Detroit River-Western Lake Erie Basin Indicator Project
This page lists recently updated key indicator reports for the Detroit River-Western Lake Erie Basin Indicator Project. The indicators on this page are grouped into categories that illustrate causal relationships. Older key indicator reports can be found HERE.
Pressure Indicators
Pressure indicators describe direct and indirect pressures, including human activities, that impact the environment. They are driving forces of environmental change such as increased resource use, transportation patterns, pollutant emissions, sprawl, population growth, or the rate at which contaminants and invasive species are being introduced. Pressure indicators measure the factors that cause changes in the ecosystem.
Click on the links below to learn more about individual state indicators.
- Air Pollution and Environmental Justice in Southwest Detroit, Michigan (updated 2020)
- Detroit River Phosphorus Loads to Lake Erie (updated 2019)
- Human Population Growth and Distribution in Southeast Michigan (updated 2019)
- Human Population Growth and Distribution in the Windsor Census Metropolitan Area (updated 2019)
- Land Use Changes in Southeast Michigan (updated 2019)
- Oil Pollution of the Detroit and Rouge Rivers (updated 2020)
- Phosphorus Loads and Concentrations from the Maumee River (updated 2019)
- Trends in Sediment Contaminant Concentrations in the Huron-Erie Corridor (updated 2019)
- Transportation in Southeast Michigan (updated 2019)
- Treaty Responsibilities (updated 2020)
- Wayne County’s Carbon Emissions (updated 2019)
State Indicators
State indicators describe the physical, chemical, and biological conditions of the natural world, and human health and welfare. Through monitoring of state indicators we can measure how ecosystem conditions change. State indicators may be levels of air or water quality, contaminants in fish, wildlife population levels, or diseases in animals or humans. State indicators also give a measure of current ecosystem status to use as a reference when assessing the impact of future activities. State indicators measure impacts of pressure indicators.
Click on the links below to learn more about individual state indicators.
- Atmospheric Temperature Changes in the Western Lake Erie Climate Division (updated 2019)
- Bald Eagle Reproductive Success (updated 2017)
- Benthic Macroinvertebrates in the Rouge River Watershed (updated 2020)
- Chironomid Abundance and Deformities (updated 2020)
- Common Tern Breeding Colonies in Southeast Michigan (updated 2020)
- Conservation of Black Terns – A Michigan Species of Special Concern (updated 2020)
- Conservation of Common Five-Lined Skink in Point Pelee National Park (updated 2019)
- Contaminants in Colonial Waterbird Eggs (updated 2019)
- Changes in Ice Cover in Lake Erie (updated 2019)
- Detroit River Coastal Wetlands (updated 2019)
- Dissolved Oxygen Levels in the Rouge River (updated 2019)
- Fall Raptor Migration at Holiday Beach Conservation Area, Amherstburg, Ontario (updated 2020)
- Fall Raptor Migration Trends at the Detroit River Hawk Watch (updated 2020)
- Harmful Algal Blooms in Western Lake Erie (updated 2019)
- Hexagenia Density and Distribution in the Detroit River (updated 2020)
- Invasive Species (updated 2019)
- Lake Level Changes in Lake Erie (updated 2019)
- Lake Sturgeon Population (updated 2019)
- Lake Whitefish Spawning (updated 2018)
- Lead Poisoning in Detroit, Michigan (updated 2019)
- Management of Common Reed at Erie Marsh Preserve (updated 2019)
- Mercury in Lake St. Clair Walleye (updated 2019)
- Oligochaete Densities and Distribution (updated 2020)
- Osprey Nesting Success in Southeast Michigan (updated 2019)
- Peregrine Falcon Reproduction in S.E. Michigan (updated 2017)
- Plankton Communities in Western Lake Erie (updated 2019)
- Precipitation Changes in the Western Lake Erie Climate Division (updated 2019)
- Projected Bird Impacts of Climate Change (updated 2019)
- Walleye Population of Lake Erie (updated 2019)
- West Nile Virus (updated 2019)
Response Indicators
Response indicators describe societal actions in policy or behavior undertaken to improve and protect the ecosystem. These actions can originate from groups, individuals, corporations, or government policies that ultimately improve ecosystem conditions. Response indicators may be pollution regulations and control measures, habitat rehabilitation and restoration, use of clean technologies, and other activities that improve the health of the ecosystem. Others specifically reverse the negative driving forces of pressure indicators like resource use, transportation, pollution, land use, or population.
Click on the links below to learn more about individual response indicators.
- Canadian Habitat Restoration in the Detroit River (updated 2020)
- Canadian Laws and Policies to Address Algal Blooms (updated 2020)
- Climate Change Adaptation in Windsor, Ontario (updated 2019)
- Combined Sewer Overflow Controls in Southeast Michigan (updated 2018)
- Connecting United States and Canadian Greenways (updated 2020)
- Contaminated Sediment Remediation in the Canadian Portion of the Detroit River (updated 2020)
- Contaminated Sediment Remediation in the River Raisin Area of Concern (updated 2019)
- Contaminated Sediment Remediation in the U.S. Portion of the Detroit River (updated 2020)
- Detroit’s Leadership in Establishing Municipal Greenhouse Gas Reduction Targets (updated 2019)
- Detroit River‐Western Lake Erie Cooperative Weed Management Area (updated 2019)
- Green Infrastructure in Southeast Michigan (updated 2019)
- Greenway Trials in Windsor, Ontario (updated 2020)
- The Legacy of Bicycles in Detroit, Michigan: A Look at Greenways Through Time (updated 2019)
- The Need for a Multinational Climate Change Adaptation Plan (updated 2020)
- Phosphorus Discharges from Great Lakes Water Authority’s Water Resource Recovery Facility (updated 2018)
- Growth of the the Detroit River International Wildlife Refuge (updated 2018)
- Soft Shoreline Along the Canadian Side of the Detroit River (updated 2019)
- Soft Shoreline Engineering Along the Detroit River (updated 2018)
- Transboundary Conservation in the Detroit River-Western Lake Erie Region (updated 2020)
- U.S. Habitat Restoration Under the Detroit River Remedial Action Plan (updated 2020)