The round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) is among the fastest‐spreading introduced aquatic species in North America and is radiating inland from the Great Lakes into freshwater ecosystems across the landscape. Predicting and managing the impacts of round gobies requires information on the factors influencing their distribution in habitats along the invasion front, yet this information is not available for many recently invaded ecosystems. We evaluated the seasonal habitat use and biomass of round gobies in an inland temperate lake to define the spatiotemporal scope of biological interactions at the leading edge of the round goby invasion. Using novel statistical approaches, we combined hierarchical models that control for imperfect species detection with flexible smooth terms to describe non‐linear relationships between round goby abundance and environmental gradients. Subsequently, we generated accurate detection‐corrected estimates of the standing stock biomass of round gobies. Our results show seasonally differentiated habitat niches, where suitable round goby habitat in summer months is restricted to shallow depths (<18.4 m) with a mixture of vegetative and mussel cover. We found high round goby biomass of 122 kg/ha in occupied habitats during the summer, with a total lake‐wide biomass of 766,000 kg. In winter, round gobies migrate to deep offshore habitats and disperse, dramatically altering their scope for biological interactions with resident aquatic species across summer and winter seasons. The results of this study indicate that the scope of biological interactions in inland lakes may be seasonally variable, with potential for high round goby biomass in shallow lakes or at the periphery of deep lakes in the summer months. Such shallow‐water habitats may therefore present higher risk of ecological impacts from round gobies in invaded lentic ecosystems. As round gobies expand inland, consideration of seasonal habitat use will be an important factor in predicting the impacts of this pervasive invader.
Cisco Coregonus artedi are a schooling, coldwater, zooplanktivorous fish native to the northern United States and Canada. They were once one of the most abundant fish species in the region, supporting large commercial fisheries in all five of the Great Lakes. Overfishing, habitat degradation, and impacts from invasive species such as Rainbow Smelt Osmerus mordax and Alewife Alosa pseudoharengus lead to the collapse of these fisheries by the mid 1900’s. Recently, there has been an increased momentum for restoring Cisco populations in the Great Lakes due to their role as native prey fish species for predators such as Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush and Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar. Here I present a general overview of Cisco biology, detail the history of the commercial fishery in the Great Lakes, and look ahead to future restoration and recovery goals.
The goldenhaired bark beetle Hylurgus ligniperda (Coleoptera Scolytidae) is an insect of quarantine concern associated with Pinus radiata in New Zealand Exported logs are fumigated with methyl bromide (MB) before departure or on arrival Research is under way to find alternatives to MB for logs and to manage emissions This research requires large numbers of all stages of H ligniperda to identify effective treatments The study reports the first laboratory method for rearing large numbers of all life stages of H ligniperda A novel oviposition device enabled efficient egg collection Larvae were reared from eggs inoculated directly into artificial diet Life cycle data were obtained for all the developmental stages of H ligniperda Six continuous generations were produced with each generation taking a minimum of 72 days Females laid an average of 30919 eggs each Almost 70 of the eggs formed adults via four larval instars and a pupal stage
Cisco (Coregonus artedi) are an important component of native food webs in the Great Lakes, and their restoration is instrumental to the recovery of lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) and Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar). Difficulties with visual identification of larvae can confound early life history surveys, as cisco are often difficult to distinguish from lake whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis). We compared traditional visual species identification methods with genetic identifications based on barcoding of the mitochondrial cytochrome c oxidase I gene for 726 coregonine larvae caught in Chaumont Bay, Lake Ontario. We found little agreement between the visual characteristics of cisco identified by genetic barcoding and the most widely used dichotomous key, and the considerable overlap in ranges of traditionally utilized metrics suggests that visual identification of coregonine larvae from Chaumont Bay is impractical. Coregonines are highly variable and plastic species and often display wide variations in morphometric characteristics across their broad range. This study highlights the importance of developing accurate, geographically appropriate larval identification methods to best inform cisco restoration and management efforts.
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