2). Between 1973 and 2002, the percentage of ice cover has decreased by 0.5% yr− 1 (p < 0.05) in January and by 0.8% yr− 1 (p < 0.05) in February. These changes in climate are likely to impact human well-being and their activities that take place in the watershed and shoreline as well as affecting the ecology of the lake, and thus climate change is a significant factor that directly and indirectly influences both the human and natural systems. Three main periods (1900–1940, 1941–1970, 1971–current) were observed in the socioeconomic system based on two main criteria.

The first is based on the comparison of the average population and household growth rates between Wayne County and LSC counties that drove the land use changes and economic development. The second criterion concerns mTOR inhibitor the existence of wastewater infrastructure and the level of sewage treatment. Prior to European settlement, the LSC watershed was occupied by a combination of beech–sugar maple forest, mixed hardwood swamp, oak savanna, and oak barrens (Comer et al., 1995). It is likely that some of these

land cover types were present in 1900, when Detroit was a small settlement situated at the southernmost boundary of the LSC DNA Synthesis inhibitor watershed (Fig. 3 top, black area). From 1905 to the peak of Detroit’s human population around 1968, developed land in and around the city expanded primarily Mannose-binding protein-associated serine protease to the north and west by more than 800% from 190 to 1766 km2. The area expanded again by three times between 1968 and 2001 to 5500 km2. Developed land includes areas that have been converted for the purposes of housing, transportation, industry and commerce and tend to have high percentages of impervious surfaces (20–100%), in addition to patches of vegetation such as lawns, golf courses, and city parks. Dramatic increases in urban and industrial land use were driven

by a burgeoning population attracted to Detroit for employment (Fig. 3, bottom). During the first period (1900–1940), Detroit was transitioning to an industrial center and the population growth rate was highest in Wayne County in the early half of the 20th century (Fig. 3), corresponding to the rise of the automobile industry (United States Environmental Protection Agency, access date 20 June 2012, http://www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_site/indicators/landuse.html). The auto industry drew people to the city and also led to a transportation revolution where almost a million motor vehicles were registered to Michigan drivers by 1925 (US Department of Commerce, 1926). At the same time housing was built for those employed in the expanding industry. The Great Depression of 1929 reduced the growth rate of population (from 60% in 1930 to 6% in 1940) and the real median value of houses (Fig. 3 and Fig. 4). During the second period (1941–1970), industries and accompanying services (e.g.