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Biodiversity "Biodiversity" means biological diversity. It describes the variety of all the genes, species and natural communities that exist within a particular place. Explore Our Natural World
A Biodiversity Atlas of the Lake Huron to Lake Erie Corridor
Ecosystems Gain Strength Through Partnerships
by Vanessa C. Kauffman
September/October 2001 Land & Water River ecosystems are complex and perform several natural functions important to living creatures, including people. They provide habitat for many species of fish, waterfowl and wildlife, move water through the landscape and serve as wildlife migration corridors. A river ecosystem includes not only the river itself, but also the land around the river—its watershed. The land surrounding rivers provides diverse habitats, including wetlands, grasslands and woodlands. These lands, or riparian areas link river ecosystems with upland ecosystems. Given the fluid nature of water, protecting aquatic biodiversity is no easy task. Managing any one resource affects the others in an ecosystem. Human activities upstream can affect a part of the ecosystem many miles downstream.Protecting a vibrant ecosystem like the St. Clair River is a major focus for the surrounding communities along the river. The waters of Lake Huron flow down the St. Clair River to the St. Clair Flats delta and into Lake St. Clair, connecting a vital shared resource between the United States and Canada. This 64 km connecting channel is an important international waterway, with heavy demands put on it as a shipping channel and as a source of water for power generation, municipal water supply, recreational uses--including boating and fishing--and industrial cooling and process water.
Over the years, the St. Clair River has become a heavily developed corridor, leading to habitat fragmentation and dramatically reducing the overall quality of the ecosystem. Less than five percent of all natural riparian areas still exist, in which wildlife is challenged to survive. Prairie habitat has seen the greatest impact, with less than one percent of pre-settlement habitat remaining in Ontario and southeast Michigan today. Fortunately, because of the importance of the area for waterfowl and fish populations, the St. Clair River increasingly has become a focus of international efforts to improve the existing habitats.
The St. Clair region historically was a landscape of great biodiversity. Along the shoreline of the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair, emergent marshes would slowly transition into wet prairie, prairie and into oak-savanna communities on the beach ridges of the glacial lakeplain. Further into the interior, oak-hickory forests dominated the till plain, while beech-maple forests covered features with more relief. In lower depressions left by the glaciers, wooded wetlands--dominated by ash--pockmarked the landscape. The mosaic of natural communities that comprise these ecosystems collectively makes up the natural heritage of the region. Cover photo above right: A monarch butterfly alights on a flower stem at DTE Energy's Belle River Plant in Detroit, Michigan. Photo by Joseph Crachiola
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