Recruitment Dynamics of Age-0 Yellow Perch in a Drowned River Mouth Lake: Assessing Synchrony with Nearshore Lake Michigan

Abstract

We assessed recruitment dynamics of juvenile Yellow Perch Perca flavescens in coastal habitats of eastern Lake Michigan. To investigate recruitment patterns and associations with environmental factors in a coastal drowned river mouth (DRM) lake, we sampled juvenile Yellow Perch seasonally in Muskegon Lake, Michigan, during 2003–2011. We also sampled three nearshore sites in Lake Michigan each fall to evaluate synchrony between the DRM lake and nearshore habitat. In Muskegon Lake, age-0 Yellow Perch CPUE during fall was high in 2005 and 2007; moderate in 2008, 2010, and 2011; and low in other years. Fall CPUE (age 0) was positively associated with CPUE in the next spring (age 1; slope = 0.98; R ² = 0.95), which we attribute to high overwinter survival. Fall CPUE of age-0 Yellow Perch showed a positive relationship with June air temperature (R ² = 0.76), suggesting that warm conditions at early larval stages positively influence recruitment of juveniles. Juvenile recruitment in Muskegon Lake was not synchronized with juvenile recruitment in nearshore Lake Michigan. The lack of synchrony may be an indication that (1) age-0 Yellow Perch recruitment in DRM lakes and Lake Michigan are influenced by different environmental controls and (2) dispersal between the two habitats does not strongly affect age-0 recruitment dynamics.

Received August 6, 2012; accepted December 1, 2012

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank the many individuals at Grand Valley State University and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (MDNR) that helped with field work during this study. K. Thompson provided GIS assistance; B. Biddanda and S. Kendall provided Muskegon Lake water temperature data; and N. Gillett and M. Ogdahl provided Muskegon Lake nutrient and chl-a data. We thank A. Parker, A. Steinman, and anonymous reviewers for their comments on previous drafts of this manuscript. This research was part of the Annis Water Resources Institute's Muskegon Lake Long-Term Monitoring Project (established and led by A. Steinman), which is funded by the Community Foundation for Muskegon County as part of the Muskegon Lake Research Endowment Fund. We gratefully acknowledge the support of an anonymous donor that provided funding for Y.B. and D.J.J. Additional funding to MDNR for trawling in Lake Michigan was provided through Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Study F-81-R and through the MDNR Game and Fish Protection Fund.