Scholar 

  • Rapport, D. J., H. A. Regier, and T. C. Hutchinson. 1985. Ecosystem behavior under stress.American Naturalist 125:617–640.

    Google Scholar 

  • Regier, H. A., and A. P. Grima. 1984. The nature of Great Lakes ecosystems.International Business Lawyer June 1984:261–264.

  • Richman, S., P. E. Sager, G. Banta, T. R. Harvey, and B. T. Destasio. 1984a. Phytoplankton standing stock, size distribution, species composition and productivity along a trophic gradient in Green Bay, Lake Michigan.Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigang Limnologie 22:460–469.

    Google Scholar 

  • Richman, S., M. Bailiff, L. Mackey, and D. Bolgrien. 1984b. Zooplankton standing stock, species composition and size distribution along a trophic gradient in Green Bay, Lake Michigan.Verhandlungen Internattionale Vereinigang Limnologie 22:475–487.

    Google Scholar 

  • Risser, P. G. 1985. Toward a holistic management perspective.BioScience 35:414–418.

    Google Scholar 

  • Roznowski, D. M., and M. T. Auer. 1984. Tributary loadings to Green Bay: a mass balance approach. Report to US Environmental Protection Agency, Duluth, Minnesota, 74 pp.

  • Rubio, B. 1987. Effect of polychlorinated biphenyl (PCBs) on carbon fixation of phytoplankton for Green Bay, Lake Michigan. MS thesis, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

    Google Scholar 

  • Ryder, R. A., and C. J. Edwards (eds.). 1985. A conceptual approach for the application of biological indicators of ecosystem quality in the Great Lakes Basin: report to the Great Lakes Science Advisory Board. International Joint Commission and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Windsor, Ontario, 169 pp.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sager, P. E., G. Banta, and J. Kirk. 1984. The relation between areal and volumetric expressions of14C productivity in Green Bay, Lake Michigan.Verhandlungen Internationale Vereinigang Limnologie 22:470–474.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sheldon, R. W., W. H. Sutcliffe, Jr., and M. A. Paranjape. 1977. Structure of pelagial food chain and relationship between plankton and fish production.Journal of Fishery Research Board of Canada 34:2344–2353.

    Google Scholar 

  • Stevenson, C., W. Boynton, M. Kemp, and R. Twilley. 1985. Estuarine water quality: implications for management of submerged aquatics in Chesapeake Bay. Paper presented at the Estuarine Management Practices Symposium, 11–14 November, Baton Route, Louisiana.

  • Trick, J. A. 1982. Reproductive success and foraging success as related to populations of Forster's terns (Sterna forsteri) on Green Bay, Lake Michigan. MS thesis, University of Wisconsin-Green Bay.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yarbrough, C. J. 1985a. The legal environment of ecosystem rehabilitation. Unpublished manuscript prepared for Committee to review the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. National Research Council, Royal Society of Canada.

  • Yarbrough, C. J. 1985b. Multi-institutional management: the Green Bay experience. Report to the Great Lakes Science Advisory Board, International Joint Commission, Windsor, Ontario, 87 pp.

    Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Land and Water Studies, University of Wisconsin, 54302, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

    Hallett J. Harris & Paul E. Sager

  2. Department of Biology, Lawrence University, 54911, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA

    Sumner Richman

  3. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Lake Michigan District Headquarters, 54302, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

    Victoria A. Harris

Authors
  1. Hallett J. Harris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Paul E. Sager
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Sumner Richman
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Victoria A. Harris
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. C. Jarrell Yarbrough
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Additional information

Deceased 5 February 1986.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Harris, H.J., Sager, P.E., Richman, S. et al. Coupling ecosystem science with management: A Great Lakes perspective from Green Bay, Lake Michigan, USA. Environmental Management 11, 619–625 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01880160

Download citation

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01880160

Key words

Search

Navigation