Much as Rachel Carson's \"Silent Spring\" was a call to action against the pesticides that were devastating bird populations, Charles S. Elton's classic \"The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants\" sounded an early warning about an environmental catastrophe that has become all too familiar today-the invasion of nonnative species. From kudzu to zebra mussels to Asian long-horned beetles, nonnative species are colonizing new habitats around the world at an alarming rate thanks to accidental and intentional human intervention. One of the leading causes of extinctions of native animals and plants, invasive species also wreak severe economic havoc, causing $79 billion worth of damage in the United States alone. Elton explains the devastating effects that invasive species can have on local ecosystems in clear, concise language and with numerous examples. The first book on invasion biology, and still the most cited, Elton's masterpiece provides an accessible, engaging introduction to one of the most important environmental crises of our time. Charles S. Elton was one of the founders of ecology, who also established and led Oxford University's Bureau of Animal Population. His work has influenced generations of ecologists and zoologists, and his publications remain central to the literature in modern biology. \"History has caught up with Charles Elton's foresight, and \"The Ecology of Invasions\" can now be seen as one of the central scientific books of our century.\"-David Quammen, from the Foreword to \"Killer Algae: The True Tale of a Biological Invasion\

The Ecology of Invasions by Animals and Plants

In 2011, Lake Erie experienced the largest harmful algal bloom in its recorded history, with a peak intensity over three times greater than any previously observed bloom. Here we show that long-term trends in agricultural practices are consistent with increasing phosphorus loading to the western basin of the lake, and that these trends, coupled with meteorological conditions in spring 2011, produced record-breaking nutrient loads. An extended period of weak lake circulation then led to abnormally long residence times that incubated the bloom, and warm and quiescent conditions after bloom onset allowed algae to remain near the top of the water column and prevented flushing of nutrients from the system. We further find that all of these factors are consistent with expected future conditions. If a scientifically guided management plan to mitigate these impacts is not implemented, we can therefore expect this bloom to be a harbinger of future blooms in Lake Erie.

/pdf/record-setting-algal-bloom-in-lake-erie-caused-by-352z4nq5dh.pdf

Record-setting algal bloom in Lake Erie caused by agricultural and meteorological trends consistent with expected future conditions

Dreissenid mussels have been exceptionally successful invaders in North American lakes and rivers, espe- cially in the lower Laurentian Great Lakes. As benthic filter feeders capable of attaching to hard substrates, the magni- tudes of their biomass and filtering activity in nearshore waters are without precedent. The dreissenid colonization has implications for the removal and fate of materials filtered from the water by the mussels and for the longer-term devel- opment of the nearshore benthic community and lake ecosystem. A conceptual model, the nearshore shunt, seeks to describe a fundamental redirection of nutrient and energy flow consequent to dreissenid establishment. The model ex- plains some emergent problems in the Great Lakes, such as reemergence of Cladophora in some coastal zones while offshore P concentrations remain low, and highlights areas in need of more research. The source of particulate nutrient inputs to dreissenids and the fate of materials exported from the benthic community are critical to understanding the role of dreissenids in the lakes and assessing the applicability of current models for managing nutrients and fisheries. The nearshore shunt would require even more stringent P management for lakes strongly impacted by dreissenids to maintain nearshore water quality. Resume : Les moules dreissenidees ont envahi avec un succes exceptionnel les lacs et rivieres d'Amerique du Nord, et en particulier les Grands Lacs inferieurs. Des animaux benthiques se nourrissant par filtration et capables de se fixer a des substrats durs, ils ont atteint des biomasses et des niveaux d'activite de filtration sans precedent dans les eaux cotieres. La colonisation des dreissenides a des consequences sur le retrait et le sort des materiaux filtres de l'eau par les moules, ainsi que sur le developpement a plus long terme de la communaute benthique pres du rivage et sur l'ecosysteme lacustre. Un modele conceptuel, la « deviation cotiere », cherche a decrire l'alteration fondamentale du cheminement des nutriments et du flux d'energie depuis l'etablissement des dreissenides. Le modele explique certains des problemes qui surgissent dans les Grands Lacs, comme la re-emergence de Cladophora dans certaines zones cotie- res, bien que les concentrations de phosphore au large restent faibles et il identifie des domaines qui necessitent des recherches supplementaires. Une connaissance des sources des apports de particules nutritives pour les dreissenides et du sort des materiaux exportes de la communaute benthique est essentielle pour comprendre le role des dreissenides dans les lacs et pour evaluer l'applicabilite des modeles courants de gestion des nutriments et des peches. La « devia- tion cotiere » exigerait une gestion encore plus rigoureuse du phosphore dans les lacs fortement affectes par les dreis- senides afin de maintenir la qualite de l'eau pres du rivage.

The nearshore phosphorus shunt: a consequence of ecosystem engineering by dreissenids in the Laurentian Great Lakes

While the impacts of high exploitation on fish populations and aquatic ecosystems are well-documented for commercial fishing, particularly in the marine environment, the potential biological impacts of angling received less attention. This paper discusses angling patterns within a framework of basic ecological and evolutionary literature and examines potential biological impacts of angling by focusing on study results associated with high exploitation rates and pronounced selective exploitation. The impacts range from impacts occurring directly on the exploited species (truncation of the natural age and size structure, depensatory mechanisms, loss of genetic variability, evolutionary changes), to those that occur on the aquatic ecosystem (changes in trophic cascades, trait-mediated effects). As a third category, impacts related to the angling activity per se are distinguished (habitat modifications, wildlife disturbance, nutrient inputs, loss of fishing gear). Although the main threats to fish often are l...

/pdf/documented-and-potential-biological-impacts-of-recreational-5g4y7w5t9c.pdf

Documented and Potential Biological Impacts of Recreational Fishing: Insights for Management and Conservation

In the Proceedings of the First International Congress of Ecology (1974), a strong theme was the relationship, if any, between species diversity and ecosystem stability. It is apparent from these proceedings that there is considerable variation in attitudes regarding what ecosystem properties diversity is supposed to stabilize. Some authors, for instance, argue that species diversity is supposed to stabilize species diversity and, further, that data contradict the hypothesis because greater species diversity in communities studied was accompanied by greater changes in diversity upon environmental variation (Larsen, p. 80, this and subsequent page references are to the Proceedings). Similar arguments have been developed elsewhere in the context of purported tests of the diversity-stability hypothesis (Hairston et al. 1968; Murdoch et al. 1972). Elsewhere in the proceedings, it was argued that a positive relationship between species diversity and stability would somehow conflict with our knowledge about the dynamics of individual populations. Goodman (p. 78), for instance, in rejecting the "validity" of the hypothesis, says that it contradicts evolutionary reasoning. Widely varying interpretations of the hypothesis seem remarkable given its explicit and repeated presentation (Bertalanffy 1950, 1952; MacArthur 1955; Odum and Pinkerton 1955; Bray 1958; Odum 1962, 1969; Margalef 1963, 1968; McNaughton 1968; Mellinger and McNaughton 1975). Specifically, the hypothesis is: species diversity stabilizes ecosystem functional properties. Margalef explicitly stated (p. 66), "A system, highly unstable in species composition, may be stable concerning energy flow." Purported tests based on fluctuations of individual populations within an ecosystem are irrelevant, unless it is shown that outbreaks of certain species are unaccompanied by compensating declines in other species. Similarly, retrospective tests based on data collected for other purposes should be scrutinized carefully for applicability. Initial explicit empirical tests of the diversity-stability hypothesis on planktonic (Margalef 1965) and terrestrial (MeNaughton 1968; Singh and Misra 1969) systems used indirect means of estimating stability and provided conflicting results. A more direct test (Hurd et al. 1971; Hurd and Wolf 1974; Mellinger and MeNaughton

Diversity and Stability of Ecological Communities: A Comment on the Role of Empiricism in Ecology

Prepared for the Wayne County Soil and Water Conservation District
8340 Ridge Road Sodus, N.Y

https://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1088&context=tech_rep

Nutrient Loading of Streams Entering Sodus Bay and Port Bay, NY 1 April, 1990 To 30 June, 1991

The Phytoplankton Zooplankton Link in the Lake Ontario Food Web

https://bioone.org/journals/Journal-of-Great-Lakes-Research/volume-35/issue-sp1/j.jglr.2009.01.003/Responses-of-Lake-Macrophyte-Beds-Dominated-by-Eurasian-Watermilfoil-iMyriophyllum/10.1016/j.jglr.2009.01.003.pdf

Responses of lake macrophyte beds dominated by Eurasian watermilfoil (Myriophyllum spicatum) to best management practices in agricultural sub-watersheds: Declines in biomass but not species dominance

http://digitalcommons.brockport.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1010&context=wr_news

The Occurrence of Cyanotoxins in the Nearshore and Coastal Embayments of Lake Ontario

Exploring spatial trends and causes in Lake Ontario coastal chemistry: Nutrients and pigments

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