by Susan Griffith

A Case Western Reserve University biologist is designing an innovative, new environmental model for preserving the Great Lakes—one that looks at land as well as water.

Joseph Koonce

Until now, scientists studying the lakes have taken a narrow approach by focusing on the effects of chemical pollutants or non-indigenous species invading the waters. But Joseph Koonce, Case chair and professor of biology, will expand this traditional line of inquiry to explore the interacting effects of stresses ranging from fishery exploitation to land use changes.

Koonce said this pioneering paradigm investigating relationships among stressors, including changes in landscape, will help explain why the Great Lakes continue to decline in health even though they have been cleansed of many chemical pollutants.

In addition, this stressor-response management system will provide
a model for linking land-water interactions in areas around the country from the Chesapeake Bay to the Gulf of Mexico, according to Koonce.

"This new research can lead to smart development areas where development is encouraged because of its low impact on the water system," he said, "while other areas with a high impact on the water system should be discouraged from development through lack of public support for infrastructures and tax abatements or laws passed to protect the land."

Using a three-year, $748,000 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Koonce will collaborate with former Case faculty member Benjamin Hobbs, now with Johns Hopkins University, to test the scientific foundations of what these biologist call a new "regional-scale model for the management of multiple-stressors" in Lake Erie.

Building on previous EPA funding, Koonce and Hobbs plan to link earlier research to a more systematic exploration of land-water interactions and their effects on the health of Lake Erie. Their new project will extend the previous work by characterizing the effects of land use changes and land cover of lake watersheds on nutrient landings, flow regimes of tributaries and available habitat for Lake Erie fish species.

With support from the Ohio Coastal Management Assistance Grants Program, Koonce has spent the last year identifying and inventorying the spawning habitats and nursery areas of Lake Erie fish species.

Return to the online edition of the 8-21-03 Campus News.

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