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The Great Lakes

The Great Lakes. Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D. The Great Lakes. Began to form ~500,000 years ago Took present shape ~10,000 years ago Watershed area = 196,000 sq. miles 34 million people (27.5 million U.S., 6.4 million Canada) Water surface area = 94,700 sq. miles

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The Great Lakes

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  1. The Great Lakes Michael W. Rowan, Ph.D.

  2. The Great Lakes • Began to form ~500,000 years ago • Took present shape ~10,000 years ago • Watershed area = 196,000 sq. miles • 34 million people (27.5 million U.S., 6.4 million Canada) • Water surface area = 94,700 sq. miles • U.S. Great Lakes shoreline > U.S. east coast shoreline

  3. Unique ecosystem, and unique resources • Largest surface freshwater system on earth • Contains 84% of North America’s surface freshwater • Contains 21% of the world’s surface freshwater

  4. Great Lakes Environmental Issues • Invasive species • Nonpoint source pollution • Urban sprawl • Mercury in fish • Contaminated sediments (dredging?) • Nutrient loading • Water diversion • Climate change • Endocrine disrupters • Atmospheric deposition

  5. Erie – Our Great Lake • Smallest in volume, depth, retention time, watershed area • Largest human population • Warmest, most nutrient-rich, and most productive • Fishery is more productive than the fisheries of other four Great Lakes combined • Largest percentage of land in agriculture

  6. Cuyahoga River Fire November 1952

  7. Brown Bullhead (Ameiurus nebulosus) • Ubiquitous benthic catfish distributed throughout the great lakes • Vulnerable to many hydrophobic contaminants (PAHs) • Sediment PAHs linked to high tumor rates and changes in blood variables

  8. BROWN BULLHEAD (Ameiurus nebulosus) Tri-C Eastern Campus BIO 2806 - Environmental Science for Educators: Promoting Watershed Stewardship July 2007

  9. Tri-C Eastern Campus BIO 2806 - Environmental Science for Educators: Promoting Watershed Stewardship July 2008

  10. Something Fishy • 34 species of Lake Erie Fish are rare, threatened, or endangered • Blue pike – extinct • Lake sturgeon, brook trout, lake trout, . . . • Fish consumption advisories due to mercury and PCBs

  11. CREDITS • Thanks to Michael Rowan, PhD from Tri-C East who donated his Power Point slides so graciously. • Course: “Promoting Watershed Stewardship” for Environmental Science Educators

  12. Educator Resources • Great Lakes Environmental Atlas - USEPA • Great Lakes science activities – OSU/Ohio Sea Grant • NASA - Visible Earth – satellite images of the Great Lakes • Animation: lake effect snow • Great Lakes Commission • International Joint Commisison • Great Lakes Information Network • Lake Erie: Beyond the Surface -Channel 3

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