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Coastal Wetlands of Manitoba’s Great Lakes (Canada)

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Abstract

The province of Manitoba, Canada, contains three of the world’s largest freshwater lakes; Lakes Winnipeg, Winnipegosis and Manitoba. A significant feature of these lakes are their extensive coastal wetlands. A GIS-inventory found the Manitoba Great Lakes have six times more wetlands per km of shoreline than the Laurentian Great Lakes. Lake Winnipeg has a coastal wetland area of 1,404 km2, Lake Manitoba has 564 km2, and Lake Winnipegosis has 742km2. Netley-Libau Marsh (222 km2) on Lake Winnipeg, and Delta Marsh (185 km2) on Lake Manitoba, are believed to be the largest freshwater coastal wetlands in North America. These wetlands provide many benefits to their adjoining lakes, and provide important wildlife and fisheries habitat. However, lake-level regulation, nonpoint source nutrient pollution and invasive species are significant threats to these coastal wetlands and the ecosystem benefits they provide.

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Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute for Wetland and Waterfowl Research, Ducks Unlimited Canada, Stonewall, Manitoba, R0C 2Z0, Canada

    Dale Wrubleski & Pascal Badiou

  2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3T 2 N2, Canada

    Gordon Goldsborough

Authors
  1. Dale Wrubleski
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  2. Pascal Badiou
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  3. Gordon Goldsborough
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Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Dale Wrubleski , Pascal Badiou or Gordon Goldsborough .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Dept. of Ecology and Biodiversity, Charles Sturt University Inst. for Land, Water and Society, Albury, New South Wales, Australia

    C. Max Finlayson

  2. Dept. of Natural Resources, Wildlife Resources, Kentville, Nova Scotia, Canada

    G. Randy Milton

  3. Nature Management Services, Petaling Jaya, Malaysia

    R. Crawford Prentice

  4. Charles Sturt University, Albury, New South Wales, Australia

    Nick C. Davidson

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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

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Wrubleski, D., Badiou, P., Goldsborough, G. (2016). Coastal Wetlands of Manitoba’s Great Lakes (Canada). In: Finlayson, C., Milton, G., Prentice, R., Davidson, N. (eds) The Wetland Book. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6173-5_190-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-6173-5_190-1

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-007-6173-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference Biomedicine and Life SciencesReference Module Biomedical and Life Sciences

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