Diet of Burbot in Green Bay and Western Lake Michigan With Comparison to Other Waters

Fratt, Thomas W.; Coble, Daniel W.; Copes, Fred A.; Bruesewitz, Richard E.

doi:10.1016/s0380-1330(97)70880-3

Cited by 47 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…In contrast to other studies (Clemens 195 1, Robins and Deubler 1955, Beeton 1956, Bonde and Maloney 1960, Chen 1969, Bailey 1972, Fratt et al 1997), fish were not an important component in the diet of burbot. Unidentifiable fish remnants occurred in only 2.6% of stomachs containing food and came from only three individuals of the 120 lavaged.…”

Section: Tl (Mm)contrasting

confidence: 77%

“…However, stock descriptions of lentic burbot are commonly reported (Hubert et al 2008, Hensler et al 2008, Fratt et al 1997. From the limited published reports, stream-dwelling burbot may not grow to the large sizes found in populations in lakes, reservoirs, and large rivers and may be considerably different in population structure and age-at-at-maturity (Dillen et al 2008, Robins andDuebler 1955).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Population Structure and Diet of Burbot (Lota Iota) in Small Streams Near the Southern Extent of the Species' Range

Dixon

Vokoun

2010

Journal of Freshwater Ecology

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Section: Tl (Mm)contrasting

confidence: 77%

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Population Structure and Diet of Burbot (Lota Iota) in Small Streams Near the Southern Extent of the Species' Range

Dixon

Vokoun

2010

Journal of Freshwater Ecology

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“…Madenjian et al (2011) showed a similar diet shift to round goby in Lake Erie and were able to demonstrate predatory control of the species by predators, including burbot, though this has not yet been shown in Lake Michigan. Several of these studies also reported the importance of rainbow smelt and other small species in burbot diet, which we did not observe in our study although a decrease in smelt populations is coincident with the beginning of our study period (Fratt et al, 1997;Jacobs et al, 2010). Shifts in the abundance of deepwater sculpin in the diet across studies and time may indicate a redistribution of this species to deeper water as suggested by Madenjian et al (2014), since they were not found in our samples from relatively shallow water.…”

Section: Discussioncontrasting

confidence: 52%

“…However, recent work on waterbirds has implicated round goby in the transfer of botulism type E neurotoxin up the food web (LaFrancois et al, 2011;Essian, 2014), which could potentially negatively impact the burbot population. Fratt et al (1997Fratt et al ( ), sampling in 1986Fratt et al ( -1988, showed a diverse burbot diet in western Lake Michigan and Green Bay that were dominated by alewife, rainbow smelt, Cottus spp., deepwater sculpin, and yellow perch. Similarly, Hensler et al (2008) and Jacobs et al (2010), while working in 2006-2008, found burbot consuming a diverse diet with a dependence on round goby and sculpin, particularly in larger burbot size classes.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In North America, burbot eat a wide variety of fishes including lampreys (Ichthyomyzon and Lampetra spp. ), many species of Cyprinidae, sticklebacks (Gasterosteidae), sculpins (Cottidae), alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus), and other burbot (Fratt et al, 1997;McPhail & Paragamian, 2000). Burbot have historically had limited commercial value in the Great Lakes, but have been recognized as an important native piscivore in aquatic systems (Quinn, 2000;Schram et al, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Diet analysis of burbot (Lota lota) from eastern Lake Michigan: 1996–2012

2015

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Burbot (Lota lota) stomach content was analyzed from eastern Lake Michigan using 835 stomach samples collected from 1996 to 2012. Our results show alteration in the prey community consumed between the early study period (1996)(1997)(1998)(1999)(2000)(2001)(2002)(2003)(2004)(2005)(2006) and the more recent period (2007)(2008)(2009)(2010)(2011)(2012). In the early years, alewives (Alosa pseudoharengus), slimy sculpin (Cottus cognatus), and mottled sculpin (C. bairdii) were the most important prey items, with regional variation suggesting greater use of Cottus spp. in the southern lake sites compared to northern sites where alewives were predominant. Non-native round gobies (Neogobius melanostomus) replaced Cottus spp. and alewives as the most frequently found prey item in the more recent years in the dataset, and other minor constituents of the prey assemblage nearly disappeared from the stomach samples. Round gobies first appeared in the diet in 1999 and became frequent by 2006, reaching 55.80% (±5.36) in 2012. The dominance of round goby as prey for burbot is important for the transfer of benthic nutrients into the upper food web in Lake Michigan. Our data highlight the striking food web shift linked to the non-native species invasion that has taken place in Lake Michigan since 2000 and emphasize its impact on native predator ecology.

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Testing food web theory in a large lake: The role of body size in habitat coupling in Lake Michigan

Maitland,

Bootsma,

Bronte

et al. 2024

Ecology

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The landscape theory of food web architecture (LTFWA) describes relationships among body size, trophic position, mobility, and energy channels that serve to couple heterogenous habitats, which in turn promotes long‐term system stability. However, empirical tests of the LTFWA are rare and support differs among terrestrial, freshwater, and marine systems. Further, it is unclear whether the theory applies in highly altered ecosystems dominated by introduced species such as the Laurentian Great Lakes. Here, we provide an empirical test of the LTFWA by relating body size, trophic position, and the coupling of different energy channels using stable isotope data from species throughout the Lake Michigan food web. We found that body size was positively related to trophic position, but for a given trophic position, organisms predominately supported by pelagic energy had smaller body sizes than organisms predominately supported by nearshore benthic energy. We also found a hump‐shaped trophic relationship in the food web where there is a gradual increase in the coupling of pelagic and nearshore energy channels with larger body sizes as well as higher trophic positions. This highlights the important role of body size and connectivity among habitats in structuring food webs. However, important deviations from expectations are suggestive of how species introductions and other anthropogenic impacts can affect food web structure in large lakes. First, native top predators appear to be flexible couplers that may provide food web resilience, whereas introduced top predators may confer less stability when they specialize on a single energy pathway. Second, some smaller bodied prey fish and invertebrates, in addition to mobile predators, coupled energy from pelagic and nearshore energy channels, which suggests that some prey species may also be important integrators of energy pathways in the system. We conclude that patterns predicted by the LTFWA are present in the face of species introductions and other anthropogenic stressors to a degree, but time‐series evaluations are needed to fully understand the mechanisms that promote stability.

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Diet of Burbot in Green Bay and Western Lake Michigan With Comparison to Other Waters

Cited by 47 publications

References 25 publications

Population Structure and Diet of Burbot (Lota Iota) in Small Streams Near the Southern Extent of the Species' Range

Population Structure and Diet of Burbot (Lota Iota) in Small Streams Near the Southern Extent of the Species' Range

Diet analysis of burbot (Lota lota) from eastern Lake Michigan: 1996–2012

Testing food web theory in a large lake: The role of body size in habitat coupling in Lake Michigan

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