Growth and Survival of Age-0 Yellow Perch across Habitats in Southwestern Lake Michigan: Early Life History in a Large Freshwater Environment

Abstract

Processes regulating the survival of early life stages are difficult to decipher for fishes, especially those occupying multiple spatially segregated habitats in large complex systems. Although the processes occurring during the juvenile period are often thought to regulate recruitment of freshwater fishes, those occurring during prolonged pelagic larval phases may be more important to fishes inhabiting large dynamic systems, as is the case with marine larvae. To assess the importance of biotic and abiotic factors on growth and survival of a freshwater fish with a prolonged larval phase, we collected age-0 yellow perch Perca flavescens in Lake Michigan across multiple habitats and used otoliths to estimate daily ages, hatching distributions, and growth and mortality rates. Larval yellow perch hatched near shore over a 4- to 6-week period but were quickly transported offshore, where they experienced prolonged pelagic durations. Water temperature and wind events influenced growth rates, whereas water temperature, wind events, prey availability, hatching date, and growth rate affected survival across habitats. Mechanisms regulating growth and survival of yellow perch during prolonged pelagic durations (stage duration, prey, and wind events) are consistent with recruitment mechanisms typically ascribed to marine systems, suggesting that abiotic mechanisms interact with biological factors to govern recruitment of fishes in large freshwater ecosystems.

Received September 29, 2010; accepted March 21, 2011

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank W. Brofka, S. Creque, S. Czesny, and R. Redman, along with the technicians and other staff at the Lake Michigan Biological Station for help in the field and laboratory. D. James provided illustrations for Figure 1 and J. Sholly provided the geographical information systems maps used in Figure 2. Comments from three anonymous reviewers greatly improved the manuscript. Funding for this project was provided by the Illinois Natural History Survey and Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Act under project F-123-R administered through the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. T. Trudeau, S. Robillard, and D. Makauskas of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources provided additional support.