The State of the Great Lakes 2022 report, jointly prepared by Environment and Climate Change Canada and the United States Environmental Protection Agency, is now available! The report provides a comprehensive update on how each of the five lakes is addressing current and emerging water quality and ecosystem challenges. Readers can flip through the highlights […]
Read More… from Fresh off the Press! The Latest State of the Great Lakes Report is Now Available
You never forget a great fireworks display. You might have been quite young, sitting on the shoulders of a loved one, looking up towards the stars, and then suddenly those stars were gone, replaced by bright lights and brilliant colours. As summer in the biosphere unfolds, plans are being made for summer celebrations. This may […]
Fishing topwater as the sun comes up. Casting toward a weed line, anticipating a big hit. Jigging in your favourite (top secret) fishing hole until there’s barely enough light left to see the tip of your rod. Just thinking about these kinds of moments makes anglers giddy with excitement, eager for the open water season. […]
Read More… from What You Need to Know About Fishing in the Biosphere
It is impossible to overstate the importance of phosphorus in the aquatic food web, as it forms the foundation of life in these waters. Everything from the tiniest phytoplankton all the way up to top predators like lake trout and loons rely on phosphorus. You may have heard the terms “nutrient-rich” and “nutrient-poor”. In the […]
Here at the Biosphere, we love hearing uplifting stories about sightings of species at risk! Lots of Biosphere residents see turtles on a regular basis during the summer months. There are six species of turtles found in the Georgian Bay Biosphere. Sadly, all six species are listed as “species at risk” by the Federal Species […]
Georgian Bay is well known for producing trophy-sized fish, but the smaller inhabitants of the waters are often overlooked. Zooplankton are small aquatic animals that make up part of what is referred to as the lower food web of Georgian Bay. This month we take a closer look at one zooplankton in particular, the spiny […]
Read More… from The Spiny Water Flea: The Tiny Zooplankton Creating Big Problems
With air temperatures on the rise, it won’t be long before maple sap isn’t the only thing running. Each spring, as the ice on our lakes and rivers goes out, a number of fish species begin their spawning runs. Many people in the region are familiar with the spawning runs of rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) […]
In 1919, improvements were made to the Welland Canal, a waterway that connects Lake Erie and Lake Ontario. The improvements widened the canal and allowed large ships to travel between the two; a feat that until then had been made impossible by Niagara Falls. With an effective connection between Lake Ontario and the rest of […]
Read More… from Learning from History: The Sea Lamprey Legacy of the Great Lakes
We are currently in a climate crisis. The world’s leading scientists have determined that greenhouse gases from human activity are causing the global climate to change and environmental changes are evident all the way to the local level. More on this at: https://www.stateofthebay.ca/the-ripple-effects-of-climate-change/ While the environmental issues caused by a changing climate are of great […]
Read More… from Climate Change: Impacts on our Economy and our Health
We all know what algae is. We see it every summer in our lakes and rivers, whether it be as floating mats, delicate strands, or something to slip on getting into the water. Algae may seem like a nuisance to some, but these microorganisms are vitally important. They are at the base of our food […]
Last summer the Parry Sound 33 (PS33) forest fire swept the northern coast of the biosphere region, starting at Henvey Inlet First Nation and spreading to surrounding areas. Reaching almost 12,000 hectares, it was a force that left people worried for not only their homes, but for the plants and animals that also inhabit those […]
Algae is a summer constant, and a constant source of worry for many cottagers. The presence of algae in the Georgian Bay area is often seen as a sign that something is wrong. Whether it be a faulty septic system, or phosphorus pollution, people worry that the algae they are seeing are the result of […]
When salt from our roads makes its way into the Bay or inland lakes, the salt dissolves into two separate ions – sodium and chloride. Chloride is a greater threat to aquatic ecosystem health. […]
With our cold Northern Ontario winters comes icy roads and consequently, road salt. Trucks travel up and down the highways spitting out these pellets of sodium and magnesium chloride hoping to melt some of the ice build-up. But what are the effects of this salty solution on our ecosystems? Are there any alternatives? […]
Georgian Bay is a nearly 15,000 square kilometers, making it almost the same size of Lake Ontario! Consequently, it is hard to study the Bay as one whole body of water. To understand water quality we use two regions of focus: the nearshore and the offshore. […]
Read More… from Nutrients Nearshore vs Offshore: What’s the Difference?
Monarch Butterfly. Eastern Foxsnakes. Massasauga Rattlesnakes. Whip-poor-will. Bald Eagle. Blanding’s Turtle. Little Brown Bat. Lake Sturgeon. What do all of these species have in common? Not only are they iconic species that we can find in our Biosphere, but all of these are also species at risk of extinction. Eastern Georgian Bay is home to […]
Georgian Bay is warming, our local food web is collapsing, and invasive species are on the rise. With each passing decade, we make the ecosystems upon which we depend more vulnerable. Isn’t it time we stopped putting so much carbon dioxide into our own atmosphere? The most powerful computers on earth show that warmer winters […]
Read More… from Climate Change in Georgian Bay – Part 2: Many Ways to Reduce Our Carbon Footprint
Since the Industrial Revolution, when we began burning coal and then oil, people have been changing the planet’s climate. According to NASA and the world’s scientists, burning fossil fuels and other human activities has increased the carbon dioxide (CO2) in the atmosphere from 280 parts per million to 400 parts per million in the last […]
When the United Nations launched the World Network of Biosphere Reserves in 1970, one of its main goals was to conserve landscapes, ecosystems, individual species and genetic variation. Core protected areas within a biosphere reserve, such as national and provincial parks, provide the physical space—or ecosystems—species need to thrive. In eastern Georgian Bay, we have […]
Read More… from A Connected Landscape is Necessary for Healthy Ecosystems
One of the best ways to study the state of Georgian Bay is to look at the fish community, and specifically whether each species of fish is naturally reproducing – or if the population is declining. Fish are a useful indicator of aquatic ecosystem health because they reflect changes in nutrients, prey availability, water quality […]
Many of us love hearing the call of a loon or seeing a majestic bald eagle. These species are the top of the food chain, relying on a healthy diet of fish. But what feeds the fish that they eat? Scientists are researching what they call “the lower food web” in Georgian Bay, and we […]
The home of the great blue heron, feeding grounds for rattlesnakes and fox snakes, and breeding habitats for numerous amphibians are all being threatened. These are the coastal wetlands of Georgian Bay and they are essential to a healthy environment. Unfortunately, wetlands across the world are at risk from shoreline modifications invasive species and from […]
Think about what makes life possible under water. Phosphorus is the “food” that microscopic plants and animals need to survive. As the foundation of our food web in Georgian Bay, phosphorus is an important nutrient for us to measure when we study the health of our ecosystem. You can imagine that there wouldn’t be many […]
Read More… from Phosphorus Levels in Georgian Bay are Going Down
Do you ever wonder about the state of Georgian Bay? How is the water and habitat for wildlife and fish? How is climate change affecting the Parry Sound area? In 2008, conservation groups asked the same questions and launched a research program that led to the first “State of the Bay” report in 2013 to […]
Read More… from Biosphere Releases State of the Bay Ecosystem Health Report 2018
