Environ 201: The Great Lakes

Front 1

basic facts about the great lakes
(5)

Back 1

1. 20% of world's surface is freshwater
2. 5 of 9 largest lakes in the world are in the g. lakes
3. historica role in transportation and settlement
4. large human population depend on region
5. Multiple uses through history
utilitarian management

Front 2

Habitat loss: Wetlands

swamps

Back 2

swamps cover up the farm lands
seasonally flood and dry
increase insects
bad and want to remove this

Front 3

modes of removal of habitat loss in wetlands
1) Agricultural dikes

Back 3

hold back water when seasonally flood
looks like a trapezoidal shape

Front 4

modes of removal of habitat loss in wetlands
2) clear wetland

Back 4

this way can grow crops
the soil is very fertile

Front 5

modes of removal of habitat loss in wetlands
drainage

Back 5

pipe under soil "tiling"
soak in water--> pond
reduce wetness
e.g.) saginaw bay: tiling, dredging, reduce wetland habitast
habititat no longer exists
this is not a good option

Front 6

Habitat Alterations:
Ship Canals

Back 6

Wetlands around niagra falls 1824
500 docks: vertical raise and ship pass
ships and equatic life
change nature of upper lakes
now that boats can get through--so can faquatic life that would otherwise not have transfered into those waters

Front 7

Watershed change

Back 7

watershed: how water pools
whole state of MI is in the g-lakes watershed
area that recieve water from 1 area
so all the domestic/industrial/agri water filters out into one place-
all that drains to this specific place is considered part of the watershed

Front 8

Dams

Back 8

hold back water
water head used to turn machinery
use head of water behind dam
become big sediment tanks
change nutrient

Front 9

Dam impact on fish migration

Back 9

really inhibit the movement
can only move about a mile

Front 10

Logging

Back 10

cut down trees--> erosion
put these trees in the water

Front 11

log drives and river conditions

Back 11

send logs down river to mills
if big enough to float log = public land
cleared snags to be able to float log

effects: erodes banks and loose soils
remove shade--> warm rivers
sawdust at the rivermouth
DEGRADES THE HABITAT

Front 12

Example of detriments from logging
Michigan Graying

Back 12

very common in the 1900s
caught and eaten because easy and abundant
logging and exploitation
extinct in MI in 1930

Front 13

Overfishing
with the example of sturgeon

Back 13

big issue with the great lakes
e.g) Lake Sturgeon
-caviar: $50/ oz
sturgeon is very valuable
become endangered by our demand for caviar
sturgeons get caught in caviar nets and let them all out
so we intentionally overfish them--dont even eat them

Front 14

Comercial fishing

Back 14

to to conserve it so can use over longest time

Front 15

exploitation patterns
e.g) whitefish

Back 15

whitefish: become more exploited. then cycles become more variant
increase fluctuation over time
comon of exploit fish population
exploitation follows a pattern
high value to the low value
go down in trophic levels

Front 16

Water quality
pollution issues
(5)

Back 16

1. Cholera epidemic of Chicago, 1854
2. Sawdust: tannery effluent by 1990
3. Eutrohpication
4. PCB and DDT contamination from manufacture by 1960
serious water contamination from industry, sawdust to pretroleum prudcts and animal waste

Front 17

eutrohpication

Back 17

add nutrients into water
which makes the algae grow and therefore make entire ecosystem deca and die
the plants need O2 and there is low O2 n the water

Front 18

Cholera Epidemic in Chicago

Back 18

human waste contaminates the water
big problem in developing countries
make chicago sanotary canal which conecgts the chicago river to illinois which goes into misssissippi
no the waste goes into misssissippi
transport problem
get drinking water from lake MI

Front 19

Cuyahoga River Burns in 1969

Back 19

so contaminate in '69 yhat it catches on fire and burns

Front 20

Invasions:
deliberate introductions

Back 20

carp, pacicifc salmon
try to create sport fishery, etc.

Front 21

Unintentional introductions

Back 21

pink salmon, smelt
escape lab

Front 22

Immigration throug ship canals

Back 22

Alewife and Sea lamprey
they cannot handle the climate change
so the fish die off in massive numbers
the exotic species will typically prosper while the exotic species will fall

Front 23

Ballast water introductions

Back 23

ballast water is carred onto ships to provide stability
taken on port before leave
marine organisms are taken with it

Front 24

Ballast invaders

Back 24

zebra mussels: can live in poor wuality
they plugged the water intake pipes because tey were so abundant

also: round goby, ruffe, quagga mussel, bythotrephes

Front 25

Rehabilititating an environmental catastrophe

Back 25

can the water be brought back to their original state?
no- but in '65 lake erie was dead- then in '69 river burns--> ban of DDT, 1870: lamprey control--> clean water act

Front 26

restoration v. rehabilitation

Back 26

estoeation (which would mean, bringing something back to the way it was) but rehabilitation (trying to make functioning ecosystem)

rehabilitation deals with species that are not meant to be there
always waiting until problem is the msot extreme
new problems will make it so we always have to manage

Front 27

New problems
Asian carp

Back 27

import by fish farms
escaped into the mississippi
now very close to lake michigan

Front 28

other new problems

Back 28

collapse of alewife and salmon in lake Huron
expansions of cormorants throughout the lakes
expansion of quagga mussels into newrangels
dead zones in lake Erie

Front 29

breakdown of 11 billion tons of yearly waste in US
lead in per capita production

Back 29

1/2 agriculture
1/3 mining
3% industrial
232 MT municple

Front 30

3 Rs

Back 30

reduce
reuse
recycle

Front 31

EPA and landfills

Back 31

EPA regulate landfill
1960: 95% waste goes into landfill
2005: 50% andfill

Front 32

waste facts
(2)

Back 32

57% is recyclable
25% could be composted
18% belong in trash
both require sorting and processing

Front 33

waste disposal methods

Back 33

landfill: US, spece limited, huge waste problem

recycling: can be done for certain key products

composting: only works with organic material

incinerate: reduce volume but degrade air quality

Front 34

landfills

Back 34

contained so garbage doesnt get into land
gas caps: re-use gas

Front 35

Incineration

Back 35

once the major system
works for gardens agriculture

Front 36

New Incerators

Back 36

reduce air polution within a system
reduce waste
ash produced--> ladnfills