Publications

Objective Rainbow Smelt Osmerus mordax are the most important native prey fish in the coldwater food web of Lake Champlain, but their history in the lake is not well understood. Writers in the 1800s described a nonresident population of smelt that reached sizes greater than 315 mm that was sympatric with a population of individuals that matured at smaller sizes. No studies, however, have

The U. S. Geological Survey-Great Lakes Science Center has monitored annual changes in the offshore (depth > 9m) prey fish community of Lake Huron since 1973. Monitoring of prey fish populations in Lake Huron is based on a bottom trawl survey that targets demersal species (i.e., those predominantly or intermittently associated with the lake bottom) and an acoustic-midwater trawl survey...

Cisco (Otoonapii in Ojibwe; Coregonus artedi Lesueur, 1818), is a widely distributed stenothermic freshwater fish whose embryos typically incubate under ice and in the dark. We used Cisco as a model organism for testing the potential of UV-induced escape hatching behaviour. Owing to reduced ice cover and increased water transparency in north temperate lakes, these experiments provide...

Objective Immobilizing or anesthetizing fish is important for promoting fish welfare in numerous routine activities that involve handling. Electroanesthesia, an alternative to traditional chemical anesthetics, uses weak electrical current to immobilize fish while current is applied, resulting in near-immediate induction and recovery. The physiological effects of electroanesthesia appear...

Objective We evaluated white light as a potential guidance cue for juvenile Sea Lamprey Petromyzon marinus in a natural setting as well as the effect of water velocity (0.25-, 0.50-, 0.75-, and 1.0-m/s test velocities) on light guidance behavior in a controlled laboratory flume, and characterized emigration timing and movement rates in a small stream (∼10 m wide and 0.7 m deep).Methods...

Identifying commonalities in how fish navigate rivers near infrastructure will enhance water operations and design by improving our ability to predict engineering outcomes (e.g., barrier construction/removal, fish passage installation) in novel settings before the cost of real-world implementation. Evidence from intermediate-scale computer models (time scales of minutes to days and...

Lake ice cover is declining globally with important implications for lake ecosystems. Ice loss studies often rely on small numbers of lakes with long-term data. We analyzed variation and trends in ice cover phenology from 1,213 lakes over 74 years (1949-2022) in Minnesota (USA), during which ice cover duration declined at a rate of 2 days per decade (14 days total) and became more...

Coregonines have specific ecological needs, making them potentially very vulnerable to changes in lake conditions. A contemporary concern is that many lakes worldwide are experiencing environmental changes due to anthropogenic pressure and climate warming. Here, we compiled long-term data of coregonine catches from 27 lakes from three continents in the northern hemisphere. Declines in...

Objective Many species are intentionally introduced beyond their native range to provide benefits to humans (e.g., food, recreation, or biocontrol). However, introduced species can become invasive and can harm native species, prompting resource managers to explore options to simultaneously conserve native biota and enhance fishing opportunities. Management of Chesapeake Bay Blue Catfish...

Lake Ontario Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) rehabilitation has been assessed with fishery independent surveys to evaluate program benchmarks and compare observations with management objectives since 1983. These surveys provide information on the abundance, strain composition, and performance of stocked Lake Trout, as well as information on levels of natural recruitment, and Sea...

Fall bottom trawl (fall BT) and lakewide acoustic (AC) surveys are conducted annually to generate indices of pelagic and benthic prey fish densities in Lake Michigan. The fall BT survey has been conducted each fall since 1973 using 12-m trawls at depths ranging from 9 to 110 m at fixed locations distributed across seven transects; this survey estimates densities of seven prey fish...

The U.S. Geological Survey has conducted annual fishery surveys across Lake Superior since 1978 that describe trends in fish species occurrence and relative abundance to inform fisheries management and ecosystem health. In 2024, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom and surface trawls at 72 nearshore locations in June and 36 offshore locations in July...