The role of tributaries and river plumes as nursery areas for yellow perch and round gobies in Lake Michigan
Grant: # 1152
Grant Amount: $384,972.00
Board Decision Year: 2010
Purdue University - Dept. of Forestry and Nat. Resources (West Lafayette)
Dept. of Forestry and Nat. Resources
Hook, Tomas ([email protected]) 765-496-6799
GLFT - Ecosystem Health and Sustainable Fish Populations-C - Ecological and biological fisheries research to inform management
Project Details
Year-to-year recruitment variability potentially leads to large changes in population abundances, adding difficulty to fisheries management. Heterogeneous habitats in Lake Michigan likely contribute to this variability, yet the influence of these habitats on recruitment is poorly understood. River plumes are locations with highly variable and diverse habitats for young fish in Lake Michigan, and therefore may play an important role in recruitment dynamics for important species such as yellow perch and round goby. A team led by researchers from Purdue University hypothesized that tributaries and river plumes are important environments for young yellow perch and round goby in Lake Michigan. These habitats likely provide favorable environments for larval fish growth because of their unique thermal, light, nutrient, and biological properties.
They found that the two most commonly sampled species, alewife and yellow perch, showed different densities based on habitat, with yellow perch existing at higher densities in nearshore Lake Michigan and alewife existing at higher densities in river mouths. Despite the greater concentration of zooplankton in Lake Michigan, the growth of larval alewife was greater in river mouths than in the lake, possibly because of the warmer temperatures. Additionally, the more turbid river water may allow larval fish to forage more effectively, with less fear of predation than in Lake Michigan. Isotope analysis showed differentiation between yellow perch and round goby captured in river mouths versus those captured in Lake Michigan, whereas the isotope signatures of alewife were similar regardless of the habitat where they were captured.
Documents
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Final Report
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View - Final_Report_Hook_GLFT_project.pdf |