Changes in Percid Populations and Species Interactions in Lake Erie

1977 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 1861-1868 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephen J. Nepszy
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Perca Flavescens ◽  
Government Agencies ◽  
Stizostedion Canadense ◽  
The Status ◽  
Term Maintenance ◽  
Blue Pike

Changes in the percid community of Lake Erie from 1915 to 1975 are delineated mainly from recently published material. Sauger (Stizostedion canadense), blue pike (S. vitreum glaucum), walleye (S. vitreum vitreum), and yellow perch (Perca ftavescens) are the percids which have been affected by exploitation, eutrophication and the presence and proliferation of colonizing fish species. Changes in habitat, fishing techniques and gear have also affected percid and nonpercid interactions.Yellow perch, presently the most abundant percid, have experienced irregularity in recruitment, lack of strong year-classes, and increased exploitation. The concern over the status of yellow perch and walleye has led to some important management initiatives. Improved regulation of exploitation and present efforts by United States and Canadian government agencies to improve Great Lakes water quality, are expected to improve the success for long-term maintenance of percids in Lake Erie. Key words: Percidae, populations, Lake Erie, habitat change, exploitation, management, Stizostedion vitreum vitreum, S. canadense, S. vitreum glaucum, Perca flavescens

Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) and Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) Populations and Fisheries of the Red Lakes, Minnesota, 1930–75

1977 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 1774-1783 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lloyd L. Smith Jr.
Keyword(s):  
Growth Rate ◽  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Climatic Factors ◽  
Perca Flavescens ◽  
Growing Season ◽  
Commercial Fishery ◽  
Class Strength ◽  
Parent Stock ◽  
Catch Statistics

In an investigation of the commercial fishery of Red Lakes, Minnesota, for the 46-yr period 1930–75, catch statistics were analyzed, and the dynamics of the perch and walleye populations were examined. Mean annual yields of walleye for two statistical periods, 1930–53 and 1954–75, were 309,900 and 245,100 kg, respectively for walleyes, and 96,400 and 109,500 kg for perch. Annual abundance (CPE based on average catches per day per 5-net units of gill nets) varied from 3.8 to 64.6 kg for walleye, and from 2.5 to 34.4 kg for perch. Causes of fluctuations in harvestable stock were directly related to strength of year-classes and to growth rate during the season of capture. Year-class strength was not related to the abundance of parent stock or of potential predators. The respective strengths of year-classes of perch and walleye in the same year were positively correlated (r = 0.859, P < 0.01), and are directly related to climatic factors. Growth rate of walleye in different calendar years varied from +30.7 to −42.2% of mean growth, and that of perch from +13.4 to −8.6% (1941–56). Growing season began in mid-June and was almost over by September 1. Walleye yield could be enhanced by starting harvest July 1 instead of early June. Perch yield could be improved by harvesting small perch. Key words: Percidae, Perca, population dynamics, Stizostedion, long-term yield

Responses of Walleye (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum) and Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens) Populations to Removal of White Sucker (Catostomus commersoni) from a Minnesota Lake, 1966

1977 ◽  
Vol 34 (10) ◽  
pp. 1633-1642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fritz H. Johnson
Keyword(s):  
Species Interactions ◽  
Standing Crop ◽  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Perca Flavescens ◽  
Food Competition ◽  
Community Response ◽  
Stizostedion Vitreum ◽  
Catostomus Commersoni ◽  
Young Of The Year ◽  
Fish Species Diversity

In a northeastern Minnesota lake subject only to sportfishing, removal of 85% of the estimated standing crop (34 kg/ha) of adult white suckers, Catostomus commersoni in 1966 was followed by marked changes in community structure and interrelations. During 7 yr alter the removal: catch indices for adult suckers remained far below those before the sucker removal but juvenile suckers increased about 17-fold; yellow perch, Perca flavescens, increased about 15-fold; walleye Stizostedion vitreum vitreum, standing crop increased about one-third; mayflies increased in diet of adult perch and smaller invertebrates decreased; micro-crustaceans increased in diet of young-of-the-year and juvenile perch; young-of-the-year perch increased in diet of adult walleye; walleye angling yield increased from an average of 3.0 kg/ha before the removal to an average of 4.9 kg/ha in 1970–73; the rate of exploitation of adult walleye did not change with increase in angling effort; and the increased walleye harvest consisted mostly of fish recruited to the catch during the fishing season. The average annual harvest of walleye in 1970–73 exceeded estimated potential production for all fish by 81.5% and probably cannot be sustained. Removal of white suckers from lakes with limited fish species diversity appears to benefit percid populations. Key words: Percidae, species interactions, (Stizostedion vitreum vitreum), Perca flavescens, Catostomus commersoni, harvests, community response, community ecology, food, competition

Evaluation of the human health threat associated with the hepatotoxin microcystin in the muscle and liver tissues of yellow perch (Perca flavescens)

2008 ◽  
Vol 65 (7) ◽  
pp. 1487-1497 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan E. Wilson ◽  
Duane C. Gossiaux ◽  
Tomas O. Höök ◽  
John P. Berry ◽  
Peter F. Landrum ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Human Health ◽  
Muscle Tissue ◽  
Chronic Exposure ◽  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
Perca Flavescens ◽  
Cyanobacterial Blooms ◽  
World Health ◽  
Us Epa

During the summer of 2006, the western basin of Lake Erie experienced a bloom of the toxigenic cyanobacterium Microcystis aeruginosa . Across 11 sites, intracellular, particulate-bound microcystin levels in the seston increased to levels that exceeded World Health Organization guidelines for drinking water exposure (1 µg toxin·L–1). In contrast, toxin concentrations in yellow perch ( Perca flavescens ) muscle tissue (n = 68) declined from June to August, were negatively related to algal toxin levels, and never exceeded a conservative chronic exposure concentration estimated using proposed United States Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) guidelines. Microcystin concentrations in yellow perch liver exceeded US EPA chronic exposure guidelines, were on average 125 times higher than muscle toxin concentrations per unit dry weight, and varied little throughout the summer. With current guidelines, humans do not appear to be at risk when consuming the muscle tissue of Lake Erie yellow perch collected during large-scale cyanobacterial blooms. However, this study highlights the need for a better understanding of the trophic transfer of cyanobacterial toxins through aquatic food webs in diverse ecosystems with an emphasis on understanding if these compounds could accumulate sufficiently to affect human health.

scholarly journals Rapid changes in age and size at maturity in Lake Erie yellow perch (Perca flavescens) are not explained by harvest

2018 ◽  
Vol 75 (2) ◽  
pp. 211-223 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davíð Gíslason ◽  
Robert L. McLaughlin ◽  
Beren W. Robinson ◽  
Andy Cook ◽  
Erin S. Dunlop
Keyword(s):  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Juvenile Fish ◽  
Perca Flavescens ◽  
Individual Growth ◽  
Phenotypic Traits ◽  
Plasticity Model ◽  
Size At Maturity ◽  
Fish Stocks ◽  
Carry Over

Harvest can change phenotypic traits of populations through immediate demographic consequences, evolutionary responses to harvest selection, or developmental responses by individuals. This study investigated the plastic phenotypic effects of harvest on size and age at maturity in a commercially exploited freshwater fish. We tested an individual growth and life history plasticity model using lagged correlations incorporating how harvesting fish ages 2 and older influenced the abundance of juvenile fish, resource availability, individual growth rates, and carry-over responses in age and size at maturity. Our test used cohort data for Lake Erie yellow perch (Perca flavescens). Age and size at maturity fluctuated widely and rapidly across 23 cohorts between 1991 and 2013, suggesting phenotypic plasticity contributed strongly to maturation dynamics. The changes in maturity could not be explained by responses to harvest, as expected under the plasticity model. In Lake Erie, age and size at maturity in yellow perch appear to be responding to other drivers, such as harvest-induced dynamics of other fish stocks or ecosystem changes that are independent of harvest.

Counterintuitive patterns of spawning stock age structure and recruitment in Lake Erie yellow perch (Perca flavescens)

2015 ◽  
Vol 72 (10) ◽  
pp. 1494-1502 ◽  
Author(s):  
Fan Zhang ◽  
Kevin B. Reid ◽  
Thomas D. Nudds
Keyword(s):  
Maternal Effects ◽  
Age Structure ◽  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Perca Flavescens ◽  
Relative Fecundity ◽  
Absolute Fecundity ◽  
Age Related ◽  
Age Dependent ◽  
Spawning Stock

Older spawning fish were often observed to contribute more recruits to harvested stocks than younger fish. However, effects of spawning stock age structure on recruitment were not universally detected. We tested effects of age-dependent absolute fecundity, age-dependent relative fecundity, and age-related maternal effects on recruitment by Lake Erie yellow perch (Perca flavescens). No effects of age-dependent absolute fecundity and age-dependent relative fecundity, nor positive age-related maternal effects, were detected at multidecadal or finer temporal scales of analysis, between 1975 and 2013. Instead, we found evidence of negative age-related maternal effects, of spatially and temporally varying strength; older cohorts in the spawning stock were sometimes associated with lower offspring survival. Such counterintuitive results imply that biotic and abiotic factors, such as interspecific predation, during larval and juvenile life stages might strongly affect recruitment of Lake Erie yellow perch.

scholarly journals Larval dispersal underlies demographically important intersystem connectivity in a Great Lakes yellow perch (Perca flavescens) population

2016 ◽  
Vol 73 (3) ◽  
pp. 416-426 ◽  
Author(s):  
Reed M. Brodnik ◽  
Michael E. Fraker ◽  
Eric J. Anderson ◽  
Lucia Carreon-Martinez ◽  
Kristen M. DeVanna ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Larval Dispersal ◽  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Perca Flavescens ◽  
River System ◽  
Juvenile Stage ◽  
Detroit River ◽  
Relative Contribution ◽  
Western Lake ◽  
Western Lake Erie

Ability to quantify connectivity among spawning subpopulations and their relative contribution of recruits to the broader population is a critical fisheries management need. By combining microsatellite and age information from larval yellow perch (Perca flavescens) collected in the Lake St. Clair – Detroit River system (SC-DRS) and western Lake Erie with a hydrodynamic backtracking approach, we quantified subpopulation structure, connectivity, and contributions of recruits to the juvenile stage in western Lake Erie during 2006–2007. After finding weak (yet stable) genetic structure between the SC-DRS and two western Lake Erie subpopulations, microsatellites also revealed measurable recruitment of SC-DRS larvae to the juvenile stage in western Lake Erie (17%–21% during 2006–2007). Consideration of precollection larval dispersal trajectories, using hydrodynamic backtracking, increased estimated contributions to 65% in 2006 and 57% in 2007. Our findings highlight the value of complementing subpopulation discrimination methods with hydrodynamic predictions of larval dispersal by revealing the SC-DRS as a source of recruits to western Lake Erie and also showing that connectivity through larval dispersal can affect the structure and dynamics of large lake fish populations.

Cyclic dynamics of a yellow perch (Perca flavescens) population in an oligotrophic lake: evidence for the role of intraspecific interactions

1999 ◽  
Vol 56 (9) ◽  
pp. 1534-1542 ◽  
Author(s):  
Beth L Sanderson ◽  
Thomas R Hrabik ◽  
John J Magnuson ◽  
David M Post
Keyword(s):  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Perca Flavescens ◽  
Age Classes ◽  
Intraspecific Interactions ◽  
Important Challenge ◽  
Cyclic Dynamics ◽  
Young Of The Year ◽  
Mature Fish

Understanding the extent to which repeated oscillations in fish populations are driven by external factors or internal processes within the population is an important challenge. We document cyclic dynamics in a population of yellow perch (Perca flavescens) in oligotrophic Crystal Lake. Since 1981, we have observed three cases of cohort dominance in which two age-classes dominated the population for roughly 5 years. Young-of-the-year (YOY) perch were caught in 1981-1982, 1986-1987, and 1990-1991, whereas few to no YOY were caught during the midyears. The presence of YOY was negatively related to juvenile perch abundance and positively related to adult perch abundance. Mechanisms that may be responsible for these patterns include cannibalism of YOY by either juveniles or adults, potential for reproduction by adults, and competition between YOY and juveniles. YOY were abundant primarily in years when reproductively mature fish were in the lake, suggesting that the repeated oscillations are driven predominantly by pulses of abundant, reproductive, adult perch. As these young perch grow to juveniles, they exclude the possibility of survival by successive cohorts through cannibalistic and competitive interactions. This exclusion occurs until they themselves become reproductively mature and the cycle then repeats. Ultimately, long-term patterns in Crystal Lake suggest that cyclic dynamics are generated by intraspecific interactions.

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