Abstract
Great Lakes wetlands can be studied systematically and for their importance in the landscape at different scales. A systems-oriented study of the wetlands of southwestern Lake Erie along Ohio's shoreline has been organized at two levels of hierarchy. At the ecosystem level, a specific wetland model was developed from data collected on hydrology, nutrient budgets, and aquatic metabolism. The model, calibrated from the field data, was used to predict phosphorus retention rates and to compare them with results from empirical models and field studies. At the landscape scale, synoptic surveys of diked (hydrologically isolated with impoundments) and undiked (natural hydrology) wetlands for hydroperiods, water quality, sediment chemistry, and vegetation biomass and species illustrated several differences between these two types of wetlands. Combining data collected from these surveys with data collected from remote platforms will lead to the development of spatial dynamic models for the shoreline to deal with landscape-level questions on the management of these shoreline wetlands.