¹Great Lakes Laboratory of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, P.O. Box 5050, 867 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, ON L7R 4A6 Canada
²Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, 25 Willcocks St., Toronto, ON M5S 3B2 Canada


*Corresponding author: ken@minns.ca

Abstract

   Project Quinte can best be described as a long-term ecosystem study of the Bay of Quinte, Lake Ontario. Starting in 1972, Project Quinte was initially established to study the whole ecosystem effects of controlling phosphorus loadings in a eutrophic ecosystem. Since then, the Bay of Quinte ecosystem has experienced reduced nutrient loads, climatic events that changed the dominance of fish species, multiple invasions by non-native species, a resurgence of macrophytes, and increasing annual temperatures. Through this, the Bay of Quinte has gone from a study site to a Great Lakes Area of Concern to now the prospect of being delisted. The data that Project Quinte has assembled since its inception represents a unique opportunity to examine how ecosystems function, and the papers presented in this special issue provide evidence of the scientific and management benefits of careful long-term monitoring of ecosystem structures and processes.