GL_St_Marys_River_2021 ESI: Invertebrate Sensitivity Lines

Vector lines represent sensitive biological resource data for invertebrates, specifically freshwater mussels, in the St. Marys River. The data characterize the marine and coastal environments and wildlife by their sensitivity to spilled oil. This data set is a portion of the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) data for the Great Lakes St. Marys River System, produced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

Use Cases

• Modeling oil spill impacts on freshwater mussel populations based on species-specific abundance and seasonality data.
• Prioritizing coastal protection efforts based on mapped invertebrate sensitivity lines.
• Integrating biological sensitivity data with shoreline habitat and human-use resources for comprehensive environmental planning.

Strengths

• Data is part of a standardized Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) framework for oil spill response.
• Includes associated tables with species-specific attributes like abundance, seasonality, and life history.
• Spatial coverage is defined as the St. Marys River from near Lake Superior to the headwaters of Lake Huron.

Limitations

• Column-level documentation is absent; field semantics must be inferred after download.
• Row count is unknown, which may limit suitability assessment.
• Data may reflect geographic bias inherent to the specific study area.

Provenance

Source

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Department of Commerce

Collection Method

Likely collected and compiled as part of the Environmental Sensitivity Index (ESI) mapping program for oil spill response planning.

Time Range

2021

Freshness

Last updated 2026-03-13 22:27:51.021240; freshness should be verified.

Geography

St. Marys River at the southern portion of Lake Superior beginning just east of Monocle Lake and south of Iroquois Island ending to the headwaters of Lake Huron.