Identifying and mapping essential habitat for fish and freshwater turtles in coastal wetlands of Georgian Bay

确定并绘制乔治亚湾沿海湿地鱼类和淡水龟重要栖息地的地图

• 批准号: RGPIN-2015-04860
• 负责人: ChowFraser, Patricia
• 金额: $ 1.53万
• 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: 2018
• 资助国家: 加拿大
• 起止时间: 2018-01-01 至 2019-12-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/ase-oro/Details-Detailles_eng.asp?id=647653
• 关键词: Identifying; mapping; essential; habitat; fish

Great Lakes coastal marshes support a large number of aquatic and semi-aquatic species that use them for breeding, feeding and overwintering. In eastern Georgian Bay, Lake Huron, where many coastal marshes are still relatively free from human disturbance, the integrity of coastal wetlands has been threatened by an unprecedented period of sustained low water levels for over a decade. Recently, developmental pressure on these coastal wetlands has also increased because of rising demand for water-front property for seasonal and year-round residences. It is clear that development pressure is too strong to prevent alteration of at least some wetlands on public and private lands. A more effective conservation strategy is to identify and protect essential core habitat and connecting corridors, leaving non-essential wetland habitat available for compatible development. Such a system of habitat ranking is more likely to be embraced by politicians and business interests.***My long-term goal is to conduct research to enhance the ability of agencies and conservation groups to identify, classify and map the essential wetland habitat along the Georgian Bay coastline. Since habitat is species-specific, I will focus my efforts on two umbrella species, the muskellunge and the Blanding's turtle, both of which are charismatic; protection for them will ensure protection for the less charismatic wetland-dependant species. For the muskellunge, a top predator and largest freshwater sport fish in Canada, both spawning and nursery habitats are found exclusively in coastal marshes. By comparison, both wetland habitats and travel corridors connecting these must be protected to ensure the survival of the Blanding's turtle, which is a semi-aquatic species requiring both upland and coastal wetland habitat for breeding and feeding, as well as sandy beaches for nesting.***My first objective is to use existing data from our lab to develop habitat suitability models (HSM) for both species. These models are maps that represent the best chance of finding the target species given the information we have on how species use their habitat for spawning, feeding and overwintering. The HSM for the Blanding's turtles will be specific to islands in the archipelago, whereas that for the muskellunge will apply to both lacustrine and riverine habitats in eastern Georgian Bay. We will randomly choose sites from the 26 quaternary watersheds identified in the McMaster Coastal Wetland Inventory (from French River to Giants Tomb Island) to collect information for both model building and validation. We will apply the HSM to produce a ranked habitat map that will identify essential areas that must be protected to conserve the two umbrella species. We will make sure that these maps are shared with local governments and environmental agencies so that protection for these habitats will be incorporated into official plans of townships in eastern Georgian Bay.**

大湖沿海沼泽支持大量的水生和半养育物种，它们用于繁殖，喂食和越冬。在休伦湖的乔治亚湖东部，许多沿海沼泽仍然没有人类干扰，沿海湿地的完整性受到了十年来持续持续较低的水位前所未有的威胁。最近，由于对季节性和全年住宅对水陆物业的需求不断增加，对这些沿海湿地的发展压力也增加了。显然，发展压力太大，无法防止在公共和私人土地上至少改变一些湿地。一种更有效的保护策略是识别和保护基本的核心栖息地和连接走廊，使非必需的湿地栖息地可用于兼容开发。这种栖息地排名更可能被政客和商业利益所接受。由于栖息地是特定于物种的，所以我将精力集中在两种伞物种上，即麝香和布兰丁的乌龟，这两种都是富有魅力的。对它们的保护将确保对不太有魅力的湿地依赖物种的保护。对于加拿大顶级捕食者和最大的淡水运动鱼的Muskellunge来说，仅在沿海沼泽中发现产卵和托儿所。相比之下，必须保护湿地栖息地和连接这些连接的旅行走廊，以确保Blanding的乌龟的存活，这是一种半水，需要高地和沿海湿地栖息地进行繁殖和饲养，以及沙滩的栖息地，以及用于筑巢的沙滩。这些模型是地图，代表了我们在物种如何将其栖息地用于产卵，喂养和越冬的信息的情况下找到目标物种的最佳机会。平淡的海龟的HSM将针对群岛的岛屿，而对于Muskellunge来说，将适用于乔治亚湾东部的湖泊和河流栖息地。我们将从麦克马斯特沿海湿地库存（从法国河到巨人墓）中确定的26个第四纪流域中随机选择地点，以收集信息以建造模型和验证。 我们将应用HSM生成排名的栖息地图，该图将确定必须保护的必要区域，以保护这两种伞形物种。我们将确保这些地图与地方政府和环境机构共享，以便将这些栖息地的保护纳入乔治亚湾东部的乡镇官方计划中。**