Changes in aquatic vegetation and fish communities following 5 years of sustained low water levels in coastal marshes of eastern Georgian Bay, Lake Huron

Abstract Aquatic vegetation in the relatively pristine coastal wetlands of eastern G eorgian B ay provides critical habitat for a diverse fish community. Declining water levels in L ake H uron over the past decade, however, have altered the wetland plant assemblages in favour of terrestrial (emergent and meadow) taxa and have thus reduced or eliminated this important ecosystem service. In this study, we compared IKONOS satellite images for two …