Impact of urbanization on the water quality, fish habitat, and fish community of a Lake Ontario marsh, Frenchman’s Bay
Frenchman’s Bay is a barrier beach wetland with a highly urbanized watershed located east of Toronto, along the north shore of Lake Ontario. Degradation of water quality has reduced the historically large stand of emergent vegetation to fringe emergent beds to the north and… Read More
Effect of Wetland Quality on Sampling Bias Associated with Two Fish Survey Methods for Coastal Wetlands of the Lower Great Lakes
A variety of sampling gear and protocols have been used in the literature to characterize the fish communities of Great Lakes coastal wetlands, and these include passive-capture gears such as gill nets, trap nets, and fyke nets, as well as active-capture gears such as beach… Read More
Ecosystem response to changes in water level of Lake Ontario marshes: lessons from the restoration of Cootes Paradise Marsh
A general understanding of how aquatic vegetation responds to water-level fluctuations is needed to guide restoration of Great Lakes coastal wetlands because inter-annual and seasonal variations often confound effects of costly remedial actions. In 1997, common carp (Cyprinus… Read More
Untangling the confounding effects of urbanization and high water level on the cover of emergent vegetation in Cootes Paradise Marsh, a degraded coastal wetland of Lake Ontario
An approach based on a digital elevation model (DEM) was used to untangle the confounding effects of long-term water-level fluctuations and increasing human population on the cover of emergent vegetation in Cootes Paradise Marsh, a degraded coastal wetland in Lake Ontario, Canada… Read More
Carp exclusion, food-web interactions and the restoration of Cootes Paradise Marsh
Carp were excluded from Cootes Paradise Marsh (Lake Ontario) in 1997 in order to improve water clarity and promote submerged plant growth. On average, turbidity at open water and vegetated areas was reduced by 40 and 60 percent, respectively, following carp exclusion. However,… Read More