ECOLOGICAL HEALTH
                                       MAJOR ECOSYSTEM FUNCTIONING
PRESSURE
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                                                                                                TfYPEA
                                                                                                TYPEB
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                                                                                                TYPEC
Indicator:   Contaminants in Colonial Nesting Waterbirds
The Great Lakes compose an important and unique ecosystem.
They represent the largest system of fresh water in the world and
provide   many  economic  and  ecological  benefits  to  the
surrounding areas.  The Great Lakes basin, which includes the
lakes and over 290,000 square miles of land that drains into
them, supports concentrated industry and agriculture for the U.S.
and Canada.  These  activities have taken their environmental toll
on the Great Lakes as sewage, fertilizer and  pesticide run-off,
and industrial wastes have  deteriorated  water quality.   In
response to this, there have been many pollution prevention and
clean-up efforts sponsored by local governments, the EPA and
the  Canadian government.  Long-term monitoring is necessary
to track the  progress of these initiatives  and to prevent any
further degradation of the Great Lakes ecosystem.

The indicator, contaminants in colonial nesting waterbirds, will
measure present chemical concentration levels and trends as well
as ecological and physiological endpoints in colonial birds, such
as gulls, terns, cormorants  and/or herons. This information will
help assess the impact of contaminants on the health of the
waterbird populations.  Of particular concern is  the physiology
and breeding characteristics of the waterbirds.  This indicator
will serve to be exceptionally valuable because waterbirds are at
top  of the aquatic food  web predators  in  the Great Lakes
ecosystem and thus, they bioaccumulate  contaminants to the
greatest concentration and they breed on  all  the Great Lakes.
This will allow for easy comparisons among the lakes.

The main objective of examining colonial waterbirds on the
Great Lakes is to know at which point there is no difference in
chemical and biological parameters between colonial waterbirds
from the Great Lakes and  those off the Great Lakes. This will
be essential  in recognizing when the clean-up  goal has been
achieved.
Notes: Data not provided by date of publication.

Source:  "State of the Lakes  Ecosystem Conference 2000  Implementing
Indicators: Draft for Discussion at SOLEC 2000," October 2000.  SOLEC Web
Site: http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/solec/implementing2000-e.html

Scale: The Great Lakes and their watersheds

Data Characteristics and Limitations: N/A

References
Bertram, Paul, and Stadler-Salt, Nancy, "Selection of Indicators for Great Lakes
        Basin Ecosystem Health: Version 4," State of the Lakes Ecosystem
        Conference, March, 2000.

Environment Canada SOLEC Web Site. 31 January 2003. Available online at:
        http://www.on.ec.gc.ca/solec/intro.html

U.S. EPA SOLEC Web Site. 31 January 2003. Available online at:
        http://www.epa.gov/grtlakes/solec
Chemical and Pesticides Results Measures

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