Fish species richness is a key predictor of community biomass and productivity in littoral regions of Severn Sound,an embayment of southern Georgian Bay,Lake Huron |
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| Affiliation: | 1. Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of Toronto, ON M5S 3G5, Canada;2. Great Lakes Laboratory for Fisheries and Aquatic Science, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, P.O. Box 5050, 867 Lakeshore Road, Burlington, ON L7R 4A6, Canada;1. NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, Ann Arbor, MI, USA;2. Environment and Climate Change Canada, Water Science and Technology Branch, Burlington, Ontario L7S 1A1, Canada;3. LimnoTech, Inc., Ann Arbor, MI, USA;1. Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, USA;2. New York State Department of Environmental Conservation, Bureau of Fisheries, Albany, NY, USA;3. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Lower Great Lakes Fish and Wildlife Conservation Office, 1101 Casey Road, Basom, NY 14013, USA;4. U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Oswego, NY, USA;1. Department of Environmental Science and Ecology, SUNY Brockport, 350 New Campus Drive, Brockport, NY 14420, United States;2. Department of Biological Sciences, University of Buffalo, 109 Cooke Hall, Buffalo, NY, 14260, United States;3. U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Lake Ontario Biological Station, 17 Lake Street, Oswego, NY 13126, United States;4. U.S. Geological Survey, Columbia Environmental Research Center, 4200 East Haven Road, Columbia, MO, 65201, United States;1. Michigan Department of Natural Resources, Lake Huron Fisheries Research Station, 160 East Fletcher Street, Alpena, MI 49707, USA;2. Michigan State University, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Quantitative Fisheries Center, 375 Wilson Road, 101 UPLA Building, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA |
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| Abstract: | Catches from standardized littoral electrofishing (EF) surveys (1990–2016) at various locales in Severn Sound, Georgian Bay, were analyzed. Catches were adjusted for size-selectivity using published results of laboratory immobilization experiments. Adjusted abundance-mean size relationships were consistent with the metabolic theory of ecology where body size has a central role in structuring community features. Relationships among species richness and areal estimates of biomass and annual production of the adjusted catches were assessed. Richness was the key variable driving other community metrics and was, in turn, largely driven by habitat fetch metrics and sampling time of day. Richness, biomass, and production decreased with increasing maximum effective fetch. Richness increased with time after sunset. Year and locale had smaller roles in variation of community metrics with more vegetated/ less urbanized areas having higher values. Higher fish production is expected in sheltered areas where the contributions of allochthonous and benthic primary production are expected to be greater. Further analyses using additional EF datasets from Great Lakes’ littoral zones should increase understanding of the differences between littoral and offshore fish productivity and help guide management of littoral habitats to ensure healthy fish communities. |
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| Keywords: | Freshwater Fish Littoral Great Lakes Electrofishing Species richness Size-selectivity Biomass Production |
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