The influence of winter severity on the coupling between Lake Erie walleye and their prey

Session: 08b. - Restoration of Native Fishes

Amara Huddleston, Ohio State University, [email protected]
Cassandra May, Bethel College, [email protected]
Joshua Stone, Aquatic Ecology Lab, The Ohio State University, [email protected]
Stuart Ludsin, The Ohio State University, Aquatic Ecology Laboratory, [email protected]
Elizabeth Marschall, Aquatic Ecology Lab., The Ohio State University, [email protected]
James Hood, Aquatic Ecology Lab, The Ohio State University, [email protected]

Abstract

Due to climate warming, winter ice in the Laurentian Great Lakes has declined by 71% over the past four decades (Wang et al. 2012). Walleye recruitment in Lake Erie, which shows a positive relationship with winter ice cover, has been consistently low since 2003, except following the extremely cold winter of 2015. Here, we examine the hypothesis that warm winters result in a temporal mismatch between walleye larvae and their zooplankton prey. We evaluated this hypothesis with Western Basin Lake Erie zooplankton data from 2011-2016. Following the record warm winter in 2012, walleye spawning occurred much earlier than in normal years; our results showed that zooplankton spring blooms also occurred earlier in 2012. Across all years, the biomass of walleye preferred zooplankton prey (Cyclopoids and small Cladocerans) had relatively low densities during the period when larval walleye consume zooplankton, regardless of winter severity. Our results suggest that warm winters are not resulting in temporal decoupling of walleye larvae and their preferred zooplankton prey.

1. Keyword
climate change

2. Keyword
recruitment

3. Keyword
zooplankton

4. Additional Keyword
temporal matching