Yellow perch genetic structure and habitat use among connected habitats in eastern Lake Michigan

Abstract

Maintenance of genetic and phenotypic diversity is widely recognized as an important conservation priority, yet managers often lack basic information about spatial patterns of population structure and its relationship with habitat heterogeneity and species movement within it. To address this knowledge gap, we focused on the economically and ecologically prominent yellow perch (Perca flavescens). In the Lake Michigan basin, yellow perch reside in nearshore Lake Michigan, including drowned river mouths (DRMs)—protected, lake‐like habitats that link tributaries to Lake Michigan. The goal of this study was to examine the extent that population structure is associated with Great Lakes connected habitats (i.e., DRMs) in a mobile fish species using yellow perch as a model. Specifically, we tested whether DRMs and eastern Lake Michigan constitute distinct genetic stocks of yellow perch, and if so, whether those stocks migrate between the two connected habitats throughout the year. To do so, we genotyped yellow perch at 14 microsatellite loci collected from 10 DRMs in both deep and littoral habitats during spring, summer, and autumn and two nearshore sites in Lake Michigan (spring and autumn) during 2015–2016 and supplemented our sampling with fish collected in 2013. We found that yellow perch from littoral‐DRM habitats were genetically distinct from fish captured in nearshore Lake Michigan. Our data also suggested that Lake Michigan yellow perch likely use deep‐DRM habitats during autumn. Further, we found genetic structuring among DRMs. These patterns support hypotheses of fishery managers that yellow perch seasonally migrate to and from Lake Michigan, yet, interestingly, these fish do not appear to interbreed with littoral fish despite occupying the same DRM. We recommend that fisheries managers account for this complex population structure and movement when setting fishing regulations and assessing the effects of harvest in Lake Michigan.

It’s complicated: Heterogeneous patterns of genetic structure in five fish species from a fragmented river suggest multiple processes can drive differentiation

“…For example, Euclide et al ( 2020 ) detected strong genetic structure in Lake Michigan smallmouth bass across small spatial scales (10–30 km), which often correlated to differences in habitat type rather than geographic distance, and found that gene flow between lake and river sites was low, even though individuals from the two habitat types likely mixed outside of the spawning season. Additionally, Chorak et al ( 2019 ) observed genetic structure in yellow perch populations between Lake Michigan and connected DRM habitats, even though the different populations overlapped during parts of the year. Taken together, our findings and those of past studies suggest that, for some Great Lakes species, distinct tributary and Great Lakes populations may have adapted to different habitat types and historically maintained low levels of gene flow even before the construction of anthropogenic barriers.…”

“…Similar variations in life‐history strategies have recently been uncovered in some of our other study species as well. Chorak et al ( 2019 ) and Senegal et al ( 2020 ) both found that in eastern Lake Michigan, yellow perch exhibited multiple life‐history variations, in which some yellow perch were Lake Michigan residents, some were DRM lake residents, and some were Lake Michigan fish that temporarily moved into DRM lakes during the fall. It is therefore possible that prior to dam construction, GL juvenile fish from some or all of our species not only entered the lower Boardman River, as we observed in our study, but also traveled upstream of the current dam site and utilized habitat in Boardman Lake, which is a natural DRM lake, and perhaps further upstream as well.…”

“…Intraspecific variation in life‐history strategies including fluvial vs. adfluvial residence (Blumstein et al, 2018 ; Borden, 2008 ; Stepien et al, 2007 ) and spawning philopatry (Leung & Magnan, 2011 ; Stepien et al, 2009 ; Strange & Stepien, 2007 ; Wilson et al, 2016 ) has also created sympatric divergence and fine‐scale genetic structure among adjacent or overlapping populations in the Laurentian Great Lakes. For example, Chorak et al ( 2019 ) observed that yellow perch occupying drowned river mouths (DRMs) connected to Lake Michigan were genetically distinct from Lake Michigan perch, even though the Lake Michigan perch utilized DRM habitats during part of the year. Since the arrival of European settlers, humans have drastically altered the Great Lakes ecosystem through various activities (Regier et al, 1999 ; Ricciardi & MacIsaac, 2000 ), such as the construction of thousands of dams (Januchowski‐Hartley et al, 2013 ).…”

Two for the price of one: eDNA metabarcoding reveals temporal and spatial variability of mussel and fish co‐distributions in Michigan riverine systems

“…Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens), and Flathead Catfish (Pylodictis olivaris), all exhibit seasonal movements within Michigan rivers and between drowned river mouth habitats and Lake Michigan (Chorak et al, 2019;Daugherty & Sutton, 2005;DePhilip et al, 2005). While differences in fish detections between June and August likely reflect the seasonal movements of these fishes in the study area, we cannot rule out the possibility that the removal of nearly twice the positive detections for the June sampling event while controlling for contamination contributed to the seasonal differences detected.…”

Adult lake sturgeon ( Acipenser fulvescens Rafinesque, 1817) occurrence in the Muskegon River system, a Lake Michigan drowned river mouth, USA

“…Drowned river mouth lakes also are important nursery habitat for juvenile lake sturgeon throughout the year (Altenritter et al, 2013). Nevertheless, DRM lakes often become thermally stratified during summer, and dissolved oxygen concentrations can become low in the hypolimnion (Biddanda et al, 2018; Chorak et al, 2019), which has been shown to affect the distribution of fish (Weinke & Biddanda, 2018). For example, juvenile lake sturgeon avoided areas in a DRM lake with low dissolved oxygen concentrations (<4 mg/L; Altenritter et al, 2013), although adults may be less sensitive (Damstra & Galarowicz, 2013).…”