Climate-change impacts on fish and wildlife habitat in coastal wetlands of Georgian Bay

气候变化对乔治亚湾沿海湿地鱼类和野生动物栖息地的影响

• 批准号: 194608-2013
• 负责人: ChowFraser, Patricia
• 金额: $ 1.6万
• 依托单位: McMaster University
• 依托单位国家: 加拿大
• 项目类别: Discovery Grants Program - Individual
• 财政年份: 2013
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2013-01-01 至 2014-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=523240
• 关键词: Climate; change; impacts; fish; wildlife

Between May 1998 and January 2000, the water level in Lake Huron dropped a meter from 176.91 m above sea level (asl) to 175.92 m. During the following decade, mean monthly water levels averaged 176.0 m asl, and levels are expected to drop even further by the end of 2012. Such a drop in water levels in the Great Lakes has been predicted by Global Circulation Models as a manifestation of global climate change. The water-level decline has dried up many coastal wetlands in Georgian Bay (eastern arm of Lake Huron), which are known to provide critical habitat for fish and wildlife species. Our research showed that in 7 wetlands, an observed drop of 80 cm over a ten-year period (1999-2009) corresponded to an average of 25% of aquatic habitat being converted to terrestrial habitat. This water-level drop also disconnected a fifth of all wetlands from Georgian Bay, and has prevented seasonal access of migratory fish into spawning and nursery habitat. Besides its impact on migratory fish, loss of wetland habitat may also have a negative effect on semi-aquatic turtles such as the Blanding's turtle, which use coastal wetlands as staging areas to feed prior to their nesting migrations. The primary goal of this proposal is to determine the relationship between fish and wildlife habitat and water level in different regions of Georgian Bay, including a southern site where the low water level is confounded with human development, a northern site that is primarily undisturbed by human activities, and islands with and without coastal wetlands. I will use radio-transmitters to determine the spawning and nursery habitat used by northern pike and muskellunge and a combination of GPS-enabled radio-telemetry and surveillance cameras to determine aquatic and terrestrial habitat used seasonally by the Blanding's turtle. The information will be incorporated into a Geographic Information System and supplemented with bathymetric and contour data to build habitat-suitability models for each species. I will then quantify the amount of critical habitat as a function of different water-level scenarios for representative sites throughout Georgian Bay. A second goal is to understand the impacts of diking as a possible mitigation measure to prevent wetland dessication.

在1998年5月至2000年1月之间，休伦湖的水位从海拔176.91 m（ASL）降至175.92 m。 在接下来的十年中，平均每月的水位平均为176.0 m，预计到2012年底，水平将进一步下降。全球循环模型预测，大湖的水位下降是全球气候变化的表现。水平的下降使乔治亚湾（休伦湖东部）的许多沿海湿地干燥，众所周知，这些湿地为鱼类和野生动植物物种提供了关键的栖息地。我们的研究表明，在7个湿地中，观察到在十年（1999-2009）中观察到的80厘米降低，对应于平均25％的水生栖息地转化为陆生栖息地。这种水位的跌落也使所有湿地的五分之一与格鲁吉亚湾断开，并阻止了迁移鱼类进入产卵和托儿所栖息地的季节性。除了对迁徙鱼类的影响外，湿地栖息地的丧失还可能对诸如Blanding的乌龟等半流域乌龟产生负面影响，后者使用沿海湿地作为分阶段的分期区域，以便在其筑巢迁移之前喂食。该提案的主要目的是确定佐治亚湾不同地区的鱼类与野生动植物栖息地与水位之间的关系，其中包括南部地点，低水位与人类发展混淆，人类发展是一个主要受到人类活动的不受干扰的北部地点，以及带有沿海湿地的岛屿。我将使用北派克和马斯克伦格（Northern Pike）和Muskellunge使用的产卵和苗圃栖息地，以及由GPS支持的无线电摄像机和监视摄像机组合来确定Blanding's Turtle在季节性使用的水生栖息地。该信息将纳入地理信息系统中，并补充测深和轮廓数据，以构建每个物种的栖息地模型。 然后，我将量化关键栖息地的数量，作为整个佐治亚湾代表地点不同水位场景的函数。第二个目标是了解堤防的影响是防止湿地浸湿的一种缓解措施。