Boreal Shield Watersheds : Lake Trout Ecosystems in a Changing Environment

Bringing together a group of scientists renowned for their expertise in aquatic science and environmental management, this book explores the functioning of the Boreal Shield ecosystems. Focusing on the lake trout as the model and indicator of environmental change and management, the book analyzes the risks to and durability of this environment in relation to local, regional, and global human activity. By providing a clear summary describing the air/land/water linkages in aquatic ecosystems, it demonstrates how Boreal Shield waters have served as a crucible for environmental research into the impacts of water pollution, acid rain, climate change, sport fisheries, invasive species, and watershed disturbance.

Boreal Shield Watersheds: Lake Trout Ecosystems in a Changing Environment brings together the work of a renowned international group of scientists who specialize in aquatic science and environmental management. They explore the functioning of Boreal Shield ecosystems, focusing on the lake trout, the classic coldwater species of northern glaciated lakes, using it as an indicator of environmental change and as a model to measure the effectiveness of management actions.

This book demonstrates how boreal waters have served as a crucible for decades of environmental research into the impacts of nutrient additions, trace contaminants, acid rain, climate change, sport fishing, invasive species, and watershed disturbances.

The text builds on this substantial research legacy and explores our ability to manage human interactions with ecosystems across the vast Boreal Shield ecozone of North America, and with other important ecosystems worldwide. It also provides models and new methods of assessing the risk to and the durability of ecosystems in relation to local, regional, and global human activities. Maps and descriptions of several important long-term monitoring sites and an atlas describing more than 3,000 lake trout lakes in the region are special components of the book.