Data

Data files contain the simulated mean daily environmental conditions in Lake Michigan for historical (2005, 2006, 2010, 2014, 2015, and 2016) and future (2040-2049, 2090-2099) years. Simulations were generated by integrating a series of climatic, hydrodynamic, and biological models. Each year's dataset predicts water temperature, photosynthetically active radiation, and phytoplankton...

These data describe water chemistry and fish, macroinvertebrate and vegetation communities within recently restored, historically-restored, and unrestored wetland management units of the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR; Michigan, USA). Data were collected in 2022 according to protocols and methods described in Curwin et al. 2023. These methods were developed through previous...

These data describe water chemistry and fish, macroinvertebrate and vegetation communities within recently restored, historically-restored, and unrestored wetland management units of the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge (SNWR; Michigan, USA). Data were collected in 2021 according to protocols and methods described in Conrad et al. 2022. These methods developed through previous years...

This data release includes Lake Ontario prey fish data including species captured, relative abundance, spatial distribution, size structure, and age data from the benthic prey fish and yellow perch bottom trawl surveys, 1978 through 2024. Data from 1978 - 2014 are from U.S. waters of Lake Ontario while data from 2015 - 2024 include both U.S. and Canadian waters of Lake Ontario. Details...

A long-term, multi-season, fish egg sampling program is conducted annually on the Detroit, Saint Clair, and Saint Marys rivers to identify where productive fish spawning habitat currently exists and evaluate habitat restoration projects. Egg mats were placed on the river bottom during the spring and fall at historic spawning areas, candidate fish spawning habitat restoration sites, and...

Underwater measurements of photosynthetically active radiation were collected along multiple transects throughout Lake Michigan during the 2021 cooperative science monitoring initiative survey of the lake. These data were collected as part of an effort to quantify the water transparency of the lake. The data included in this release provide the percent of photosynthetically active...

This dataset represents field data from a multi-year experiment testing the cut-to-drown management strategy in patches of Phragmites australis at two sites in the Great Lakes coastal zone. We established research plots where Phragmites was cut under the water to test that treatment's effectiveness as a control strategy. The experiment took place in 2022 and 2023. Over the multi-year...

This dataset records Cladophora and associated benthic algae, collectively the Cladophora community or submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), biomass collected during the growing season of 2024 at stations located along the U.S. shoreline of Lakes Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. It also records a variety of supporting data collected at Cladophora measurement stations. These supporting...

This data set contains Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) egg catch per unit effort (CPUE) estimates obtained from egg traps set on Stony Island Reef in Lake Ontario. These data were collected from sampling efforts in November 2017 and October-November 2019. Stony Island Reef is a cobble spawning reef located in the eastern basin of Lake Ontario and was chosen as the study site because it...

This dataset includes larval fish catches, species identifications, total length measurements, and relevant covariate data from a larval fish community survey of the U.S. waters of Lake Ontario. Sites were surveyed along a bottom depth gradient of 5 to 225 meters, covering a range of nearshore and offshore habitat between the months of May and July 2024. Vessel and gear descriptions are...

This data set contains Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) egg density estimates obtained from suction sampling across five locations in Lake Ontario. These data were collected in October-November 2020 and November-December 2024 as part of an effort to identify Lake Trout spawning locations and habitat preference in Lake Ontario. Additional information on habitat characteristics at each...

This dataset is associated with an examination of environmental DNA (eDNA) obtained from freshwater matrices (i.e. benthic algae, sediment, and near bottom water) collected by scuba divers from previously established transects located along the U.S. shoreline of Lakes: Michigan, Huron, Erie, and Ontario. 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing (i.e., targeting bacterial communities) and high...