Spatial and Seasonal Variability in Crane Creek, a Diked Freshwater Estuary Complex Tributary to Western Lake Erie

Abstract

This study examined ecological variation in a diked wetland complex located at the mouth of Crane Creek, a tributary to Lake Erie located in northwest Ohio, USA. The study examined nine locales: five diked wetland pools (four of which were completely isolated from the estuary and one of which was connected to the estuary by a water control structure) and four reaches of the Crane Creek channel estuary from roughly 6 km upstream of the lake down to where the channel meets Lake Erie. In late summer and late fall of 2011 water quality data (TDS, specific conductance, turbidity, chlorophyll concentration, and blue-green algae concentration) and invertebrate community composition samples were collected. Data was analyzed to compare similarities and differences among the nine study sites. I found that the diked wetland pool sites had a high amount of variability but that they were generally more similar to one another in all parameters than they were to the creek reaches (with the exception of the reach located farthest upstream). I found that the three creek reaches closest to the lake were all very similar to one another, while the most upstream reach was more similar to some of the diked wetland sites. The diked wetland unit that has been connected to the estuary by a water control structure had the greatest number of invertebrate taxa and had some water quality parameters that were similar to the creek (e.g. phytoplankton density) and others that were dissimilar to the creek (e.g. specific conductance, TDS). This hydrologically connected unit was also the only diked pool in which Dreissenid mussels were found.