Watershed and lake influences on the energetic base of coastal wetland food webs across the Great Lakes Basin

Sierszen, Michael E.; Brazner, John C.; Cotter, Anne M.; Morrice, John A.; Peterson, Gregory; Trebitz, Anett S.

doi:10.1016/j.jglr.2012.04.005

Cited by 20 publications

(9 citation statements)

References 72 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…This fits with a general understanding of wetlands as being highly productive ecosystems that support a great deal of secondary production (Keough et al, 1996;Sierszen et al, 2012;Wetzel, 2001). However, while local primary production is the focus of wetland studies, riverine studies typically view the sources of secondary production at a particular location to be the result of external, upstream, inputs (either allochthonous or autochthonous; Richardson and Mackay, 1991;Vannote et al, 1980;Wetzel, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 54%

“…For example, Sierszen et al (2012) attempted to find landscape controls over the source of fish nutrients in wetlands associated with the Ford, Peshtigo and Kewaunee rivermouths. They assumed nutrients would be derived either from local pelagic or benthic primary production, but discovered that many of the wetland food webs were strongly influenced by external subsidies (detritus of apparent terrestrial origin and lake primary production; Sierszen et al, 2012). This approach is useful, particularly in productive wetlands, but it requires either a number of difficult measurements or assumptions to implement.…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

“…This approach is useful, particularly in productive wetlands, but it requires either a number of difficult measurements or assumptions to implement. For example, Sierszen et al (2012) attempted to measure phytoplankton directly, by isolating several seston fractions and visually determining which contained phytoplankton. They then made a number of simplifying assumptions, including the value of trophic enrichment, a lack of seasonal changes in the δ 13 C of phytoplankton, no external inputs, and the food sources of benthic grazers (i.e., mayflies and gastropods are consuming benthic algae).…”

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

“…Previous work on rivermouths has been focused primarily on the associated wetlands or open water habitats, and a major focus has often been on the incorporation of primary production into wetland and nearshore food webs (e.g., Sierszen et al, 2012). This fits with a general understanding of wetlands as being highly productive ecosystems that support a great deal of secondary production (Keough et al, 1996;Sierszen et al, 2012;Wetzel, 2001).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 3 more Smart Citations

An exploratory investigation of the landscape-lake interface: Land cover controls over consumer N and C isotopic composition in Lake Michigan rivermouths

Larson

Richardson

Vallazza

et al. 2012

Journal of Great Lakes Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Section: Introductionsupporting

confidence: 54%

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Tablementioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

See 2 more Smart Citations

An exploratory investigation of the landscape-lake interface: Land cover controls over consumer N and C isotopic composition in Lake Michigan rivermouths

Larson

Richardson

Vallazza

et al. 2012

Journal of Great Lakes Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

“…In a broad sense, anything that ameliorates degraded vegetation structure in GLCWs is likely to enhance conditions for the more desirable panfish and sport fish species. Poor water clarity resulting from nutrient and sediment loading is strongly implicated in the loss of the structurally diverse vegetation (Lougheed et al 2001;Albert and Minc 2004) that is important to many sport and pan fish species Smokorowski and Pratt 2007) and in shifting energy flow from benthic pathways and visual feeders (often sport and panfish) toward planktonic pathways and tactile/filter feeders (often rough fish; Sierszen et al 2012a). As is evident from the "dense emergent vegetation" vector in our ordination (Figure 1), the proliferation of invasive plant species such as Typha and Phragmites is associated with nutrient loading and hydrologic alteration (Frieswyk and Zedler 2007;Tulbure and Johnston 2010) and can negatively affect the habitat for ambush piscivores such as Northern Pike and Largemouth Bass.…”

Section: Glcw Fishery Support In Relation To Wetland Characteristics mentioning

confidence: 99%

Coastal Wetland Support of Great Lakes Fisheries: Progress from Concept to Quantification

Trebitz

Hoffman

2015

Trans Am Fish Soc

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Fishery support is recognized as a valuable ecosystem service provided by aquatic systems, but it is harder to quantify than to describe conceptually. In this paper, we combine data on fish inhabiting Great Lakes coastal wetlands (GLCWs) with information on commercial and recreational harvest and the piscivore forage base to develop quantitative understanding of the multiple species involved in direct and indirect fishery support of this complex fishery. We then examine patterns of species co‐occurrence and life history and relationships to GLCW conditions in order to identify fishery support metrics useful in aggregating species patterns and evaluating management outcomes. Our criteria for wetland prevalence (≥10% occurrence) and fishery importance (≥1% of recreational or commercial harvest in one or more of the Great Lakes or having a major forage fish role) yielded 21 wetland‐using, fishery‐relevant species representing multiple taxonomic groups and life history attributes. Wetland‐using species are estimated to make up half the biomass and 60% of the dollar value of the fish landed commercially and ∼80% of the fish numbers harvested recreationally. All of the GLCWs studied supported species of interest to recreational and commercial fishers but with widely varying composition. A few key habitat characteristics (e.g., vegetation structure) are broadly predictive of the types of sport and panfish present, with more degraded GLCWs generally supporting abundant but lower‐value taxa (rough‐fish species) and less degraded GLCWs supporting fewer but higher‐value taxa (sport and panfish species). No single taxonomic or functional metric seems adequate to capture the diversity of fishery‐relevant species supported by GLCWs; fishery support needs to be understood and managed in a multimetric context.Received May 16, 2014; accepted October 15, 2014

show abstract

Lakescape connectivity: Mobile fish consumers link Lake Michigan coastal wetland and nearshore food webs

et al. 2023

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

In large lake ecosystems, fish movement between coastal littoral habitats such as wetlands and the adjacent open-water nearshore represents an understudied but potentially important linkage supporting energy flow and fisheries production. We hypothesized that yellow perch (Perca flavescens), an ecologically and economically important sport fish in the Laurentian Great Lakes, transport energy from highly productive wetlands to nearshore food webs, but that their role changes with ontogenetic shifts in diet and habitat use. We also predicted that the relative strength of such fish-mediated habitat linkages would vary depending on physical connectivity across habitats. We collected perch and potential prey resources from seven paired coastal wetland-nearshore sites across three regions of Lake Michigan and quantified resource and habitat use with Bayesian stable isotope mixing models and otolith microchemistry. We found that juvenile perch collected in nearshore habitats showed high use of wetland resources, and that diets of wetland-collected juveniles typically contained a smaller proportion of nearshore resources than did more mobile adults from the same wetland.The least hydrologically connected sites had lower cross-habitat resource use (e.g., wetland-collected perch consumed fewer nearshore resources and vice versa) compared with sites with greater levels of hydrological connectivity. Otolith microchemistry confirmed the linkages revealed by stable isotopes, suggesting that a dual approach can increase understanding of habitat linkages in large lakes. Quantifying the importance of multiple lentic habitats (i.e., "lakescape connectivity") for fisheries production is critical for developing comprehensive large lake food web models and providing managers with information to prioritize locations for conservation and restoration.

show abstract

Watershed and lake influences on the energetic base of coastal wetland food webs across the Great Lakes Basin

Cited by 20 publications

References 72 publications

An exploratory investigation of the landscape-lake interface: Land cover controls over consumer N and C isotopic composition in Lake Michigan rivermouths

An exploratory investigation of the landscape-lake interface: Land cover controls over consumer N and C isotopic composition in Lake Michigan rivermouths

Coastal Wetland Support of Great Lakes Fisheries: Progress from Concept to Quantification

Lakescape connectivity: Mobile fish consumers link Lake Michigan coastal wetland and nearshore food webs

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About