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Coupling ecosystem science with management: A Great Lakes perspective from Green Bay, Lake Michigan, USA

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Abstract

Continued resource degradation in various areas of the Great Lakes has led to doubts of the adequacy of conventional science and management approaches. The need for a more holistic approach, identified as an ecosystem approach, appears now to be more widely accepted although progress with implementation is slow. We argue here that ecosystem science is an integral part of an ecosystem approach and is a prerequisite to effective management planning.

One of the problems of implementing an ecosystem approach is forging the link between ecosystem based research and management. For Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA, certain structural and functional qualities of the ecosystem have been used to define operational guides and to formulate management objectives. These objectives are being utilized in the development of a remedial action plan for Green Bay.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Land and Water Studies, University of Wisconsin, 54302, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

    Hallett J. Harris & Paul E. Sager

  2. Department of Biology, Lawrence University, 54911, Appleton, Wisconsin, USA

    Sumner Richman

  3. Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources, Lake Michigan District Headquarters, 54302, Green Bay, Wisconsin, USA

    Victoria A. Harris

Authors
  1. Hallett J. Harris
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  2. Paul E. Sager
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  3. Sumner Richman
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  4. Victoria A. Harris
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  5. C. Jarrell Yarbrough
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Deceased 5 February 1986.

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Harris, H.J., Sager, P.E., Richman, S. et al. Coupling ecosystem science with management: A Great Lakes perspective from Green Bay, Lake Michigan, USA. Environmental Management 11, 619–625 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01880160

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