Ontogenetic Diet Shift in Lake Erie Age-0 Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens): A Size-Related Response to Zooplankton Density

1992 ◽  
Vol 49 (9) ◽  
pp. 1932-1937 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lin Wu ◽  
David A. Culver
Keyword(s):  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Life Stage ◽  
Perca Flavescens ◽  
Field Studies ◽  
Diet Shift ◽  
Fish Size ◽  
Ontogenetic Diet Shift ◽  
Zooplankton Density ◽  
Benthic Prey

Through field studies, we demonstrated that age-0 yellow perch (Perca flavescens) in western Lake Erie underwent an ontogenetic diet shift from exclusively zooplankton to mainly benthic prey during June through August. This shift coincided with a decline in zooplankton populations in the lake. Further, laboratory experiments on feeding ontogeny suggest that the diet shift was related to fish size. Yellow perch less than 30 mm total length did not consume benthic prey either during the feeding experiments or in the field studies, while fish greater than 50 mm did at low zooplankton densities. Interactions between fish size and zooplankton density, therefore, likely determine the ontogenetic diet shift in young-of-the-year yellow perch. Growth of yellow perch declined following the zooplankton decline. Reduced growth during this life stage may extend the period of vulnerability of yellow perch to its predators, thus reducing survival and, ultimately, recruitment.

Zebra mussel (Dreissena polymorpha) effects on sediment, other zoobenthos, and the diet and growth of adult yellow perch (Perca flavescens) in pond enclosures

1997 ◽  
Vol 54 (8) ◽  
pp. 1903-1915 ◽  
Author(s):  
S A Thayer ◽  
R C Haas ◽  
R D Hunter ◽  
R H Kushler
Keyword(s):  
Zebra Mussel ◽  
Dreissena Polymorpha ◽  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Perca Flavescens ◽  
Structural Heterogeneity ◽  
Zebra Mussels ◽  
Zooplankton Density ◽  
Growth Differences ◽  
Percent Nitrogen ◽  
Induced Changes

Zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) in enclosures located in an experimental pond adjacent to Lake St. Clair, Michigan, increased sedimentation rate but had relatively minor effects on percent organic matter and percent nitrogen content of sediment. In contrast, sediment from Lake St. Clair adjacent to zebra mussels was significantly higher in carbon than that 0.5 m away. Zebra mussels increase the nutritional value of surficial sediment and provide greater structural heterogeneity, which is probably more important in causing change among zoobenthos. Zoobenthos and yellow perch (Perca flavescens) diet were dominated by dipteran larvae and leeches. Zoobenthos was significantly different between enclosures with and without zebra mussels. Treatments with zebra mussels had significantly more oligochaetes and tended to have more crustaceans (isopods and amphipods). In June, yellow perch without zebra mussels consumed significantly more zooplankton, and those with mussels had more crustaceans in their diet. Zooplankton density was greater in treatments without zebra mussels. Yellow perch with zebra mussels grew significantly more than those without mussels. Zebra mussels in the enclosures neither reproduced nor were eaten by yellow perch; hence. the observed growth differences were due to indirect effects involving zebra mussel induced changes in benthic structure and biota.

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.

Fine-scale population genetic structure of the yellow perch Perca flavescens in Lake Erie

2011 ◽  
Vol 68 (8) ◽  
pp. 1435-1453 ◽  
Author(s):  
Osvaldo J. Sepulveda-Villet ◽  
Carol A. Stepien
Keyword(s):  
Genetic Structure ◽  
Population Genetic Structure ◽  
Population Genetic ◽  
Yellow Perch ◽  
Lake Erie ◽  
Perca Flavescens ◽  
Fine Scale ◽  
Management Units ◽  
Age Cohorts ◽  
Scale Population

Discerning the genetic basis underlying fine-scale population structure of exploited native species and its relationship to management units is a critical goal for effective conservation. This study provides the first high-resolution genetic test of fine-scale relationships among spawning groups of the yellow perch Perca flavescens . Lake Erie yellow perch stocks comprise valuable sport and commercial fisheries and have fluctuated extensively owing to highly variable annual recruitment patterns. Fifteen nuclear DNA microsatellite loci are analyzed for 569 individuals from 13 primary Lake Erie spawning sites and compared with those spawning in Lakes St. Clair and Ontario. Additional comparisons test for possible genetic differences between sexes and among size–age cohorts. Results demonstrate that yellow perch spawning groups in Lake Erie are genetically distinguishable and do not differ between sexes and among age cohorts. Population genetic structure does not follow a genetic isolation with geographic distance pattern, and some spawning groups contribute more to overall lake-wide genetic diversity than do others. Partitioning of the yellow perch’s genetic structure shows little congruence to lake basins or to current management units. Our findings underlie the importance of understanding spawning habitat and behavior to conserve the genetic stock structure of a key fishery.

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