As a result, employment in the City of Detroit declined whereas it increased in the surrounding

suburbs. This decentralization was facilitated by the construction of federally-subsidized interstate freeways, including Interstate 94 along the shoreline of LSC, which improved access and reduced travel time (Edsall et al., 1988 and Surgue, U0126 cell line 2005). Construction of housing units continued in each county, with the real median home value higher in Macomb and Oakland Counties compared to the rest of the counties in the region (Fig. 4). However, the population in Wayne County during the period from 1960 to 1970 continued to increase (Fig. 3). Following one theory of urban dynamics, a possible explanation for this population increase is that as housing aged,

the rental costs declined http://www.selleckchem.com/products/dinaciclib-sch727965.html and people had a preference to reside in more crowded locations (Forrester, 1969). After 1970 (third period), the population, number of households and employment in Wayne County continually decreased, whereas these parameters increased in the other five counties (Lapeer, Sanilac, Oakland, Macomb, and St. Clair) although at a slower pace compared to the other two periods. Since 2000 there are some signs of stabilization in human dynamics (e.g. population, income, households) in the five counties probably due to the recent financial crisis (Fig. 3). Although population growth rates for each county slowed since the ID-8 1970s, an increasing trend in land development continued as a result of increased residential lot sizes (SEMCOG, 2003) (Fig. 3 and Fig. 4). From 1970 to 1980, the average real personal income per capita for the combined five counties in the LSC watershed was slightly lower compared to Wayne County but then diverged starting in 1981 when Wayne County levels became lower than the other counties and stayed lower until now (Fig. 3). This means that the human population with higher income per capita likely shifted from Wayne County (outside of LSC watershed) to the counties within the watershed, and these changes in the land use characteristics were likely to influence the lake. Between 1990 and 2000, the amount

of land used for homes increased by 19% while the number of homes grew by only 9% (Rogers, 2003). If these trends continue, urban pressures on LSC from its western catchment can only be expected to intensify. Therefore, human dynamics surrounding the lake provide a critical linkage in the CHANS framework because human activities in the watershed will inevitably influence point and nonpoint source pollutants, recreational activities and the spread of invasive species to LSC (Mavrommati et al., in press). Responding to the rapid industrialization and population growth, water and wastewater infrastructure was gradually built primarily to protect human health (e.g., drinking water) and secondarily to improve the ecological condition of the receiving waters (Fig. 5).