NRES 103
Annual cargo through the Seaway peaked in the mid-1970s at around 57 million tons; the Seaway was designed to handle
80 million tons
Zebra mussels impact native mussels directly
inhibiting their ability to open their shells
The round goby is a highly successful invasive species because
it is very aggressive
Bighead and silver carp are able to take over aquatic ecosystems because they
Starve competitors by eating plankton
At one point, the Great Lakes were connected to
The Atlantic Ocean
Which river is one of the worst in-place-pollutant problems in the Great Lakes system?
The Detroit
The deadliest fire in U.S. history was
The Peshtigo Fire
The first European to explore the St. Lawrence River was Jacques Cartier, but after 1000 miles he had to turn back because his party
encountered impassible rapids
Rather than a food chain, it's more accurate to think in terms of a food web because
it focuses on trophic relationships as a network
The round goby is considered a generalist species because
it has a diverse diet it can live in freshwater or saltwater
Zooplankton are in turn eaten by
mollusks crustaceans bait-size fish
Increases in high precipitation events is a concern in the Great Lakes because a direct results will be
more runoff from agricultural fields
The sea lamprey is anadromous, meaning that they
spawn in freshwater but live in the ocean as adults
Fisheries managers were surprised to learn that chinook salmon
were reproducing in the wild in prodigious numbers
On lands near Lake Erie's western basin, there is a large emphasis in ecological restoration on
wetlands
The lamprey was so successful in the Great Lakes because
- it produces so many eggs - no natural predators - able to colonize the upper lakes so rapidly
Of the world's port cities, what percentage are within two stops of a Great Lakes port?
99%
Alewives became the primary food source of lake trout, but also
Harmed the reproductive potential of the trout
For four of the five Great Lakes, the estimated impact of invasion by Asian carp is
Moderate to high
Cities tended to be constructed
near areas preferred by spawning fish and waterfowl adjacent to protected harbors and river mouths
The scientific method is initiated with
observations
the notion of restoring even parts of the Great Lakes region to conditions that existed prior to European settlement is challenging because
of so much environmental degredation
In reality, wetland serve many useful purposes. For example,
they filter water they provide valuable habitat for waterfowl they slow water down, allowing contaminants to settle out
Predicting which species are likely to become invasive is
very difficult to do
Botulism-causing bacteria spread up the food chain after
being ingested by invasive mussels gobies ate toxic mussels birds consumed toxic gobies
Since the Great Lakes have been connected to the Atlantic Ocean, the number of forage fish species has
Decreased
Some strategies for getting rid of carp include
Making fertilizer from them, Making fish cakes from them, Making pet food from them
What prevented water-bound organisms from migrating from the ocean to the upper Great Lakes?
Niagara Falls
On an annual basis, the Soo Locks handle more ships and more tonnage than the
Panama and Suez Canals combined
The problem of water pollution was compounded by the huge size of the Great Lakes because
People didn't think they could have much of an impact on such large bodies of water
Successful invasive species tend to
Produce a lot of offspring, be very good dispersers are dietary specialists
Once water samples tested positive for carp beyond the electrical barriers, General Peabody
Refused to close the locks
A key problem with the St. Lawrence Seaway was
The 9-month shipping season, that the locks and channels were too small
One of the hotspots for invasive carp highlighted in the film Silent Invaders is
The Illinois River
The first canal to bridge the Chicago Portage was
The Illinois and Michigan Canal
After the trees were cut in the Great Black Swamp, roads were built and ditches were dug. The latter was greatly facilitated by
The buckeye Traction Ditcher
Alewife populations crashed because
There was so much predation pressure from salmon The invasive mussels took up so much plankton
One thing that the timber holdings in the upper Midwest and the Great Lakes Fisheries had in common was that
They both seemed limitless
Quagga mussels eventually outnumbered zebra mussels by a huge margin because the former
have an even higher rate of reproduction can eat the latter can tolerate much deeper water don't need a hard surface to adhere to
The St. Lawrence Seaway was constructed to allow... because...
to allow ocean-going freighters access to the Great Lakes because the U.S. President saw strategic value there during the cold war with the USSR
The primary mission of the early French explorers of the Great Lakes was
to find a passage to the Great South Sea and Cathay
The Aral Sea in the former Soviet Union
was once the world's fourth largest lake
The last glacier withdrew from North America about
12,000 years ago
Currently, the average number of trans-oceanic ships passing through the Seaway each day is
2
the future of the great lakes will be by...
adaptation of people and species
All energy is derived from the...
sun
Invasive species are harmful because of
where they are
Annual damage to fisheries and recreational activities caused by invasive mussels in the Great Lakes is estimated to cost
$200 million
The reported annual cost borne by municipalities and industry in the Great Lakes region to keep pipes free from mussels
$600 million
What is the shallowest of the Great Lakes?
Erie
Of the changes in the Great Lakes associated with climate, the *commercial shipping industry* is most affected by A. high water B. low water C. algal blooms D. more frequent storms
B. low water
In addition to agricultural runoff causing algal blooms in Lake Erie, other major contributors include:
Not lawn fertilizer, Not leaky septic fields, Not inputs from the Detroit River
Compared to the Erie Canal, the Welland Canal
accommodated longer and wider ships
Another ballast hitch-hiker, the Eurasian ruffe, became a very successful invader in the Great Lakes, largely due to
an extremely high reproductive rate
The Paleo Indians are thought to have played a role in a. building effigy mounds b. driving the mastodon extinction c. developing the birchbark canoe d. developing a more sophisticated form of agriculture
b. driving the mastodon extinction
The Welland Canal was constructed to
circumvent Niagra Falls Enable Canada to compete with the Erie Canal Enable ships rather than barges to reach the Great Lakes
The amount of cargo to pass through the Seaway currently
could be carried by two freight trains per day
In the scientific method, predictions are generated from hypotheses, then tested with
data
To help reduce a $25 million budget deficit, the city of Flint
decided to temporarily get its water from the Flint River decided to build its own water pipeline
Since the mid-1970s, the amount of cargo passing through the Seaway annually has
declined
Dead zones in the Great Lakes are created by
decomposition of algal cells excessive nutrient inputs run-away algal growth
In nature, ecosystems are
dynamic
The west-to-east flow of the Great Lakes is due to differences in
elevation
The EPA exempted the discharge of ballast water from the Clean Water Act eventhough... because... because...
even though they did not have Congressional approval to do so because they thought it was relatively harmless because doing so would reduce administrative costs
The Great Lakes region is uniquely positioned to stop future invasions because
every overseas freighter must pass through the St. Lambert Lock
Cladaphora is a green algae that is native to all the Great Lakes except Superior, and became a nuisance in the 1960s due to
excess phosphorus inputs adverse impacts of human activities
john lodge
expert on genetic-based testing to identify the presence of invasive species in ballast, known as BNA barcoding
When relatively large predators are absent in an ecosystem, populations of prey species
explode
The primary mission of the early French explorers of the Great Lakes was
find a passage to the great south sea and cathay
The zebra mussel, quagga mussel, and round goby
first appeared in North America in or near Lake St. Clair have their native range in the Black and/or Caspian Seas likely reached the Great Lakes in the ballast of a freighter
When a bighead carp was caught beyond the barrier and just miles from Lake Michigan
five states took USACE and Illinois to court
In the film Saving the Great Lakes from Toxic Algae, Jeff Reutters from the Stone Lab recommends that if we are going to the possibility of poisoned drinking water in the Lake Erie region, we should first
focus on water treatment plants
Historical racism was reported to contribute to the use of Flint River water for drinking because
he residents were mostly poor and African American, the residents were not viewed as credible, the complaints of the residents were not taken seriously
Ballast serves a key function on freighters because
heavy, available, and basically free
Eutrophic
high nutrient concentration and high standing stock of living organisms. Eutrophic lakes or other bodies of water are richly supplied with plant nutrients and supportive of heavy plant growth
Most invasive species are introduced by
humans
One example of a hugely expensive project that's been implemented to transfer water across a continent is
in china
The second set of barriers funded by Congress included... was not... were more...
included three clusters of electrodes was not turned on initially out of fear of detonating barges with flammable cargo were more powerful than the original
In cities, surfaces that are impervious to rainfall tend to
increase in area, increase in runoff during storm events Result in inputs to rivers and the Lakes that included dirt, refuse, and horse manure,
Which of the following trends in the Great Lakes is attributed to climate change?
increase in water temperature increase in the number of heavy rainfall events
Prior to settlement, water flowed clear from the Maumee River to Lake Erie. Now, the extensive grid of ditches and tile lines
increased flows in the river, made the river more turbid increased nutrient inputs to the river
Eutrophication
is part of lake erie's natural history the process by which a body of water becomes enriched in dissolved nutrients that stimulate the growth of aquatic plant life, usually resulting in the depletion of dissolved oxygen
Phosphorus
is required by every living organism does not exist naturally in the environment
Compared to the Atlantic, Pacific, and Gulf coasts, North America's 4th seacoast is unique in that
it has a single entry point for foreign freighters
For a trait to be considered to be an adaptation in an evolutionary sense
it must be favorable to an organism's survival it must be favorable to an organism's ability to reproduce It must be heritable
Who eats who in the Great Lakes is not necessarily linear, as exemplified by the lake sturgeon because
it's large yet eats small prey items
Compared to the Europeans, the Woodland Culture was
lacking in some ways but equal or superior in others
As described in Silent Invaders, zebra mussels have an inhalant siphon and an exhalant siphone. What is removed in between?
large algae
Rain, snow, and surface runoff from streams and rivers add water to the Great Lakes, but this is offset by
outflow
A fundamental principle of environmental justice is that
people should have a voice in decisions that affect them minority groups should not be disproportionately burdened by environmental harm
The last Ice Age occurred during the ____ period
pleistocene
Tanner's overarching objective as Michigan's Chief of Fisheries was to
provide the best experience possible in recreational fishing
In response to the State Emergency Manager's claim that water from Lake Huron was no safer than that of the Flint River, scientists from Virginia Tech
provided data showing water from the Flint River was 19 times more corrosive
By far, the best predictor(s) of the presence of environmental pollutants is/are
race
The film clip "The Rise and Fall of the Great Lakes" describes a number of geologic phenomena that have changed the lakes over time. One of these has to do with the transition from a northerly outflow of Great Lakes water to a southerly course. This transition was caused by
rising land surface after the glacier's retreat
The st. Lawrence divide...
runs through the western part of Chicago, runs through southern Canada, Is generally more of a hill than a mountain, separates the Great Lakes Basin from the Mississippi River Basin
An extreme form of wave action in the Great Lakes that is associated with rapid changes in wind and barometric pressure is known as a
seiche
In the film Silent Invaders - Lamprey, a key target for controlling lampreys was in
st. Mary's river
Invasive mussels were able to colonize isolated inland lakes by
taking refuge in any damp spot on a boat out of water being able to live on a boat outside water for days
A key question in ecological restoration globally, and especially applicable to the Great Lakes has to do with
target conditions
Detractors of the St. Lawrence Seaway believed
that it would ruin the business of U.S. ports on the eastern seaboard
In a sense, it could be said that the Clean Water Act had its origins in
the Cuyahoga River
The Supreme Court rejected Missouri's lawsuit, even though the number of typhoid cases in St. Louis had increased four-fold since the opening of the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal because
the Illinois River appeared to be relatively clean compared to what it was
Vernon Applegate was able to help reduce lamprey populations by focusing on
the creeks where lampreys nest
ecological restoration
the process of assisting the recovery of an ecosystem that has been degraded, damaged or destroyed Ecosystem services, provisioning regulating cultural supporting
Ultimately, the federal government charged the state of Michigan with a violation of
the safe water drinking act
Once the Great Black Swamp was cleared and drained, the people there found
the soils were incredibly rich they had the most productive land in the country
The massive die-off of in 1967 involved an estimated 20 billion alewives and was caused by
their own physiology
Whitefish were ultimately able to switch to invasive mussels as a good source because
their stomach muscles began to enlarge
In addition to ballast water, round gobies are spreading in the Great Lakes region because
they are used as bait to catch larger fish
Fishery managers began to stock chinook salmon because
they could be planted after 6 months
The zebra mussel could not have 'walked' across the Atlantic Ocean to reach the Great Lakes, even over many generations, because
they could not have survived the ocean's salinity or depth
One way that gobies can gain a numerical advantage on native fish is that
they spawn up to three times per summer they are voracious egg eaters they drive other fish from their spawning beds
Invasive mussels were able to virtually take over Lake Mead's bed and canyon walls below the waterline in only two years because
they were able to reproduce rapidly in the warm climate
There was a mistake made in naming Lakes Michigan and Huron. What was it?
they're actually one lake
It was surprising that a year after the zebra mussel was discovered in Lake St. Clair, the species was found at extremely high densities in southern Lake Michigan, surprising because
this movement would have been against the lake's currents
It's thought that lampreys first entered Lake Ontario
through the Erie Canal
There were fewer alewives in Lake Erie because, compared to the other upper Lakes, it is
warmer and shallower
DNA barcoding
was initially used to identify invasive species in ship's ballast is meant to identify species
The food chain in Lake Powell
was very simple was predicted to collapse in less than a decade
Turnover of water, or mixing, in lakes is important in terms of maintaining
water quality
A key difference between exploitation of the environment by Europeans and Native Americans was that the latter
were few in number
T/F: The exorbitantly high cost of pumping water thousands of miles is the thing that prevents it from happening.
False
Applegate discovered the first lampricide by
trial and error
The Sanitary and Ship Canal was
- an early, successful water grab from the Great Lakes - another example of people trying to engineer nature to suit their needs - essentially a back door to the Great Lakes
The Pacific Northwest is vulnerable to mussel invasion because
- hundreds of thousands of boats use the lakes and reservoirs there every year - it's impossible to guard every boat ramp - no state or water body has been able to stop the mussel from invading
Asian carp possess several of the key attributes that tend to allow species to become invasive, including
- lack of predators - good dispersers - extremely high reproduction rate
The alewife came to dominate native fish in the Great Lakes by
- preying on their young - outcompeting them for food
The main focuses of the Great Lakes initiative :
- remove toxins - control invasive species - nonpoint source pollution control - promoting nearshore health - restoring wetlands and other habitats - tracking progress
The lamprey moved slowly through Lake Erie because
- shallow water - warm water - lacked suitable spawning streams
For a given set of 100 species introductions, how many on average will become invasive?
1
Of the world's port cities, the Great Lakes are directly connected to
12%
How much of the planet's available freshwater is found in the Great Lakes?
20%
All but one of the connections between the Great Lakes and freshwaters beyond the Great Lakes basin dried up by (date)
2500 years ago
Microcystis
A cyanobacterium that thrives in warm water with heavy loads of phosphorus and nitrogen; liver toxin
Once the salmon and alewife were gone in Lake Huron
A number of native fish species began to increase in number, fishing towns in Michigan along the Huron coast lost a lot of revenue, the round goby proved to be a key food source from some native fish species
The concept of a food chain is A. an oversimplification B. an accurate model C. an invention of the French D. unique to lakes
A. an oversimplification
A unique feature of the Great Lakes in summer is the tendency to A. warm from the shore out B. become more saline C. have red tides D. create rip tides
A. warm from the shore out
James hill invented what? and what did it do?
Buckeye traction ditcher quickened the drainage of the Great Black Swamp (1880s)
All energy is derived from A. hydroelectric power B. plants and animals C. the sun D. the soil
C. the sun
the effects of lead poisoning
Can last for decades especially pronounced in children
Oligotrophic
Describes a lake with a low level of productivity a condition of low nutrient concentration and low standing stock of living organisms these lakes are poorly suppled with plant nutrients and support little plant life
One problem with mid-ocean flushing of ballast tanks is that
Effectiveness is difficult to assess due to the lag time in detection of exotic species, it kills 99% of organisms, but there could still be a lot in there
T/F: Canada is supportive of efforts to close the Seaway to ocean-going freighters.
False
Native mussels in the Great Lakes helped to maintain water clarity by
Filtering organic material from the water column, eating algae
Successful invasive species often lack predators in their new environment, and also tend to be
Habitat generalists
The same process causing massive algal blooms in Lake Erie
Has created a dead zone in the Gulf of Mexico and around the world
The listing of the lake sturgeon as endangered illustrates the point that environmental impacts especially impact species that
Have a low reproductive rate
Collectively, western states in the U.S. have spent how much to monitor and control invasive mussels?
Hundreds of millions of dollars
In 2011, the Environmental Protection Agency agreed to mandate treatment systems for all trans-oceanic ships discharging ballast in U.S. waters, but
It's uncertain as to whether all ships will comply, such systems aren't required until 2021, its not certain that such systems will be effective against all exotic species
When federal funding was halted for the carp-controlling-sewage experiment, Arkansas Game and Fish
Let some of them go
At this point, the only mandated strategy for ships sailing from foreign ports into the Great Lakes
To flush all of their ballast tanks mid-ocean
T/F: In the U.S., the coastline of the Great Lakes is longer than the Atlantic coastline, the coast on the Gulf of Mexico, or the Pacific coast (not counting Alaska and Hawaii).
True
When General John Peabody took charge of the situation for USACE, he
Turned on the barriers, kept the voltage to 1/4 capacity
The Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal was the... helped.... reversed....
Was the largest earth-moving project in North America at the time Helped to sanitize Chicago's water Reversed the flow of the Chicago River
The early immigrants who encountered the Great Black Swamp and decided to settle in the region
Were in awe, decided to drain it
There were two water features that had to be addressed to achieve connectivity for shipping across all five Lakes. One was Niagra Falls. The other was a. Falls of St. Mary b. Niagra River c. Cumberland Falls d. Detroit River
a. Falls of St. Mary
Which of the following is a Native American tribe that the French did NOT encounter in the Great Lakes region? a. The Sioux b. The Winnebagoes c. The Iroquois d. The Hurons
a. The Sioux
Which of the following is NOT a feature that the Great Lakes share with the oceans? a. downdrafts b. waves c. currents d. upwelling
a. downdrafts
The alewife is a [note: there may be more than one answer] a. native of North America, and a b. non-native of North America, and a c. native of the Great Lakes d. non-native of the Great Lakes.
a. native of North America, and a d. non-native of the Great Lakes.
What feature makes Lake Ontario somewhat separate from the other lakes in terms of connectivity? a. The height of Niagra Falls b. The shallow depth of the Detroit river c. the rapids of the st. Mary's river d. Lake st. clair
a. niagra falls
Which of the following does not serve as an example of the dynamic nature of the Great Lakes over geographic time? a. the salt concentration of Lake Michigan has been steadily increasing over the last 1000 years b. Paleo-indians once hunted mastadons in Michigan c. Sleeping Bear Dune is moving inland at the rate of 2 feet per year d. Michigan (the state and the lake) was once covered by the Wisconsin Glacier
a. the salt concentration of Lake Michigan has been steadily increasing over the last 1000 years
How long can humans last without water? a. 2 days b. 3-4 days c. 7-9 days d. <24 hours
b. 3-4 days
Of the 10 largest lakes in the world by surface area, how many Great Lakes are included? a. 2 b. 4 c. 6 d. 3
b. 4 (superior, huron, michigan, erie)
What is the shallowest of the Great Lakes? a. Ontario b. Erie c. Huron d. Michigan
b. Erie
Water levels in the Great Lakes have always varied, but with climate change, this variation is expected to
be greater be less predictable
Eventually, the round goby
became the dominant forage fish helped to keep mussel populations in check depressed populations of sculpins and darters
Botulism-causing bacteria spread up the food chain after
being ingested by invasive mussels gobies ate toxic mussels birds consumed toxic gobies
What is the process by which toxins reach higher levels in species that are higher up the food chain?
bioaccumulation
How much of the planet's available freshwater is found in the Great Lakes? a. 25% b. 10% c. 20% d. 15%
c. 20%
Rain, snow, and surface runoff from streams and rivers add water to the Great Lakes, but this is offset by a. Precipitation b. Aquifers c. Outflow d. Evaporation
c. Outflow
According to the film "What's So Great About the Great Lakes", of the five lakes, Superior is NOT a. the deepest b. the coldest c. the stormiest d. the clearest
c. the stormiest
Unlike the algal blooms in the late 1960s, the blooms in Lake Erie in the mid-1990s were caused by
cyanobacteria blue-green algae microcystis
Which lake has the highest seichal fluctuation a. Michigan b. Ontario c. Superior d. Erie
d. Erie (because most shallow)
A key commercial use of the Great Lakes from the days of La Salle involves a. freshwater sales b. tourism c. timber harvesting d. transportation
d. transportation
According to the film Great Lakes Water Level Changes, the three major factors in the Great Lakes water budget include
evaporation from the lakes precipitation directly on the lakes runoff into the lakes
The Clean Water Act focused on...
focused on point-source pollution ignored non-point pollution
Which three factors contributes to the uniqueness of the Great Lakes?
geographically concentrated, connectivity, location
In recent decades, what is the primary factor that has led to an exponential increase in the movement of invasive species?
global connectivity
A key difference between non-native (or exotic) species and invasive species is that
invasives tend to cause negative environmental consequences
Compared to point-source pollution, nonpoint pollution
is harder to track is more difficult to regulate
According to the film Silent Invaders, the battle to control lampreys
is never ending
of the five great lakes, lake erie ...
is the most productive has the most fish
Most foreign freighters sail out of the Great Lakes carrying grain, totaling what percentage of total grain exports for the U.S. and Canada?
less than 2
Even though zebra mussels can only move about 14" an hour using their 'foot,' they can rapidly reach new locations because
offspring are covered with hairs that help them to catch currents
The St. Lawrence Seaway System was...
the Seaway was one of the top 10 public works of the 20th century all cargo is tracked as it makes its way through the system tourists from all over the world sail through the Seaway on luxury cruise ships
Features of zebra mussels that enabled them to be such successful invaders include
the ability of females to produce so many eggs a lack of native predators in the Great Lakes their high filtration rate their ability to reproduce at a young age
In the film clip Invasive Species - Asian Carp, Kay Nelson, who represents an array of industries on the southern shores of Lake Michigan, expresses concern about the idea of constructing a permanent barrier in the Sanitary and Ship Canal because
the general public has the impression this is a quick fix
There have been a number of unintended environmental consequences that have adversely affected the Lakes once they were connected to the Atlantic Ocean and connections among the lakes were modified by human activity. A key reason that the consequences were so profound is that
the lakes are relatively young
cultural eutrophication
the over enrichment of a body of water resulting from excess additions of chemical nutrients due to human activity
The drought in California is a national problem because
they grow 90% of the nation's produce
Whitefish were never a consumer of fish, probably because
they had no teeth
A goal in constructing the Erie Canal was
to help organize the territories west of the original 13 colonies Make NY city a port of global significance Connect the eastern seaboard to the interior of the continent
In the film The St. Lawrence Seaway System, the proposed way to get around the fact that the locks and channels were too small for transoceanic ships was
to unload cargo and put it on smaller ships
A key commercial use of the Great Lakes ever since the days of La Salle involves
transportation
The concept of a food chain is all about what type of relationships?
trophic
If ballast control systems are installed on all freighters entering the Great Lakes, the probability of more invasive species showing up there is
very high
The diet of the round goby includes
zooplankton young zebra and quagga mussels young of larger fish eggs of other fish