Influence of river plumes on the distribution and composition of nearshore Lake Michigan fishes

River plumes form in coastal areas where tributaries mix with their receiving waters. Plume waters are enriched with terrestrial-derived nutrients from their watersheds creating hotspots of biological productivity. The biological importance of plumes scales with the size and persistence of the plume; therefore, large, persistent plumes are more important than small, transient plumes. To date, most studies of plumes have focused on assimilation of terrestrial-derived energy by aquatic species or lower-level food web effects, primarily in marine systems. Few studies have described fish communities near plume habitats and compared them to non-plume areas, especially for the numerous small plumes in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Here we demonstrate that small plumes in the main basin of Lake Michigan enhance local primary productivity and influence distribution and abundance of nearshore Great Lakes fishes. We found that plume fish communities were relatively depauperate and did not support higher biological diversity of fishes compared to non-plume areas. However, individual species including rainbow smelt Osmerus mordax, spottail shiner Notropis hudsonius, and white sucker Catostomus commersonii were more abundant around plumes. Our results demonstrate that small plumes in the main basin of Lake Michigan support highly localized hotspots of biological productivity and fish abundance, primarily within 2?km of river mouths.