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Human Influences on Water Quality in Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands

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Abstract

A better understanding of relationships between human activities and water chemistry is needed to identify and manage sources of anthropogenic stress in Great Lakes coastal wetlands. The objective of the study described in this article was to characterize relationships between water chemistry and multiple classes of human activity (agriculture, population and development, point source pollution, and atmospheric deposition). We also evaluated the influence of geomorphology and biogeographic factors on stressor-water quality relationships. We collected water chemistry data from 98 coastal wetlands distributed along the United States shoreline of the Laurentian Great Lakes and GIS-based stressor data from the associated drainage basin to examine stressor-water quality relationships. The sampling captured broad ranges (1.5–2 orders of magnitude) in total phosphorus (TP), total nitrogen (TN), dissolved inorganic nitrogen (DIN), total suspended solids (TSS), chlorophyll a (Chl a), and chloride; concentrations were strongly correlated with stressor metrics. Hierarchical partitioning and all-subsets regression analyses were used to evaluate the independent influence of different stressor classes on water quality and to identify best predictive models. Results showed that all categories of stress influenced water quality and that the relative influence of different classes of disturbance varied among water quality parameters. Chloride exhibited the strongest relationships with stressors followed in order by TN, Chl a, TP, TSS, and DIN. In general, coarse scale classification of wetlands by morphology (three wetland classes: riverine, protected, open coastal) and biogeography (two ecoprovinces: Eastern Broadleaf Forest [EBF] and Laurentian Mixed Forest [LMF]) did not improve predictive models. This study provides strong evidence of the link between water chemistry and human stress in Great Lakes coastal wetlands and can be used to inform management efforts to improve water quality in Great Lakes coastal ecosystems.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Matthew Able, Melissa Bertelson, Jason Carlson, Rachel Daw, Tara Jernell, Terri Jicha, Jennifer Kaser, Cory Larson, Amber Seys, Steven Skolasinski, Danny Tanner, Marte Thabes, and Corlis West.for assistance in the field and laboratory. Brian Hill and Don Uzarski provided thoughtful reviews of the manuscript. Danz, Regal, Niemi, Reavie, Hollenhorst, and Axler were supported by a grant from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Science to Achieve Results (STAR) Estuarine and Great Lakes (EaGLe) program through funding to the Great Lakes Environmental Indicators (GLEI) project, U.S. EPA Agreement EPA/R-8286750 and a grant from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NAG5-11262). This work has been approved for publication after review by EPA’s National Health and Environmental Effects Research laboratory, but the contents do not necessarily reflect the views of the Agency, nor does mention of commercial products constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Mid-Continent Ecology Division, National Health and Environmental Effects Research Laboratory, Office of Research and Development, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 6201 Congdon Boulevard, Duluth, MN, 55804, USA

    John A. Morrice, John R. Kelly, Anett S. Trebitz, Anne M. Cotter & Gregory S. Peterson

  2. Center for Water and the Environment, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth, 5013 Miller Trunk Highway, Duluth, MN, 55811, USA

    Nicholas P. Danz, Gerald J. Niemi, Euan D. Reavie, Tom Hollenhorst & Richard P. Axler

  3. Department of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Minnesota Duluth, 10 University Drive, Duluth, MN, 55811, USA

    Ronald R. Regal

  4. Department of Biology, University of Minnesota Duluth, 10 University Drive, Duluth, MN, 55811, USA

    Gerald J. Niemi

  5. Center for Water and the Environment, Natural Resources Research Institute, University of Minnesota Duluth, 1900 East Camp Street, Ely, MN, 55731, USA

    Euan D. Reavie

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  1. John A. Morrice
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  2. Nicholas P. Danz
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  11. Gregory S. Peterson
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Correspondence to John A. Morrice.

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Morrice, J.A., Danz, N.P., Regal, R.R. et al. Human Influences on Water Quality in Great Lakes Coastal Wetlands. Environmental Management 41, 347–357 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00267-007-9055-5

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