Influence of water-level disturbances on the performance of ecological indices for assessing human disturbance: A case study of Georgian Bay coastal wetlands

In this study, we compare the performance of three ecological indicators (Water Quality Index (WQI), Wetland Macrophyte Index (WMI) and Wetland Fish Index (WFI)), to assess the impact of human activities on ecosystem health of coastal marshes in eastern and northern Georgian Bay (Lake Huron) over tw...

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Autores principales:	Danielle Montocchio, Patricia Chow-Fraser
Formato:	article
Lenguaje:	EN
Publicado:	Elsevier 2021
Materias:	Ecological indicator Natural disturbance Water levels Coastal marshes Climate change Fish Ecology QH540-549.5
Acceso en línea:	https://doaj.org/article/8eacfc385b954fb8a25720e89eaa0b9b
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spelling	oai:doaj.org-article:8eacfc385b954fb8a25720e89eaa0b9b2021-12-01T04:51:56ZInfluence of water-level disturbances on the performance of ecological indices for assessing human disturbance: A case study of Georgian Bay coastal wetlands1470-160X10.1016/j.ecolind.2021.107716https://doaj.org/article/8eacfc385b954fb8a25720e89eaa0b9b2021-08-01T00:00:00Zhttp://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1470160X21003812https://doaj.org/toc/1470-160XIn this study, we compare the performance of three ecological indicators (Water Quality Index (WQI), Wetland Macrophyte Index (WMI) and Wetland Fish Index (WFI)), to assess the impact of human activities on ecosystem health of coastal marshes in eastern and northern Georgian Bay (Lake Huron) over two decades (1999–2019), when there had been a minor change in human population (increase of 7%), but a marked difference in the pattern of water-level fluctuations. Lake Huron-Michigan is known to have 8 and 12-year oscillations in water levels, but between 1999 and 2019, water levels remained 0.5 m below the long-term mean for 14 years, and then abruptly rose nearly 1 m, remaining high for the next five years. We compared index scores of wetlands surveyed during 2003–2013 (Period 1; low-water years) with those surveyed during 2014–2019 (Period 2; high-water years). In Wilcoxon signed rank pairwise comparisons, mean WQI scores increased significantly from 1.50 to 1.96 between Periods 1 and 2, respectively (p < 0.0001); by contrast, WMI scores remained numerically and statistically the same (3.38 vs 3.38, p = 0.42), while WFI scores dropped slightly, but not significantly (3.65 vs 3.59, p = 0.15). We hypothesize that WQI scores increased because of diluting effects from increased volume of water in wetlands due to higher water levels. Given the unpredictable influences of climate change on the pattern of Great Lakes water levels, index scores based on water-quality variables must be cautiously interpreted when they are used to compare sites across different water-level scenarios.Danielle MontocchioPatricia Chow-FraserElsevierarticleEcological indicatorNatural disturbanceWater levelsCoastal marshesClimate changeFishEcologyQH540-549.5ENEcological Indicators, Vol 127, Iss , Pp 107716- (2021)
institution	DOAJ
collection	DOAJ
language	EN
topic	Ecological indicator Natural disturbance Water levels Coastal marshes Climate change Fish Ecology QH540-549.5
spellingShingle	Ecological indicator Natural disturbance Water levels Coastal marshes Climate change Fish Ecology QH540-549.5 Danielle Montocchio Patricia Chow-Fraser Influence of water-level disturbances on the performance of ecological indices for assessing human disturbance: A case study of Georgian Bay coastal wetlands
description	In this study, we compare the performance of three ecological indicators (Water Quality Index (WQI), Wetland Macrophyte Index (WMI) and Wetland Fish Index (WFI)), to assess the impact of human activities on ecosystem health of coastal marshes in eastern and northern Georgian Bay (Lake Huron) over two decades (1999–2019), when there had been a minor change in human population (increase of 7%), but a marked difference in the pattern of water-level fluctuations. Lake Huron-Michigan is known to have 8 and 12-year oscillations in water levels, but between 1999 and 2019, water levels remained 0.5 m below the long-term mean for 14 years, and then abruptly rose nearly 1 m, remaining high for the next five years. We compared index scores of wetlands surveyed during 2003–2013 (Period 1; low-water years) with those surveyed during 2014–2019 (Period 2; high-water years). In Wilcoxon signed rank pairwise comparisons, mean WQI scores increased significantly from 1.50 to 1.96 between Periods 1 and 2, respectively (p < 0.0001); by contrast, WMI scores remained numerically and statistically the same (3.38 vs 3.38, p = 0.42), while WFI scores dropped slightly, but not significantly (3.65 vs 3.59, p = 0.15). We hypothesize that WQI scores increased because of diluting effects from increased volume of water in wetlands due to higher water levels. Given the unpredictable influences of climate change on the pattern of Great Lakes water levels, index scores based on water-quality variables must be cautiously interpreted when they are used to compare sites across different water-level scenarios.
format	article
author	Danielle Montocchio Patricia Chow-Fraser
author_facet	Danielle Montocchio Patricia Chow-Fraser
author_sort	Danielle Montocchio
title	Influence of water-level disturbances on the performance of ecological indices for assessing human disturbance: A case study of Georgian Bay coastal wetlands
title_short	Influence of water-level disturbances on the performance of ecological indices for assessing human disturbance: A case study of Georgian Bay coastal wetlands
title_full	Influence of water-level disturbances on the performance of ecological indices for assessing human disturbance: A case study of Georgian Bay coastal wetlands
title_fullStr	Influence of water-level disturbances on the performance of ecological indices for assessing human disturbance: A case study of Georgian Bay coastal wetlands
title_full_unstemmed	Influence of water-level disturbances on the performance of ecological indices for assessing human disturbance: A case study of Georgian Bay coastal wetlands
title_sort	influence of water-level disturbances on the performance of ecological indices for assessing human disturbance: a case study of georgian bay coastal wetlands
publisher	Elsevier
publishDate	2021
url	https://doaj.org/article/8eacfc385b954fb8a25720e89eaa0b9b
work_keys_str_mv	AT daniellemontocchio influenceofwaterleveldisturbancesontheperformanceofecologicalindicesforassessinghumandisturbanceacasestudyofgeorgianbaycoastalwetlands AT patriciachowfraser influenceofwaterleveldisturbancesontheperformanceofecologicalindicesforassessinghumandisturbanceacasestudyofgeorgianbaycoastalwetlands
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Influence of water-level disturbances on the performance of ecological indices for assessing human disturbance: A case study of Georgian Bay coastal wetlands

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