Towards improving an Area of Concern: Main-channel habitat rehabilitation priorities for the Maumee River |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Environmental Sciences and Lake Erie Center, The University of Toledo, 6200 Bay Shore Rd., Oregon OH 43616, United States;2. Department of Biological Sciences, Bowling Green State University, Life Sciences Building, N. College Dr., Bowling Green OH 43403, United States;3. US Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, 1451 Green Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48105, United States;1. Department of Biological Sciences, Oakland University, 118 Library Drive, Rochester, MI 48309-4479, USA;2. Department of Biology, Trent University, 2140 East Bank Drive, Peterborough, ON, K9J 7B8, Canada;1. Office of Applied Science, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 2801 Progress Road, Madison, WI 53716, United States;2. Bureau of Fisheries Management, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 1701 North 4th Street, Superior, WI 54880, United States;3. Bureau of Fisheries Management, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, 3550 Mormon Coulee Road, La Crosse, WI 54601, United States;1. Section Vertebrates, Biology Department, Royal Museum for Central Africa, Tervuren, Belgium;2. Laboratory of Biodiversity and Evolutionary Genomics, Department of Biology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium;3. Operational Directorate Taxonomy and Phylogeny, Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, Brussels, Belgium;1. School of the Environment, Trent University, 1600 Westbank Drive, Peterborough, ON K9L 0G2, Canada;2. Great Lakes Institute for Environmental Research, University of Windsor, 401 Sunset Avenue, Windsor, ON N9B 3P4, Canada;1. Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, ON, Canada;2. Water Institute, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada;1. Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Lake St. Clair Fisheries Research Station, 33135 South River Road, Harrison Township, MI 48045, United States;2. Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Lake Erie Management Unit, 7806 Gale Rd, Waterford, MI 48327, United States;3. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry, Lake Erie Management Unit, 320 Milo Rd, Wheatley, ON, Candada;4. Division of Wildlife, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Sandusky Fisheries Research Station, 305 E. Shoreline Drive, Sandusky, OH 44870, United States;5. U. S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, 1451 Green Rd., Ann Arbor, MI 48105, United States |
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| Abstract: | The Maumee River watershed in the Laurentian Great Lakes Basin has been impacted by decades of pollution and habitat modification due to human settlement and development. As such, the lower 35 km of the Maumee River and several smaller adjacent watersheds comprising over 2000 km2 were designated the Maumee Area of Concern (AOC) under the revised Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1987. As part of pre-rehabilitation assessments in the Maumee AOC, we assessed fish and invertebrate communities in river km 24–11 of the Maumee River to identify: 1) areas that exhibit the highest biodiversity, 2) habitat characteristics associated with high biodiversity areas, 3) areas in need of protection from further degradation, and 4) areas that could feasibly be rehabilitated to increase biodiversity. Based on benthic trawl data, shallow water habitats surrounding large island complexes had the highest fish diversity and catch per unit effort (CPUE). Electrofishing displayed similar fish diversity and CPUE patterns across habitat types early in the study but yielded no discernable fish diversity or CPUE patterns towards the end of our study. Although highly variable among study sites, macroinvertebrate density was greatest in shallow water habitats <2.5 m and around large island complexes. Our results provide valuable baseline data that could act as a foundation for developing rehabilitation strategies in the lower Maumee River and for assessing the effectiveness of future aquatic habitat rehabilitation projects. In addition to increasing in-channel habitat, watershed-scale improvements of water quality might be necessary to ensure rehabilitation strategies are successful. |
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| Keywords: | Area of Concern Biodiversity Great Lakes Habitat Maumee River River restoration |
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