DNR - Aquatic Threats

THREATS	EXAMPLES
Habitat Conversion
Wetland modifications	Draining wetlands, filling wetlands
Riparian modifications	Marinas, seawalls, shoreline development, shoreline structures, vegetation clearing, habitat simplification, forest clearing, and other modifications along rivers, streams or lakes
Dredging and channelization	Channelization, dredging, habitat simplification, navigation/shipping
Dams	Hydroelectric dams, impoundments, beaver dams
Incompatible natural resource management	Beaver management, trout management, management to convert habitat
Consumptive Biological Resource Use
Mining practices	Inorganic (e.g., ore), organic (e.g., peat moss harvesting)
Forestry practices	Removal of trees from forests and associated activities that have a direct influence on wildlife and landscape features, regardless of how well or poorly the practices are implemented (e.g., road construction, soil compaction, sedimentation, loss of interior forest habitat)
Removal of wildlife	Legal harvest, illegal harvest, incidental harvest
Non-Consumptive Biological Resource Use
Macrophyte removal	De-vegetation of shoreline
Non-consumptive recreation	All-terrain vehicles, snowmobiles, biking, jet skis
Pollution
Altered sediment loads	Siltation, stream bank erosion, riparian erosion, bed sediment-load changes, turbidity
Altered nutrient inflows	Increases in nutrient inputs, changes in organic matter inputs, municipal pollution/waste, dissolved oxygen changes, fertilizers, changes in organic matter inputs
Pesticides and herbicides	Agricultural, golf course, molluscicides/lampricides
Urban, municipal and industrial	Urban runoff (e.g., oil, chloride), municipal pollution, industrial pollution (chemical), acid rain, oil and gas drilling/mining, gas stations
Thermal changes	Surface runoff (urban, agricultural, golf courses), industrial pollution (thermal), water temperature increases (due to riparian vegetation removal, channelization)
Biological Interactions
Invasive plants and animals	Invasive fish, invasive zooplankton, invasive molluscs, invasive plants, other invasive animals; includes native and exotic species
Disease, pathogens and parasites	Largemouth bass virus, bacterial kidney disease, priscirickettsia, and yellow grub (fish); water mites & trematodes (mussels); and other diseases, pathogens and parasites
Other biological interactions	Fish predators, hybridization, lack of predators, loss of key predators
Modification of Natural Processes
Climate change	Natural processes, human-influenced changes
Altered hydrologic regimes	Water temperature changes, changes in flow regimes, surface runoff, interbasin water transfer, water withdrawal/dewatering
Fragmentation	Dams, water temperature changes, highway projects, construction, bridge and pipeline crossings
Education
Lack of scientific knowledge	Lack of management or inappropriate management due to lack of knowledge
Social attitudes	Persecution, ignorance, apathy
Unknown
Unknown	Unknown threats to landscape feature or species

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