The Spatial Scale for Cisco Recruitment Dynamics in Lake Superior during 1978–2007

Abstract

The cisco Coregonus artedi was once the most abundant fish species in the Great Lakes, but currently cisco populations are greatly reduced and management agencies are attempting to restore the species throughout the basin. To increase understanding of the spatial scale at which density‐independent and density‐dependent factors influence cisco recruitment dynamics in the Great Lakes, we used a Ricker stock–recruitment model to identify and quantify the appropriate spatial scale for modeling age‐1 cisco recruitment dynamics in Lake Superior. We found that the recruitment variation of ciscoes in Lake Superior was best described by a five‐parameter regional model with separate stock–recruitment relationships for the western, southern, eastern, and northern regions. The spatial scale for modeling was about 260 km (range = 230–290 km). We also found that the density‐independent recruitment rate and the rate of compensatory density dependence varied among regions at different rates. The density‐independent recruitment rate was constant among regions (3.6 age‐1 recruits/spawner), whereas the rate of compensatory density dependence varied 16‐fold among regions (range = −0.2 to −2.9/spawner). Finally, we found that peak recruitment and the spawning stock size that produced peak recruitment varied among regions. Both peak recruitment (0.5–7.1 age‐1 recruits/ha) and the spawning stock size that produced peak recruitment (0.3–5.3 spawners/ha) varied 16‐fold among regions. Our findings support the hypothesis that the factors driving cisco recruitment operate within four different regions of Lake Superior, suggest that large‐scale abiotic factors are more important than small‐scale biotic factors in influencing cisco recruitment, and suggest that fishery managers throughout Lake Superior and the entire Great Lakes basin should address cisco restoration and management efforts on a regional scale in each lake.Received March 5, 2011; accepted January 5, 2012

Effects of life‐history traits on stream fish abundances across spatial scales

“…For example, scale of effect for population synchrony of small-bodied Everglades (Florida, USA) fishes occurs at relatively small scales (~10 km), while populations of larger species in the same system synchronise at much larger scales (Chick, Ruetz, & Trexler, 2004;Trexler et al, 2002). Other studies have identified spatial correlation at tens (Bret et al, 2015;Myers, Mertz, & Bridson, 1997) to hundreds of kilometres (Grenouillet et al, 2001;Rook, Hansen, & Gorman, 2012;Tedesco, B., Paugy, D., & Fermon, Y., 2004). This suggest a species-specific (i.e.…”

Factors Regulating Year‐Class Strength of Silver Carp Throughout the Mississippi River Basin

“…The effect of correlated climatic conditions on recruitment synchrony (i.e., via the Moran effect; Moran ) has been largely studied in spatially distinct populations, such as the Cisco Coregonus artedi (Rook et al. ; Myers et al. ), Yellow Perch Perca flavescens (Dembkowski et al.…”

“…However, more recent examples suggest that synchronous recruitment of some lentic fishes can exceed 50 km (Rook et al. ; Myers et al. ).…”

“…Despite the high degree of variability in recruitment within and among fish populations, the occurrence of synchronously fluctuating populations is now considered a common ecological phenomenon (Ranta et al 1998), often driven by interannual variation in regional climatic conditions (Phelps et al 2008;Dembkowski et al 2016;Honsey et al 2016) and dispersal of individuals among populations (Lande et al 1999;Kendall et al 2000). The effect of correlated climatic conditions on recruitment synchrony (i.e., via the Moran effect; Moran 1953) has been largely studied in spatially distinct populations, such as the Cisco Coregonus artedi (Rook et al 2012;Myers et al 2015), Yellow Perch Perca flavescens (Dembkowski et al 2016;Honsey et al 2016), and Common Carp Cyprinus carpio (Phelps et al 2008;Weber et al 2017). Alternatively, the synchronization of fish recruitment can be locally restricted but augmented through dispersal (Haydon and Steen 1997), especially with either highly migratory species or interconnected populations (Bunnell et al 2010;Goldwyn and Hastings 2011).…”

“…Recruitment synchrony often decreases with increasing distance between populations (Myers et al 2015;Honsey et al 2016), and freshwater recruitment synchrony is generally limited to distances of 50 km or less (Myers et al 1997). However, more recent examples suggest that synchronous recruitment of some lentic fishes can exceed 50 km (Rook et al 2012;Myers et al 2015). For instance, Yellow Perch populations synchronously recruit at scales greater than 150 km within the Laurentian Great Lakes (Honsey et al 2016) and Prairie Pothole Region (Dembkowski et al 2016).…”