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G L O S S A R Y

Alga (pl. Algae)

Simple one-celled or many-celled micro-organisms capable of carrying on photosynthesis in aquatic ecosystems.

Anoxia

The absence of oxygen necessary for sustaining most life. In aquatic ecosystems, this refers to the absence of dissolved oxygen in water.

Area of Concern

An area recognized by the International Joint Commission where 1 or more of 14 beneficial uses are impaired or where objectives of the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement or local environmental standards are not being achieved.

Atmospheric Deposition

Pollution from the atmosphere associated with dry deposition in the form of dust, wet deposition in the form of rain and snow, or as a result of vapor exchanges.

Biochemical Oxygen Demand

The amount of dissolved oxygen required for the bacterial decomposition of organic waste in water.

Biomagnification

A cumulative increase in the concentration of a persistent substance in successively higher trophic levels of the food chain (i.e., from algae to zooplankton to fish to birds).

Biomass

Total dry weight of all living organisms in a given area.

Biomonitoring

The use of organisms to test the acute toxicity of substances in effluent discharges as well as the chronic toxicity of low-level pollutants in the ambient aquatic environment.

Carcinogen

Cancer-causing chemicals, substances or radiation.

Consumptive Use

Permanent removal of water from a water body. Consumptive use may be due to evaporation or incorporation of water into a manufactured product.

DDT

Dichloro-diphenyl-trichloroethane - a widely used, very persistent pesticide in the chlorinated hydrocarbon group, now banned from production and use in many countries.

Dissolved Oxygen

The amount of oxygen dissolved in water. See Anoxia and Biochemical Oxygen Demand.

Diversion

Transfer of water from one watershed to another.

Drainage Basin

A waterbody and the land area drained by it.

Ecosystem

The interacting complex of living organisms and their non-living environment.

Effluent

Waste waters discharged from industrial or municipal sewage treatment plants.

Epilimnion

The warm, upper layer of water that occurs in a lake during summer stratification.

Erosion

The wearing away and transportation of soils, rocks and dissolved minerals from the land surface or along shorelines by rainfall, running water, or wave and current action.

Eutrophication

The process of fertilization that causes high productivity and biomass in an aquatic ecosystem. Eutrophication can be a natural process or it can be a cultural process accelerated by an increase of nutrient loading to a lake by human activity.

Exotic Species

Species that are not native to the Great Lakes and have been intentionally introduced or have inadvertently infiltrated the system.

Food Web

The process by which organisms in higher trophic levels gain energy by consuming organisms at lower trophic levels.

Human Health

The state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity (World Health Organization).

Hydrologic Cycle

The natural cycle of water on earth, including precipitation as rain and snow, runoff from land, storage in lakes, streams, and oceans, and evaporation and transpiration (from plants) into the atmosphere.

Hypolimnion

The cold, dense, lower layer of water that occurs in a lake during summer stratification.

Leachate

Materials suspended or dissolved in water and other liquids, usually from waste sites, which percolate through soils and rock layers.

Mass Balance

An approach to evaluating the source, transport and fate of contaminants entering a water system as well as their effects on water quality.

Mesotrophic

See Trophic Status

Monoculture

Agriculture that is based on a single type of crop.

Nonpoint Source

Source of pollution in which pollutants are discharged over a widespread area or from a number of small inputs rather than from distinct, identifiable sources.

Nutrient

A chemical that is an essential raw material for the growth and development of organisms.

Oligotrophic

See Trophic Status

Pathogens

Disease-causing agents such as bacteria, viruses and parasites.

PCBs - polychlorinated biphenyls

A class of persistent organic chemicals that bioaccumulate.

Photosynthesis

A process occurring in the cells of green plants and some micro-organisms in which solar energy is transformed into stored chemical energy.

Phytoplankton

Minute, microscopic aquatic plant life (see Alga).

Point Source Pollution

A source of pollution that is distinct and identifiable, such as an outfall pipe from an industrial plant.

Productivity

The conversion of sunlight and nutrients into plant material through photosynthesis, and the subsequent conversion of this plant material into animal matter.

Resuspension (of sediment)

The remixing of sediment particles and pollutants back into the water by storms, currents, organisms and human activities such as dredging or shipping.

Seiche

An oscillation in water level from one end of a lake to another due to rapid changes in winds and atmospheric pressure. Most dramatic after an intense but local weather disturbance passes over one end of a large lake.

Stratification (or Layering)

The tendency in deep lakes for distinct layers of water to form as a result of vertical change in temperature and therefore in the density of water. See also Epilimnion, Hypolimnion, Thermocline

Thermocline

A layer of water in deep lakes separating the cool hypolimnion (lower layer) from the warm epilimnion (surface layer).

Toxic Substance

As defined in the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, any substance that adversely affects the health or well-being of any living organism.

Trophic Status

A measure of the biological productivity in a body of water. Aquatic ecosystems are characterized as oligotrophic (low productivity), mesotrophic (medium productivity) or eutrophic (high productivity).

Wind Set-up

A local rise in water levels caused by winds pushing water to one side of a lake.

Zooplankton

Minute aquatic animal life.

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Conversion Table

References and Suggestions for Futher Reading

• Allardice, D., and S. Thorp. State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference Working Paper: A Changing Great Lakes Economy: Economic and Environmental Linkages. Environment Canada and United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1994.
• Allen, Robert. The Illustrated Natural History of Canada: The Great Lakes. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1970.
• Alternatives: Perspectives on Society, Technology and Environment. Special Issue. Saving the Great Lakes. Vol. 13, No. 3, September/October, 1986.
• American Museum of Natural History. The Enduring Great Lakes. J. Rousmaniere (ed.). New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1980.
• Ashworth, William. The Late, Great Lakes. New York: Knopf, 1986.
• Burns, Noel M. Erie: The Lake That Survived. Totowa, New Jersey: Rowman and Allanheld Publ., 1985.
• Egerton, Frank N. Overfishing or Pollution? Case History of a Controversy on the Great Lakes. Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Technical Report No. 41, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1985.
• Eichenlaub, Val. Weather and Climate of the Great Lakes Basin. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979.
• Eisenreich, S.J., C.J. Holland and T.C. Johnson. Atmospheric Pollutants in Natural Water Systems. Ann Arbor, Michigan: Ann Arbor Science Publishers, 1980.
• Ellis, W.D. Land of the Inland Seas: The Historic and Beautiful Great Lakes Country. Palo Alto: American West Publishing Co., 1974.
• Emery, Lee. Review of Fish Species Introduced Into the Great Lakes, 1819-1974. Great Lakes Fishery Commission, Technical Report No. 45, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1985.
• Environment Canada. Great Lakes Climatoligical Atlas. Saulesleja, A. (ed.). Atmospheric Environment Service. Ottawa: Canadian Government Publications Centre. (Cat. No. EN56-70/1986), 1986.
• Environment Canada and United States Environmental Protection Agency. State of the Lakes Ecosystem Report. July, 1995.
• Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago and the Great Lakes Commission. The Great Lakes Economy: Looking North and South. Chicago, 1991.
• Government of Canada. Currents of Change; Final Report of the Inquiry on Federal Water Policy. Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1985.
• Government of Canada. Toxic Chemicals in the Great Lakes and Associated Effects: Synopsis, Volume 2, Volume 3. Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1991.
• Government of Quebec, St. Lawrence Development Secretariat. The St. Lawrence: A Vital National Resource. Quebec, P.Q., 1985.
• Great Lakes Basin Commission. Great Lakes Basin Commission Framework Study. Public Information Office, Great Lakes Basin Commission, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1976.
• Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Rehabilitating Great Lakes Ecosystems. G.R. Francis et al. (eds). Technical Report No. 37, Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1979.
• Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Strategic Vision of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission for the Decade of the 1990s. Ann Arbor, Michigan, 1992.
• Hartig, J., and N. Law. Progress in Great Lakes Remedial Action Plans: Implementing the Ecosystem Approach in Great Lakes Areas of Concern. Detroit: Wayne State University, 1994.
• Health and Welfare Canada. Having Your Catch and Eating it Too: A Few Words About Sport Fish and Your Health. Great Lakes Health Effects Program. Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1992.
• Health and Welfare Canada. A Vital Link: Health and the Environment in Canada. Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1992.
• Hough, J.L. The Geology of the Great Lakes. University of Illinois Press, 1958.
• International Joint Commission. An Environmental Management Strategy for the Great Lakes System. Final Report, International Reference Group on Great Lakes Pollution from Land Use Activities (PLUARG). Windsor, Ontario, 1978.
• International Joint Commission. Great Lakes Diversions and Consumptive Uses. Report by the International Great Lakes Diversion and Consumptive Uses Study Board, 1981.
• International Joint Commission. Report on Great Lakes Water Quality. Report of the Great Lakes Water Quality Board. Presented at Kingston, Ontario, 1985.
• International Joint Commission. Revised Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement of 1978 as Amended by Protocol Signed November 18, 1987.
• Jacobsen, Joseph L. "Prenatal Exposure to an Environmental Toxin: A Test of Multiple Effects", Developmental Psychology, Vol. 20, No. 4, 1984.
• Keating, Michael. To the Last Drop: Canada and the World's Water Crisis. Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1986.
• Koonce, J. State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference Working Paper: Aquatic Community Health of the Great Lakes. Environment Canada and United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1994.
• Kuchenberg, Tom. Reflections in a Tarnished Mirror: The Use and Abuse of the Great Lakes. Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin: Golden Glow Publishing, 1978.
• Le Strang, Jacques (ed.). The Great Lakes - St. Lawrence System. Boyne City, Michigan: Harbor House Publishers Seaway Review, 1985.
• J. Manno, et al. State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference Working Paper: Effects of Great Lakes Basin Environmental Contaminants On Human Health. Environment Canada and United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1994.
• Marine Advisory Service of the Michigan Sea Grant College Program. Lake Superior, Michigan, Huron, Erie, Ontario and Great Lakes Basin. Extension Bulletins E-1866 - 1871. Cooperative Extension Service, Michigan State University, East Lansing, Michigan, 1993.
• Neilson, M., et al. State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference Working Paper: Nutrients: Trends and System Response. Environment Canada and United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1994.
• Nriagu, J.A., and M.S. Simmons (eds). Toxic Contaminants in the Great Lakes. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1984.
• Phillips, D.W., and J.A.W. McCulloch. The Climate of the Great Lakes Basin. Toronto: Environment Canada, 1972.
• Royal Commission on the Future of the Toronto Waterfront. Regeneration: Toronto's Waterfront and the Sustainable City: Final Report. Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1992.
• Scott, S., R. Vezina and M. Webb. The St. Lawrence River: Its Economy and Environment. Toronto: The Centre For The Great Lakes Foundation, 1989.
• The Nature Conservancy. The Conservation of Biological Diversity in the Great Lakes Ecosystem: Issues and Opportunities. Chicago, Illinois, 1994.
• Treaty Between the United States of America and Great Britain Relating to Boundary Waters Between the United States and Canada. January 11, 1909.
• University of Michigan. Journal of Great Lakes Research. All volumes. Ann Arbor, Michigan.
• Wilson, E. O. The Diversity of Life. New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1992.
• World Commission on Environment and Development. Our Common Future. Oxford University Press, 1987.

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Sources for Maps and Production Credits (Print)

Relief, Drainage and Urban Areas

• Canada, map, 1/5,000,000. Ottawa: Surveys and Mapping Branch, EMR, 1983.
• Great Lakes Water Use, map, 1/1,584,000. Burlington: Inland Waters Directorate (Ontario Region), Environment Canada, 1980.
• International Map of the World, map series, 1/1,000,000, sheets NL-17, NL-18, NM-15, NM-16. Ottawa: Surveys and Mapping Branch, EMR, various dates. International Map of the World, map series, 1/1,000,000 sheets NK-16, NK-17, NK-18, NL-15, NL-16. Washington: USGS, Department of the Interior, various dates.
• Karta Mira, map series, 1/2,500,000, sheets 31, 32, 47, 48. Budapest: National Office of Lands and Mapping, various dates.
• United States, map, 1/2,500,000, east sheet. Washington: USGS, Department of the Interior, 1972.

Geology and Mineral Resources

• Douglas, R.J.W. Geology and Economic Minerals of Canada, Part B. Ottawa: Geological Survey of Canada, EMR, 1976.
• Geologic Map of North America, 1/1,000,000. Washington: USGS, Department of the Interior, 1965.
• Glacial Map of the United States West of the Rocky Mountains, 1/1,750,000. New York: Geological Society of America, 1959.
• Hough, J.L. Geology of the Great Lakes. Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1958.
• International Reference Group on Great Lakes Pollution from Land Use Activities, Inventory of Land Use and Land Use Practices in the United States Great Lakes Basin, Vol. 1. Windsor: IJC, 1976.
• National Atlas of Canada, 4th ed. Ottawa: Surveys and Mapping Branch, EMR, 1973.
• National Atlas of Canada, 5th ed. Ottawa: Surveys and Mapping Branch, EMR, 1978 and later.
• National Atlas of the United States. Washington: USGS, Department of the Interior, 1970 and later.
• Williams, H.R. Department of Geological Sciences, Brock University, St. Catharines, personal communication, 1986.

Climate Maps

• Climatic Atlas Climatique - Canada, Map Series 1 - Temperature and Degree Days. Toronto: AES, Environment Canada, 1984.
• Climatic Atlas of North and Central America, Vol. 1, Maps of Mean Temperature and Precipitation. Geneva: World Meteorological Organization, 1979.
• Eichenlaub, Val L. Weather and Climate of the Great Lakes Basin. Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1979.
• Mudrey, D. AES, Environment Canada, Ottawa, personal communication, 1986.
• Phillips, D.W., and J.A.W. McCulloch. The Climate of the Great Lakes Basin, Climatological Studies No. 20. Toronto: AES, Environment Canada, 1972.
• Saulesleja, A. (ed.). Great Lakes Climatological Atlas. Toronto: AES, Environment Canada, 1986.
• Shaw, A.B. Department of Geography, Brock University, St. Catharines, personal communication, 1986.

The Great Lakes Water System

• Great Lakes Diversion and Consumptive Uses. Windsor: IJC, 1985.
• NFB Canada Map, no scale. Montreal: National Film Board of Canada, 1984.

Historical Map

• Transparency courtesy of National Archives of Canada, Ottawa.

Land Use, Fisheries and Erosion

• Great Lakes Fishery Commission, 1991.
• NOAA - AVHRR Land Cover, Manitoba Centre For Remote Sensing, 1991.
• Stewart, Chris. Canadian Hydrographic Service, personal communication, 1992.
• Tilt, John. Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources, personal communication, 1992.

Waterborne Commerce

• Coastwise Shipping Statistics 1990. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 1992.
• International Seaborne Shipping Port Statistics 1990. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 1992.
• St. Lawrence Seaway Traffic Report for 1990. Navigation Season. Ottawa St. Lawrence Seaway Authority, 1992.
• Waterborne Commerce of the United States, Calendar Year 1990, Part 3 - Waterways and Harbors Great Lakes. Washington Corps of Engineers, Department of the Army, 1992.

Recreation and Sports

• Annual Meeting of the Great Lakes Fishery Commission. Appendix XXXII. Ann Arbor, 1986,
• Dean, W.G. (ed.). Economic Atlas of Ontario. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969.
• Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin road maps, various scales. Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1986.
• Miscellaneous tourist pamphlets and brochures for Ontario and the states within the Great Lakes basin.
• Ontario road map 1/800,000 and 1/1,600,000. Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Recreation and Tourism, 1993.
• Shore Use and Erosion Work Group, Great Lakes Basin Framework Study, Appendix R9, Recreational Boating. Ann Arbor: Great Lakes Basin Commission, 1975.
• The National Atlas of the United States. Washington: USGS, Department of the Interior, 1970 and later.

Employment and Industrial Structure

• 1990 Census of Population, Vol. 1, Characteristics of the Population, Chap. C, General Social and Economic Characteristics, Parts 15, 16, 24, 25, 34, 37, 40 and 51. Washington: Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1991.
• 1991 Census of Canada, Population, Economic Characteristics, Ontario. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 1992.
• 1991 Census of Canada. Reference Maps. Census Divisions and Subdivisions. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 1991.

Transportation and Energy Maps

• Generating Station December Installed Capacity. Toronto: Ontario Hydro, 1985. mimeo.
• Handy Railroad Atlas of the United States. Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1982.
• Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin road maps, various scales. Chicago: Rand McNally & Co., 1986.
• Inventory of Power Plants in the United States 1985. Washington: Energy Information Administration, U.S. Department of Energy, 1986.
• National Atlas of Canada, 5th ed. Ottawa: Surveys and Mapping Branch, EMR, 1978 and later.
• Ontario, road map, 1/800,000 and 1/1,600,000. Toronto: Ontario Ministry of Transportation and Communications, 1986.
• Sectional Aeronautical Charts, map series, 1/500,000, Chicago, Detroit, Green Bay and Lake Huron sheets. Washington: U.S. Department of Commerce, 1986.
• The Gifts of Nature. Toronto: Ontario Hydro, 1979.
• National Atlas of the United States. Washington: United States Geological Survey, Department of the Interior, 1970 and later.
• VIA Rail pamphlets.

Distribution of Population

• 1980 Census of Population, Vol. 1, Characteristics of the Population, Chap. C, General Social and Economic Characteristics, Parts 15, 16, 24, 25, 34, 37, 40 and 51. Washington: Bureau of the Census, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1983.
• 1981 Census of Canada, Population etc., Selected Characteristics, Ontario. Ottawa: Statistics Canada, 1982.

State of the Lakes

• An Atlas of Contaminants in Eggs of Fish-Eating Colonial Birds of the Great Lakes (1970-1988 and 1989-1992), Vol. I and Vol. II. Environment Canada, Canadian Wildlife Service.
• Government of Canada. Toxic Chemicals in the Great Lakes and Associated Effects: Vol. I and Vol. II. Ottawa: Supply and Services Canada, 1991.
• Neilson, M., et al. State of the Lakes Ecosystem Conference Working paper: Nutrients: Trends and System Response. Environment Canada and United States Environmental Protection Agency, 1994.

Ecoregions, Drainage Basins and Wetlands

• Ecodistricts of Southern Canada, draft maps, 1/2,000,000, no date.
• Ecoregions of the coterminous United States, maps, 1:7,500,000 by James Omernik, Corvallis Environmental Research Laboratories, U.S. EPA, 1986.
• International Reference Group on Great Lakes Pollution from Land Use Activities, Inventory of Land Use and Land Use Practices in the Canadian Great Lakes Basin, Vol. 1. Windsor: International Joint Commission, 1977.
• Rubec, C. Lands Directorate, Environment Canada, Ottawa, personal communication, 1986.
• Shore Use and Erosion Work Group, Great Lakes Basin Framework Study, Appendix 10, Power. Ann Arbor: Great Lakes Basin Commission, 1975.
• Wickware, G., Hunter and Associates, Mississauga, personal communication, 1987.

Production of Print Version

• Computerized mapping and map artwork by Geomatics International and Rawlings Communications, Burlington, Ontario (5 pages). All other maps by Brock University Cartography.
• Design, layout and artwork for text and front cover by Agensky and Company Limited, Toronto, Ontario.
• Copy editing by Leon Smith, Ajax, Ontario, and Robyn Packard, Thornhill, Ontario.

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