Evaluating Habitat Restoration in the St. Clair-Detroit River System
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University of Toledo / OhioLINK
2019
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| Online Access: | http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1576160707431634 |
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ndltd-OhioLink-oai-etd.ohiolink.edu-toledo15761607074316342021-08-03T07:13:36Z Evaluating Habitat Restoration in the St. Clair-Detroit River System Fischer, Jason L. Environmental Science Habitat Restoration Fish Spawning Habitat Reef Great Lakes Connecting Channels Riparian Fish Community St Clair River Detroit River Shallow Water Habitat Large waterways have rich histories of cultural advancement and prosperity. However, economic development has often conflicted with ecosystem health. In the St. Clair-Detroit River System, overharvest, development of riparian areas, and construction of navigation channels lead to the collapse of fisheries and loss of vital habitats. Harvest and water quality regulations have allowed the recovery of some fishes, but the legacy of habitat loss remained a detriment for other species. Therefore, numerous habitat remediation projects were implemented in the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers to improve ecosystem health. As part of the adaptive management cycle, I evaluated two suites of projects to determine fish use and maturation of the remediated habitats. First, I compared fish assemblages and relative abundances at shoreline softening projects to nearby control sites along the banks of the St. Clair River. My evaluation of these projects provides insight into the ability of shoreline softening to remediate habitat degradation in the St. Clair River and other connecting channels of the Laurentian Great Lakes. Shoreline softening involved replacing steel seawalls with sloped banks and adding large woody debris, rock substrates, and native vegetation to increase habitat heterogeneity and decrease depths. Higher catch-per-unit effort of juvenile fish, some species of management priority (e.g., smallmouth bass, Micropterus dolomieu), and the fish assemblage as a whole was observed at remediation sites than at nearby control sites, indicating the projects provided nursery habitat for some fishes. Second, I evaluated the maturation of lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) spawning habitat (i.e., reefs) remediation projects. Prior to my evaluations, few assessments of reef maturation had been conducted, thus, my evaluation is among the first to describe maturation and longevity of constructed reefs in the Laurentian Great Lakes. I found that although geomorphic surveys indicated reefs were placed where accumulation of fine sediments was expected to be low, the reefs remained vulnerable to sediment accumulation. Therefore, development of maintenance methods may be necessary to maximize the long-term efficacy of the reefs. Lastly, I assessed the first 15 years of the reef remediation program to define the strategic process for locating remediation opportunities. Guidance for allocating resources and prioritizing assessments during the project design and placement phase of remediation was lacking at the start of the program. Therefore, I used the reef remediation program as a case study to identify an ordered process for project development and site assessment. The ordered process for assessing remediation sites, I identified in the case study, provides a structured approach for directing project development resources to areas with more uncertainty and where learning is most critical. These assessments complete the feedback loop of the adaptive management cycle and identify opportunities to advance future remediation projects. By scaling evaluations from the project to program levels, learning within a program is expanded to knowledge transfer across programs. 2019 English text University of Toledo / OhioLINK http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1576160707431634 http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1576160707431634 unrestricted This thesis or dissertation is protected by copyright: some rights reserved. It is licensed for use under a Creative Commons license. Specific terms and permissions are available from this document's record in the OhioLINK ETD Center. |
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NDLTD |
| language |
English |
| sources |
NDLTD |
| topic |
Environmental Science Habitat Restoration Fish Spawning Habitat Reef Great Lakes Connecting Channels Riparian Fish Community St Clair River Detroit River Shallow Water Habitat |
| spellingShingle |
Environmental Science Habitat Restoration Fish Spawning Habitat Reef Great Lakes Connecting Channels Riparian Fish Community St Clair River Detroit River Shallow Water Habitat Fischer, Jason L. Evaluating Habitat Restoration in the St. Clair-Detroit River System |
| author |
Fischer, Jason L. |
| author_facet |
Fischer, Jason L. |
| author_sort |
Fischer, Jason L. |
| title |
Evaluating Habitat Restoration in the St. Clair-Detroit River System |
| title_short |
Evaluating Habitat Restoration in the St. Clair-Detroit River System |
| title_full |
Evaluating Habitat Restoration in the St. Clair-Detroit River System |
| title_fullStr |
Evaluating Habitat Restoration in the St. Clair-Detroit River System |
| title_full_unstemmed |
Evaluating Habitat Restoration in the St. Clair-Detroit River System |
| title_sort |
evaluating habitat restoration in the st. clair-detroit river system |
| publisher |
University of Toledo / OhioLINK |
| publishDate |
2019 |
| url |
http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=toledo1576160707431634 |
| work_keys_str_mv |
AT fischerjasonl evaluatinghabitatrestorationinthestclairdetroitriversystem |
| _version_ |
1719456763071168512 |