Modeling Hydroecology Relations for Assessing Impacts of Water Regulation Plans on the Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River System

Please read the final report on this project.

This project developed a model of the effects of water level changes on priority environmental resources identified in the International Joint Commission (IJC) Environmental Technical Working Group's Lake Ontario St. Lawrence River Study.

The model was built with a set of established and commonly used impact assessment tools: checklists, classifications, matrices, and suitability or performance relations. A checklist is used to identify priority resources for assessment. Classification is used to organize habitats into defined units. A matrix is used to identify the necessary relations for impact-sensitive combinations of environmental resources and habitat classes. Aside from these standard impact assessment tools, it introduces archetype species and habitats -- species or habitat that exhibit essential features, typical characteristics, and distinguishing properties. Archetypes are a means of simplifying the continuous range of variation seen in the living and abiotic environment.

Principal Investigator & First Contact:
Mark Bain
Department of Natural Resources
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Email: Mark.Bain@cornell.edu
Phone: (607) 255-4750

Project Leader:
Kathy E. Mills
Department of Natural Resources
Cornell University
Ithaca, NY 14853
Email: kem21@cornell.edu
Phone: (607) 255-2042

Sponsor:
International Joint Commission (USA/Canada)
Environmental Working Group of the Lake Ontario - St. Lawrence River Study