Crossing boundaries between science and policy: Two case studies illustrate the importance of boundary organizations in the Great Lakes Basin

Boundary organizations are institutions that interface between science and policy by facilitating interactions between scientists, policy specialists, and other stakeholders to inform collaborative decision-making. Natural resource management in the Great Lakes Basin is complex and a shared exercise among two federal governments, eight states, two provinces, and over 200 sovereign Tribes, First Nations, and Métis. Many governmental agencies have recognized a need to effectively engage with other jurisdictions in order to bridge the gaps between scientific knowledge and policy decisions. As a result, boundary organizations have emerged to facilitate planning and implementation of collaborative governance frameworks. This commentary highlights how decades of shared governance of the world’s largest freshwater surface water system is augmented and assisted by boundary organizations in addressing two key Great Lakes management issues – Western Lake Erie Basin nutrient levels and Lake Michigan fisheries – which are complex, broad in scale, and pose challenges that must be addressed collaboratively across jurisdictions. While there are many governmental and non-governmental entities that engage in boundary organization-like behaviors, this commentary will be centered on three key institutions: The Great Lakes Executive Committee’s Annex 4 (Nutrients) Subcommittee, the Great Lakes Commission, and the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. We illustrate how each organization procedurally engages stakeholders, especially within state and provincial jurisdictions, to produce information and products that add breadth and capacity to manage the ecosystems of the Great Lakes. We also highlight areas of success and opportunities for improvement in collaborative governance frameworks now and into the future.     

Do existing ecological classifications characterize the spatial variability of stream temperatures in the Great Lakes Basin,Ontario?

Ecological classifications of stream ecosystems have been used to develop monitoring programs, identify reference and impacted systems, and focus conservation efforts. One of the most influential, but highly variable, components of stream ecosystems is water temperature but few geographically broad-scale and long-term programs exist to assess and monitor temperatures. This study evaluated if existing ecological classifications could be used to categorize the similarities and differences in stream temperatures across the Ontario portion of the Great Lakes Basin. Concordance between the spatial variability in temperatures and an existing ecological classification would support the use of that classification to define areas with similar temperatures, guide the development of a monitoring program, and inform management programs. The five classifications evaluated were the ecoregions and ecodistricts defined in the National Ecological Framework for Canada, the ecoregions and ecodistricts defined in the Ecological Land Classification of Ontario, and the aquatic ecosystem units defined in the Aquatic Ecosystem Classification (AEC) for the Ontario portion of the Great Lakes Basin. Hierarchical linear modelling and corrected Akaike Information Criterion indicated that the ecodistrict classifications characterized more of the spatial variability in temperatures than the ecoregion and AEC classification but temperatures were more variable among sites within classes than between classes. Therefore, none of the existing ecological classifications could be used to characterize thermal variability. Future research should examine if the inability of the existing classifications to capture the thermal variability translates into inaccurate classification of other ecosystem components such as water quality, and macroinvertebrate and fish assemblages.     

Impacts of climate change on groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin: A review

Climate change has the potential to alter the physical and chemical properties of water in the Great Lakes Basin, in turn impacting ecological function. This study synthesizes existing research associated with the potential effects of a changing climate on the quality and quantity of groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin. It includes analyses of impacts on (1) recharge, (2) groundwater storage, (3) discharge and groundwater-surface water (GW-SW) interactions, (4) exacerbating future urban development impacts on groundwater, (5) groundwater quality, and (6) ecohydrology.Large spatial and temporal (i.e., seasonal) variability in groundwater response to climate change between regions is anticipated. Most studies combine field observations with modelling, but many have focused only on small/medium basins. At these small scales, groundwater systems are generally projected to be fairly resilient to climate change impacts. However, modelling studies of larger basins (e.g., Grand River, Saginaw Bay, Maumee River) predict an increase in groundwater storage. Uncertainty in model simulations, particularly from climate models that are used to force hydrological models, is a major challenge. There have been too few studies to date that investigate the interplay of climate change and groundwater quality in the Great Lakes Basin to draw conclusions about future groundwater quality and ecohydrology.A summary of methods, models, and technology is provided. Model uncertainty has become an increasingly important topic and is also discussed. The study concludes with a synthesis of the main science needs to understand groundwater impacts in order to adapt to a changing climate in the Great Lakes Basin.     

Ballast water management system certification testing requirements for protists are a poor fit for the Great Lakes

Challenge condition requirements for testing of ballast water management systems (BWMS) are a poor fit with regard to protection of the Laurentian Great Lakes from aquatic invasive species, particularly with respect to protists. Though protists are abundant in the Great Lakes, required densities of cells (1000 cells/mL) meeting the 10–50 µm (“protist”) regulatory size class of the ballast water discharge standard (BWDS) are rarely achievable under ambient conditions. This deficiency drives certification testing to aquatic systems dissimilar to the Great Lakes or necessitates manipulation of intake water during testing. This requirement is unnecessary because: (1) protist cells both within and smaller than the regulatory size class are largely equivalent in their challenge to BWMS performance and their threat to ecosystems; and (2) lower densities of cells in challenge water can meet regulatory requirements; i.e. at least 100 live cells/mL in untreated discharge (control) water are required for test validity. We describe how current requirements for high densities of protists within the regulatory size class as a challenge condition in certification testing unnecessarily undermine vetting of BWMS performance and operation. We posit a range of alternatives and identify approaches to modifying challenge requirements to alleviate problems while protecting test rigor and relevancy to the BWDS. Without a change to these requirements there will be no certification testing in freshwater resources like the Great Lakes without substantial intake stream manipulation during testing, and therefore, little way to confirm whether a BWMS will perform in the Great Lakes and other freshwater systems.     

Synthesis review on groundwater discharge to surface water in the Great Lakes Basin

Groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin (GLB) serves as a reservoir of approximately 4000 to 5500 km³ of water and is a significant source of water to the Great Lakes. Indirect groundwater inflow from tributaries of the Great Lakes may account for 5–25% of the total water inflow to the Great Lakes and in Lake Michigan it is estimated that groundwater directly contributes 2–2.5% of the total water inflow. Despite these estimates, there is great uncertainty with respect to the impact of groundwater on surface water in the GLB. In terms of water quantity, groundwater discharge is spatially and temporally variable from the reach to the basin scale. Reach scale preferential flow pathways in the sub-surface play an important role in delivering groundwater to surface water bodies, however their identification is difficult a priori with existing data and their impact at watershed to basin scale is unknown. This variability also results in difficulty determining the location and contribution of groundwater to both point and non-point source surface water contamination. With increasing human population in the GLB and the hydrological changes brought on by continued human development and climate change, sound management of water resources will require a better understanding of groundwater surface–water interactions as heterogeneous phenomena both spatially and temporally. This review provides a summary of the scientific knowledge and gaps on groundwater–surface water interactions in the GLB, along with a discussion on future research directions.     

Status of the major aquaculture carps of China in the Laurentian Great Lakes Basin

There is concern of economic and environmental damage occuring if any of the four major aquacultured carp species of China, black carp Mylopharyngodon piceus, bighead carp Hypophthalmichthys nobilis, silver carp H. molitrix, or grass carp Ctenopharyngodon idella, were to establish in the Laurentian Great Lakes. All four are reproducing in the Mississippi River Basin. We review the status of these fishes in relation to the Great Lakes and their proximity to pathways into the Great Lakes, based on captures and collections of eggs and larvae. No black carp have been captured in the Great Lakes Basin. One silver carp and one bighead carp were captured within the Chicago Area Waterway System, on the Great Lakes side of electric barriers designed to keep carp from entering the Great Lakes from the greater Mississippi River Basin. Three bighead carp were captured in Lake Erie, none later than the year 2000. By December 2019, at least 650 grass carps had been captured in the Great Lakes Basin, most in western Lake Erie, but none in Lake Superior. Grass carp reproduction has been documented in the Sandusky and Maumee rivers in Ohio, tributaries of Lake Erie. We also discuss environmental DNA (eDNA) results as an early detection and monitoring tool for bighead and silver carps. Detection of eDNA does not necessarily indicate presence of live fish, but bigheaded carp eDNA has been detected on the Great Lakes side of the barriers and in a small proportion of samples from the western basin of Lake Erie.     

An appraisal of policy implementation deficits in the Great Lakes

Understanding of the complexities of both public policy implementation and Great Lakes restoration has grown in sophistication since the 1970s. The Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is the principal policy for reversing environmental decline in the region. Implementation of this and related policies, particularly by the federal governments, suffers from acute and chronic deficits that we summarily document. These policy implementation deficits will continue to frustrate efforts to revitalize the Great Lakes unless significant advances are made to design governance processes within the Great Lakes regime that accommodate the complexity of linked social and ecological systems. The 2010-2011 governmental process to renegotiate the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement is a potent opportunity to begin to overcome institutional barriers to reducing policy deficits. We argue that the renegotiation must begin a reinvestment in remaking or reimagining Great Lakes institutions in a way that restores capacity, flexibility, and moral authority. Our purpose is to help provide a foundation for that discussion.     

Sustainable Groundwater Allocation in the Great Lakes Basin

Outdated groundwater allocation policies have resulted in unrestrained abstraction of groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin. Continuing on this course will lead to more frequent conflicts and further degradation of the Basin's ecosystem. Alternative approaches must focus on achieving sustainable groundwater allocation. The authors present two alternative institutions, local collaborative planning for groundwater allocation, and a regional watershed board. Collaborative institutions responsible for local groundwater planning should be established according to practical geographical units, have access to sound scientific information, utilize adaptive management and engage in open deliberation. The regional watershed board should establish a comprehensive and unified inventory of all groundwater resources in the Basin, designate critical groundwater areas, monitor groundwater management by respective jurisdictions, and make recommendations on best practices.     

Groundwater-surface water interactions and agricultural nutrient transport in a Great Lakes clay plain system

Nutrient export from agricultural land to surface waters is a significant environmental concern within the Great Lakes Basin (GLB). A field-based watershed-scale study was completed to investigate spatial and temporal variations of phosphorus and nitrate to assess nutrient transport pathways and groundwater-surface water interactions in an agriculturally dominated clay plain system. This was conducted in the 127 km² Upper Parkhill Watershed, near Lake Huron in southwestern Ontario, Canada. Data collection occurred from June 2018 to May 2019 via continuous sensor deployment and discrete sampling of stream water, groundwater, hyporheic zone, and tile drainage water. Samples were analyzed for various nutrient species (total, total dissolved, soluble reactive, and particulate phosphorus, and nitrate-N) to examine the hydrological dynamics of principal transport pathways of agriculturally-derived nutrients. Total phosphorus and nitrate concentrations in stream water ranged from 0.007 to 0.324 mg/L and 0.32 to 13.13 mg NO₃^?-N/L, respectively. Tile drainage water total phosphorous concentrations varied from 0.006 to 0.066 mg/L. Groundwater total dissolved phosphorus concentrations ranged from <0.003 to 0.085 mg/L. Transport of phosphorus through tile drainage was observed to be greater than through groundwater over the study period. No distinct relationship was observed between nutrient concentrations in the hyporheic zone and the vertical hydraulic gradient within this zone in the studied stream reach. Preliminary correlations were discerned between water quality observations and recognized land management practices. Given the elevated stream nutrient concentrations, these results are consequential for the continual improvement of strategies and programs devised to conserve water resources within the GLB.     

Spatial variability of thermal regimes and other environmental determinants of stream fish communities in the Great Lakes Basin,Ontario, Canada

Temperature is one of the most important environmental variables in stream ecosystems because it affects the growth, survival and distribution of stream biota. This study examined if the spatial variability of thermal regimes and 18 other environmental variables were associated with fish communities in watersheds throughout the Great Lakes Basin (GLB), Ontario. The thermal regimes were defined as regimes 1, 2 and 3 and had maximum water temperatures of 26.4, 28.4 and 23.5°C, and spring warming rates of 0.20, 0.12 and 0.10 °C d^?1, respectively. The spatial variability of the thermal regimes (VTR) within the watersheds was summarized into four VTR groups: S1, S2, M23 and M123. Stream sites in S1 watersheds had temperatures characteristic of regime 1 whereas stream sites in S2 watersheds followed regime 2. M23 watersheds had sites with a mix of regimes 2 and 3 whereas M123 watersheds had all three thermal regimes at sites throughout watersheds. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) indicated that 16% of the variation in fish communities was related to the spatial VTR in the watersheds. Forward selection CCA indicated that elevation, the S1 VTR group, sparse forest cover, wetland area, base flow index (groundwater discharge potential), flow and industrial stress explained 42% of the variance in the fish communities. Simplified indicator species analysis (ISA) showed that different species could be used as indicators for each of the VTR groups. Human activities such as industrial development, deforestation, groundwater withdrawal and flow alteration all may affect the environmental variables related to stream fish communities. Copyright © 2010 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Local‐scale Benefits of River Connectivity Restoration Planning Beyond Jurisdictional Boundaries

Conservation planning aims to optimize outcomes for select species or ecosystems by directing resources toward high‐return sites. The possibility that local benefits might be increased by directing resources beyond the focal area is rarely considered. We present a case study of restoring river connectivity for migratory fish of the Great Lakes Basin by removing dams and road crossings within municipal jurisdictions versus their broader watersheds. We found that greater river connectivity could often be achieved by considering both intra‐jurisdictional and extra‐jurisdictional barriers. Focusing on jurisdictional barriers alone generally forfeited <20% (median = 0%) of habitat gains for those who value solely habitat gains within the jurisdiction, but >75% (median = 100%) for planners who value larger‐scale habitat gains. Similarly, cost savings tended to be between ?50% and +50%, but in some cases were very negative. Our study underscores the local‐scale benefits of broadening restoration investments, especially for decision makers of the Great Lakes Basin and contributes to a discussion of appropriate and efficient scales of conservation planning. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

A decision support tool for measuring and tracking the social benefits of water resources in Michigan coastal communities

This Research Study was conducted to demonstrate and measure social wellbeing in Michigan coastal communities resulting from investments in local water-related projects and resource development that can lead to community vibrancy and to provide a model for communities throughout Michigan and the Great Lakes Basin. The primary goal of the study was to develop and implement an online Community Vibrancy Dashboard that would assist planners, decision makers, business leaders, and residents in defining, reviewing, and tracking community vibrancy. The study was supported by the Michigan Office of the Great Lakes under the 2016 Michigan Water Strategy and funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative.Four coastal communities in Michigan – Alpena, Manistee, Port Huron, and Sault Ste. Marie – participated in the study. These communities were selected because of their long economic and cultural histories with the Great Lakes, all are similar in size, and all have conducted relatively recent water-related resource restoration projects and were willing to participate.This study demonstrates how community engagement can result in measurable social indicators of community vibrancy that focus on the use of and connectedness to water resources in the Great Lakes Region. The study resulted in an innovative online visualization toolkit that provides opportunities for public review of local water projects and their resultant contributions to community vibrancy. The Community Vibrancy Dashboard provides timely and visible feedback to local leaders, planners, and decision makers on past and future projects and a means of tracking progress in meeting community vibrancy goals.     

Researcher disciplines and the assessment techniques used to evaluate Laurentian Great Lakes coastal ecosystems

The Laurentian Great Lakes of North America have been a focus of environmental and ecosystem research since the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement in 1972. This study provides a review of scientific literature directed at the assessment of Laurentian Great Lakes coastal ecosystems. Our aim was to understand the methods employed to quantify disturbance and ecosystem quality within Laurentian Great Lakes coastal ecosystems within the last 20 years. We focused specifically on evidence of multidisciplinary articles, in authorship or types of assessment parameters used. We sought to uncover: 1) where Laurentian Great Lakes coastal ecosystems are investigated, 2) how patterns in the disciplines of researchers have shifted over time, 3) how measured parameters differed among disciplines, and 4) which parameters were used most often. Results indicate research was conducted almost evenly across the five Laurentian Great Lakes and that publication of coastal ecosystems studies increased dramatically ten years after the first State of the Great Lakes Ecosystem Conference in 1994. Research authored by environmental scientists and by multiple disciplines (multidisciplinary) have become more prevalent since 2003. This study supports the likelihood that communication and knowledge-sharing is happening between disciplines on some level. Multidisciplinary or environmental science articles were the most inclusive of parameters from different disciplines, but every discipline seemed to include chemical parameters less often than biota, physical, and spatial parameters. There is a need for an increased understanding of minor nutrient, toxin, and heavy metal impacts and use of spatial metrics in Laurentian Great Lakes coastal ecosystems.     

Nearshore Community Characteristics Related to Shoreline Properties in the Great Lakes

Successful protection and restoration of Great Lakes nearshore ecosystems will likely rely on management of terrestrial resources along Great Lakes shorelines. However, relationships between biological communities and changing shoreline environmental properties are poorly understood. We sought to begin understanding the potential roles of shoreline geomorphological and land cover properties in structuring nearshore biological communities in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Despite high variability in densities (benthic macroinvertebrates and zooplankton) and catch per unit effort (CPUE, shallow water and nearshore fish) within and among lake areas, several biological community patterns emerged to suggest that nearshore aquatic communities respond to shoreline features via the influences of these features on nearshore substrate composition and stability. Benthic macroinvertebrate densities were not different between shoreline types, although they were generally lower at nearshore sites with less stable substrates. Shallow water fish CPUE and zooplankton densities were generally lower for nearshore areas adjacent to developed mid-bluff shorelines and sites characterized by less stable substrates. Larger fish CPUE appeared to be unresponsive to local shoreline and substrate properties of nearshore zones. The emergence of these patterns despite significant ecological differences among lake areas (e.g., productivity, community composition, etc.) suggests that shoreline development may have comparable influences on nearshore ecosystems throughout the Great Lakes, providing a terrestrialbased indicator of relative nearshore biological and ecological integrity.     

Great Lakes Research: Past,Present, and Future

A review of 25 years of Great Lakes research suggests that major revisions in research needs and objectives are cyclical, and occur in times of crisis. Estimates of future research directions are offered in view of the potential for anticipated crises. A major research need is expected to be the question of diversions and consumptive withdrawals of Great Lakes water as a function of expected water shortages in agricultural production areas of the United States. This paper is a synopsis of remarks presented before the Silver Jubilee Meeting of the International Association for Great Lakes Research in Windsor, Ontario, Canada, on 13 January 1983.     

Opportunities for bipartisanship: Comparing water and energy policy in the Great Lakes region

The Great Lakes contain most of the United States’ surface freshwater and provide deep personal and economic connections for the residents of the region. These connections create an opportunity for bipartisanship in environmental policies with the potential to permeate energy policies. To explore that possibility, this paper examines how party affiliation affects support for water policy and energy policy in the Great Lakes region of the United States. Data from the Great Lakes Region Public Opinion Survey asked 696 Republicans, Independents, and Democrats from the Great Lakes region to respond to a range of environmental policy prompts. Responses to the policy prompts are grouped into four components: Water Quality, Water Diversions, Traditional Fuels, and Renewables. The results find that there is bipartisan support for the Water Quality and Water Diversions components. Energy policies do not receive the same bipartisan support, with Democrats and Independents having more support for the Renewables component while Republicans have more support for the Traditional Fuels component. However, when the fuel source is tied to its pollutants of the Great Lakes, then reactions to that fuel source receive a bipartisan response. The results of this research suggest that embedding water policy in energy policy may allow those policies to receive more bipartisan support. Combining water policy and energy policy can depolarize some of the politics surrounding environmental policy broadly.     

Groundwater Demand Management in the Great Lakes Basin—Directions for New Policies

Demand-side management should be used to maximize the efficiency of groundwater use. Implementation of conservation measures would decrease the volume of water use and also exert less pressure on the water distribution system as well as the wastewater treatment system. Allocation of ground water in the Great Lakes basin must conform to priorities established at the community level. Groundwater pricing should reflect the full costs arising from ground water use. A differential pricing structure would help conserve water in the residential and industrial sectors. A user-friendly database on ground water use, quality and quantity for the entire Great Lakes basin is also essential. New policies for sustainable groundwater allocation, regulating water prices for water conservation, conservation education, pollution prevention, recycling and reuse of water as well as effective information management provide new directions for managing the groundwater demand in the Great Lakes basin.     

Impacts of urban areas and urban growth on groundwater in the Great Lakes Basin of North America

The Great Lakes Basin (GLB) holds vast reserves of groundwater, the great majority of which eventually drains to the lakes. Urban growth significantly affects both the quality and quantity of this groundwater and thereby represents a potential threat to the long-term viability of the Great Lakes hydrologic system. Urban areas import, manufacture, store, transport, and utilise large volumes of chemicals, a proportion of which inevitably finds its way to the shallow sub-surface. In many cases, potentially polluting chemicals are applied directly to urban surfaces (e.g. as road salts, fertilizers and pesticides), are stored in the subsurface (e.g. gasoline tanks) or are released to the subsurface (e.g. septic systems). Because most of the basin's larger urban areas rely almost exclusively on lake-based supplies, very little attention is given to the accumulation of contaminants in shallow urban groundwaters and the serious risks they pose. Assessment of the problem is complicated by the widespread use of urban fill and a complex network of drains, pipes and tunnels that create “urban karst”, a shallow artificial aquifer, unique to urban settings, that exerts a major, yet often unpredictable influence on groundwater flow and contaminant transport. Management of ground water pollution, and its impact on the receiving Great Lakes, will require rigorous audits of all urban sources of contamination together with the development and calibration of groundwater flow and transport models that will enable the fate of urban pollutants to be reliably predicted even when groundwater is not used for supply.     

Commentary: Climate change adaptive management in the Great Lakes

Climatologists have estimated how the increase of carbon dioxide emissions will affect the climate in the Great Lakes basin. Models show that at twice the pre-industrial carbon dioxide level, the climate of the basin will be warmer by 2–4 °C and slightly damper than at present. Experts predict that this could have serious implications for the ecosystems and economies of the region. Climate change poses new challenges to decision-makers as they work to restore and maintain biodiversity, create comprehensive strategies for conservation and evaluate future risk to these resources. Adaptive management has served as a tool to meet these challenges although implementation has been uneven. This commentary examines trends and projections for climate change in the Great Lakes, the adaptive management strategies and programs in place to address these changes and the challenges these programs face to address the impacts of changing climate patterns on our freshwater resources.     

Cyanotoxin transport from surface water to groundwater: Simulation scenarios for Lake Erie

Harmful algal bloom (HAB) and cyanotoxin studies in the Great Lakes region have been typically focused on surface-water issues, with few investigating or reporting on groundwater. This study aims to theoretically explore whether groundwater can be contaminated by microcystins from HABs in surface water due to surface-water and groundwater interaction. Specifically, a 3-D MODFLOW/MT3DMS model was developed to simulate pumping-induced reverse groundwater flow and solute transport from Lake Erie to the aquifer underneath the South Bass Island in Ohio. Our simulation results based on typical, base case settings showed that after microcystins were detected and released from the lake, it would take about two, three, and 13 months for the water in a well on the island to reach the EPA advisory levels of microcystin for detection (0.1 µg/l), infants and children (0.3 μg/l), and school-age children to adults (1.6 μg/l), respectively. Furthermore, our scenario analyses showed that, as expected, higher pumping rate and higher lakebed leakance would accelerate the microcystin transport to the well. However, higher hydraulic conductivity would increase the time to reach the EPA levels due to mixing and dilution effects. The 3-D modeling scheme developed in this study was suitable to simulate the complex surface-water and groundwater interaction and transport processes occurring in the Great Lakes. This theoretical study provides useful insight for managing coastal groundwater aquifers and resources under threat from HABs in the Great Lakes. Future improvements to the model would include incorporating reactions and fractures and obtaining water-quality data for model calibration.