Multiple Stressors and Cumulative Effects in the Great Lakes: An NSERC CREATE program to Develop Innovative Solutions through International Training Partnerships

五大湖-圣。劳伦斯河流域拥有3300多万人口，约占北美人口的10%。它是一个重要的工业和制造业中心，其周围的流域包含了北美一些最具生产力的农业用地。如此密集的人类活动带来了沉重的人类足迹，五大湖的生态系统长期以来一直受到人为压力机制的影响（例如，营养物污染、化学污染、入侵物种、沿海开发、栖息地破坏等）。历史上，来自不同学科的研究人员从个体压力源的角度研究了这些问题，但越来越清楚的是，对于五大湖所经历的许多环境问题，有效和创新的政策解决方案必须建立在对压力源如何相互作用及其累积效应的全面理解之上。在五大湖独特的国际环境中，我们认为最好的方法是通过跨界、多学科的方法培养核心专业人员，将科学、社会和经济方面结合起来，促进研究人员、决策者和公共部门之间的直接互动。采用基础和实践教学方法的综合结合，“边做边学”的理念，NSERC关于多重压力源和累积效应的CREATE项目旨在培养下一代科学家和政策制定者理解并能够解决多重压力源和累积效应的复杂问题；“为市场做好准备”的学生，因此能够在政府、工业和学术界担任领导职务；以及一群核心专业人士，他们将处于最佳位置，为五大湖生态系统的未来可持续性提供建议和制定战略监管政策和管理框架。

The Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River Basin is home to over 33 million people, approximately 10% of the population of North America. It is a key industrial and manufacturing center and its surrounding watersheds contain some of the most productive agricultural land in North America. With such an intense human presence comes a heavy human footprint, and the Great Lakes ecosystems have a long legacy of interacting anthropogenic stress regimes (e.g., nutrient pollution, chemical contamination, invasive species, coastal development, habitat destruction, among many others). Historically, researchers from different disciplines have examined these problems from the perspective of individual stressors but it is becoming increasingly clear that effective and innovative policy solutions to many of environmental problems experienced by the Great Lakes must be founded on a comprehensive understanding of how stressors interact and their cumulative effects. In the unique international environment of the Great Lakes, we believe that this is best achieved by training a core of professionals using a trans-boundary, multidisciplinary approach that integrates scientific, social, and economic dimensions which promotes direct interaction between researchers, policy-makers, and the public sector. Using a comprehensive combination of fundamental and practical teaching approaches, a "learn while doing" philosophy, this NSERC CREATE program on multiple stressors and cumulative effects is designed to train the next generation of scientists and policy-makers to understand and be capable of addressing the complex issue of multiple stressors and cumulative effects; students who are "market-ready" and therefore able to assume leadership positions in government, industry, and academia; and a core of professionals who will be in the best position to advise on and develop strategic regulatory policy and management frameworks for the future sustainability of the Great Lakes ecosystems.