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Kara Webster

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IntroductionThe Turkey Lakes Watershed (TLW) study (https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/turkey-lakes-watershed-study.html) was established in 1979 and is one of the longest running watershed-based ecosystem studies in Canada (Foster, Beall & Kreutzweiser, 2005; Jeffries, Kelso & Morrison, 1988; Morrison, Cameron, Foster & Groot, 1999). The watershed drains 10.5 km2 of Eastern Temperate Mixed Forest (Baldwin et al., 2018) or Great Lakes – St. Lawrence forest region (Rowe, 1972) within the Boreal Shield Ecozone (Wiken, 1986), and is located approximately 60 km north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario (47°03’N, 84°25’W) (Figure 1). Researchers from several federal government departments (Natural Resources Canada (NRCAN), Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC) and Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) established this research watershed to evaluate the impacts of acid rain on terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems (e.g., Foster, Hazlett, Nicolson & Morrison, 1989; Hazlett, Curry & Weldon, 2011; Jeffries, Semkin, Beall & Franklyn, 2002; Kelso 1988). Since its inception, many studies have taken a multi-disciplinary, whole-ecosystem approach to investigate the processes governing terrestrial and aquatic responses to natural and anthropogenic disturbances. This holistic approach has allowed research to expand from its original acidification focus to address a range of other ongoing and emerging environmental issues (e.g. habitat alteration, organic contaminants, forest management, climate change) and to involve numerous academic, government and industrial collaborators.