9632853 Magnuson Lakes are central to the vitality of landscapes and society. As collectors of water, energy, solutes, and pollutants from the landscape and atmosphere, as habitats for aquatic biota, and as attractors of human activities, lakes affect and are affected by natural and human-induced changes in the local and regional landscape and atmosphere. The North Temperate Lakes Long-term Ecological Research program seeks to understand the long-term ecology of lakes and their interactions with a range of relevant landscape, atmospheric, and human processes. This program has the following interrelated goals: * Perceive long-term changes in the physical, chemical, and biological properties of lake ecosystems, * Understand interactions among physical, chemical, an biological processes within lakes and their influence on lake characteristics and long-term dynamics, * Develop a regional understanding of lake ecosystems through an analysis of the patterns and processes organizing lake districts, * Develop a regional understanding of lake ecosystems through integration of atmospheric, hydrologic, and biotic processes, and * Understand the way human, hydrologic, and biogeochemical processes interact within the terrestrial landscape to affect lakes and the way lakes, in turn, influence these interactions. Research will examine patterns, processes, and interactions of lakes and their surroundings at a nested set of spatial and temporal scales. This comprehensive long-term research program will yield important understanding of landscape-lake-human interactions that will have direct relevance to development of policies affecting the future of the Upper Great Lakes Region and enhancement of the quality of life for its residents.
