Predation by Alewives on Lake Trout Fry in Lake Ontario: Role of an Exotic Species in Preventing Restoration of a Native Species

1995 ◽  
Vol 21 ◽  
pp. 458-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles C. Krueger ◽  
David L. Perkins ◽  
Edward L. Mills ◽  
J. Ellen Marsden
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Silviya V. Ivanova ◽  
Timothy B Johnson ◽  
Aaron T Fisk

Abstract Migrations are a key component of the life-histories of many highly mobile animals. The study of potamodromous migrations occurring within large lakes have lagged and are poorly understood for most species. This is an issue for restoration efforts and adaptive management, as understanding the movement of species, and underlying patterns and mechanisms are essential for identifying key habitat and quantifying the species role in the ecosystem. Using acoustic telemetry, this study quantified the spatio-temporal movements and migratory patterns of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush), an iteroparous, potamodromous predator in Lake Ontario, the 13th largest lake by volume in the world that is highly managed and supports a diverse fish community of native and non-native species. Over 2.5 years (December 2016 to April 2019), the movements of 41 lake trout were quantified across a large array of 196 acoustic receivers in Lake Ontario. Individual analysis revealed annual convergence in the fall at a location other than the spawning grounds, followed by synchronized migrations to spawning sites. Consistent with divergent migrations, out-migration was asynchronous, stretching over a longer period of time than pre-spawning movements and across multiple routes. At least two groups of individuals with distinct migratory behaviors, i.e. contingents, were identified in the population. These results illustrate the presence of contingents and provide key information on migratory patterns, convergence points and routes in a potamodromous top predator population in a large lake. Thus, we provide evidence that contingents with different behavior used different habitats across seasons. As such, this study informs management on the potential success and implications of employing different rehabilitation strategies, such as diversifying a species’ population through selective strain stocking in large deep lakes to aid reestablishment across habitats. This knowledge would improve modelling of community dynamics, understanding of nutrient cycling, and overall ecosystem function of large lakes.


1974 ◽  
Vol 31 (5) ◽  
pp. 827-854 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Christie

This paper is an interpretive review of the "case histories" which documented the changes in each of the Laurentian Great Lakes for the 1971 symposium on Salmonid Communities in Oligotrophic Lakes (SCOL). It suggests that lakes Huron, Michigan, and Superior passed through a parallel series of stock changes after the invasions of those lakes by the sea lamprey. First, the lake trout and burbot stocks collapsed, and then with the relaxation of predation pressure rainbow smelt, deepwater cisco, and alewife stocks increased. Lake herring stocks collapsed in apparent response to the smelt increase. Whitefish were affected by sea lamprey but recovery after the control of the lamprey in lakes Michigan and Superior suggested that the exotic species had little influence. Lake Ontario differed from the other lakes in that it was inhabited by both sea lamprey and alewife before the turn of the century, and provided the reservoir from which these species expanded to colonize the upper lakes. Alewife apparently equilibrated early, but the evidence was that more recent perturbations allowed the sea lamprey to become a significant factor in the loss of the piscivores of Lake Ontario. Subsequent proliferation of ciscoes and smelt, and collapse of the herring, followed a sequence similar to that of the upper lakes. Lake Erie seemed to be similarly affected by loss of predator stocks, but its predominantly eutrophic character made the situation more complex. Overfishing was indicted in many early stock collapses, in the early invasion of the smelt in lakes Huron and Michigan and in the recent cisco declines of lakes Ontario and Huron. Eutrophication and more direct pollution stresses had mainly inshore impacts, but the similarity in the species sequencing in the oligotrophic Great Lakes suggested that although these factors may have supplemented the other effects, their influence before about 1950 was less than that of overfishing and the invasion of exotic species. Control of sea lamprey, overfishing, and eutrophication seemed attainable in the Great Lakes, but the only defense against further invasions by pest species appeared to be maintenance of sufficiently dense piscivore stocks to assure their suppression. Determining the levels of harvest appropriate to this provision will require intensified research.


2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-9
Author(s):  
Robert M. Anderson ◽  
Amy M. Lambert

The island marble butterfly (Euchloe ausonides insulanus), thought to be extinct throughout the 20th century until re-discovered on a single remote island in Puget Sound in 1998, has become the focus of a concerted protection effort to prevent its extinction. However, efforts to “restore” island marble habitat conflict with efforts to “restore” the prairie ecosystem where it lives, because of the butterfly’s use of a non-native “weedy” host plant. Through a case study of the island marble project, we examine the practice of ecological restoration as the enactment of particular norms that define which species are understood to belong in the place being restored. We contextualize this case study within ongoing debates over the value of “native” species, indicative of deep-seated uncertainties and anxieties about the role of human intervention to alter or manage landscapes and ecosystems, in the time commonly described as the “Anthropocene.” We interpret the question of “what plants and animals belong in a particular place?” as not a question of scientific truth, but a value-laden construct of environmental management in practice, and we argue for deeper reflexivity on the part of environmental scientists and managers about the social values that inform ecological restoration.


Author(s):  
Alexander Gatch ◽  
Dimitry Gorsky ◽  
Zy Biesinger ◽  
Eric Bruestle ◽  
Kelley Lee ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 60 (12) ◽  
pp. 1552-1574 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles R Bronte ◽  
Mark P Ebener ◽  
Donald R Schreiner ◽  
David S DeVault ◽  
Michael M Petzold ◽  
...  

Changes in Lake Superior's fish community are reviewed from 1970 to 2000. Lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis) stocks have increased substantially and may be approaching ancestral states. Lake herring (Coregonus artedi) have also recovered, but under sporadic recruitment. Contaminant levels have declined and are in equilibrium with inputs, but toxaphene levels are higher than in all other Great Lakes. Sea lamprey (Petromyzon marinus) control, harvest limits, and stocking fostered recoveries of lake trout and allowed establishment of small nonnative salmonine populations. Natural reproduction supports most salmonine populations, therefore further stocking is not required. Nonnative salmonines will likely remain minor components of the fish community. Forage biomass has shifted from exotic rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) to native species, and high predation may prevent their recovery. Introductions of exotics have increased and threaten the recovering fish community. Agencies have little influence on the abundance of forage fish or the major predator, siscowet lake trout, and must now focus on habitat protection and enhancement in nearshore areas and prevent additional species introductions to further restoration. Persistence of Lake Superior's native deepwater species is in contrast to other Great Lakes where restoration will be difficult in the absence of these ecologically important fishes.


1980 ◽  
Vol 37 (11) ◽  
pp. 2021-2038 ◽  
Author(s):  
W. J. Christie ◽  
D. P. Kolenosky

Sea lamprey produced in other areas of Lake Ontario appeared to be responsible for significant levels of predation on target species of the eastern outlet basin. The life history of the lamprey is simple with only one parasitic generation present in the lake during the feeding period. Wound frequencies on gillnetted whitefish were influenced by season, fish size, gillnet set duration, and a large random error component which suggested a contagious distribution. Scar frequencies were influenced by fish age and indicated improved survival of whitefish when fish weight exceeded lamprey weight by 43 times. Lamprey impact on the whitefish stocks would probably have been more important at lower fishing intensities. The lamprey may have been prey limited, and size and species preference were probably such that lake trout and burbot were not buffered against sea lamprey by white suckers or whitefish. The analysis favored the view that lamprey were innocuous in 19th century Lake Ontario by reason of prey size and density, but climatic and other environmental effects could also have been important.Key words: sea lamprey, lake whitefish, Lake Ontario


2010 ◽  
Vol 408 (7) ◽  
pp. 1725-1730 ◽  
Author(s):  
Charles P. Madenjian ◽  
Michael J. Keir ◽  
D. Michael Whittle ◽  
George E. Noguchi

Author(s):  
Andersonn Silveira Prestes

The establishment and spread of exotic species is a contemporary major concern. Alien species may become invasive in their new habitat, leading to both/either environmental and/or economic impacts. I briefly reviewed the literature in the last decade about the relationship of exotic species and native communities. I identified that professionals usually approach the subject in two main points of view: (1) researchers tend to point out the impacts of alien species on entire communities, evaluating if the relationship is positive, negative or neutral; (2) they focus on the eco-evolutionary processes involved in the introductions, the dynamics of invasion, and individual study cases. When evaluating the response of introductions to entire communities, evidence seems to be ambiguous and may support positive, negative or neutral relationship, especially depending on the scale approached. The unique eco-evolutionary pathways of each introduction may be a great shortcoming in the searching for generalities. On the other hand, advances have been made in understanding the dynamics of invasion on different lineages through a more selective/individualized approach. I suggest that the dynamics of invasion might be studied through a perspective in which different eco-evolutionary processes, levels of organization (from gene to entire communities), the history of the organism(s) and time are taken into account. Individual cases might be compared in attempt to understand how the relationship exotic and native works and in the search for generalities.


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