Linking regime shifts to carbon dynamics in Lake Erie

“死亡守卫”、“污染问题的海报儿童”、“致命入侵者”、“死亡区”、“死亡”、“崩溃的危险”、“生病”、“生病”、“臭浮渣”、“污染”和“有毒收获”都是最近用来描述伊利湖的术语。这一不幸的描述背后的湖泊目前的生态状况正在威胁着数十亿美元的渔业和旅游业。今天的五大湖，是一个与一百年前截然不同的生态系统。五大湖的这种新的生态状态（制度）需要更好地理解，而且很快，因为这些湖泊为我们的社会提供了一整套生态系统服务，包括多伦多市的饮用水，娱乐和商业捕鱼，旅游业和货物运输，同时增强区域生物多样性和湿地。我们的项目最终目标是 将水生生态系统服务与五大湖之一的伊利湖的现状（制度）联系起来。具体来说，我们将研究目前的食物网结构的不同地区在湖泊和它的连接到控制湖泊的碳平衡（碳=能源）的关键过程。我们的研究结果将为我们提供一个机会，以测试碳/能量通量是否足以支持世界上最大的商业渔业历史上支持的伊利湖。

"Death watch", "poster child for pollution problems", "deadly intruders", "dead zone", "dead", "danger of collapse", "ailing", "sick", "stinky scum", "fouling" and "poison harvest" are all terms that have been used recently to describe Lake Erie. The lake's current ecological state behind this unfortunate characterization is threatening a multi-billion dollar fishing and tourism industry. Today the Great Lakes, are a dramatically different ecosystem than they were a hundred years ago. This new ecological state (regime) of the Great Lakes needs to be better understood, and soon, since these lakes provide our society with a panoply of ecosystem services including drinking water for the City of Toronto, recreational and commercial fishing, tourism, and transportation of goods, while enhancing regional biodiversity and wetlands. Our project ultimately aims to link aquatic ecosystem services to the current state (regime) of Lake Erie, one of the Great Lakes. Specifically, we will examine the current foodweb structure of different areas in the lake and its connections to key processes that control the lake's carbon balance (carbon = energy). Our results will provide us with an opportunity to test if carbon/energy flux is sufficient to support the world's largest commercial fisheries historically supported by Lake Erie.