Mark Vinson, PhD
Station Chief, Lake Superior Biological Station.
I have studied aquatic plants, invertebrates, and fish from caves, springs, rivers, lakes and wetlands throughout the world. I am comfortable in uncomfortable places. I currently study recruitment dynamics of Lake Superior ciscoes (Bloater, Cisco, and Kiyi). I have a gift for data analytics and a fondness for voguish data graphics.
Professional Experience
1993-2008. Research Assistant Professor. Utah State University.
1988-1992. Hydrologist. U.S. Bureau of Land Management.
Education and Certifications
Ph.D. 1998. Utah State University.
M.S. 1988. Idaho State University.
B.S. 1986. University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.
Science and Products
Publications by this scientist
Filter Total Items: 38
Age, growth, and size of Lake Superior Pygmy Whitefish (Prosopium coulterii)
Pygmy Whitefish (Prosopium coulterii) are a small, glacial relict species with a disjunct distribution in North America and Siberia. In 2013 we collected Pygmy Whitefish at 28 stations from throughout Lake Superior. Total length was recorded for all fish and weight and sex were recorded and scales and otoliths were collected from a subsample. We compared the precision of estimated ages between rea
Authors
Taylor Stewart, Derek Ogle, Owen T. Gorman, Mark Vinson
Status and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2015
In 2015, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 76 nearshore and 33 offshore stations. Spring and summer water temperatures in 2015 were colder than average, but warmer than that observed in 2014. In the nearshore zone, a total of 11,882 individuals from 22 species or morphotypes were collected. Nearshore lakewide mean biomass was 1.8 kg/ha, which was near the l
Authors
Mark Vinson, Lori M. Evrard, Owen T. Gorman, Daniel L. Yule
Evaluating the importance of abiotic and biotic drivers on Bythotrephes biomass in Lakes Superior and Michigan
The ability of planktivorous fishes to exert top-down control on Bythotrephes potentially has far-reaching impacts on aquatic food-webs, given previously described effects of Bythotrephes on zooplankton communities. We estimated consumption of Bythotrephes by planktivorous and benthivorous fishes, using bioenergetics and daily ration models at nearshore (18 m), intermediate (46 m), and offshore (1
Authors
Kevin M. Keeler, David B. Bunnell, James S. Diana, Jean V. Adams, Justin G. Mychek-Londer, David M. Warner, Daniel Yule, Mark Vinson
Status and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2014
In 2014, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 73 nearshore and 30 offshore stations. Spring and summer water temperatures were the coldest measured for the period of records for the surveys. In the nearshore zone, a total of 15,372 individuals from 28 species or morphotypes were collected. Nearshore lakewide mean biomass was 6.9 kg/ha, which was higher than th
Authors
Mark Vinson, Lori M. Evrard, Owen T. Gorman, Daniel Yule
Muskie lunacy: does the lunar cycle influence angler catch of muskellunge (Esox masquinongy)?
We analyzed angling catch records for 341,959 muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) from North America to test for a cyclic lunar influence on the catch. Using periodic regression, we showed that the number caught was strongly related to the 29-day lunar cycle, and the effect was consistent across most fisheries. More muskellunge were caught around the full and new moon than at other times. At night, mor
Authors
Mark R. Vinson, Ted R. Angradi
Burrowing mayfly populations in Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin: 2002 and 2012
Burrowing mayflies (Ephemeroptera: Ephemeridae) are sensitive to pollution and have been used as environmental indicators in the Great Lakes. Hexagenia limbata and Ephemera simulans population abundance and biomass estimates from Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior, were compared between the years 2002 and 2012 as well as inside and outside the Northern States Power Lakefront Superfund site. Mean abund
Authors
Kristin M. Brunk, Mark R. Vinson, Derek H. Ogle, Lori M. Evrard
A new look at the Lake Superior biomass size spectrum
We synthesized data from multiple sampling programs and years to describe the Lake Superior pelagic biomass size structure. Data consisted of Coulter counts for phytoplankton, optical plankton counts for zooplankton, and acoustic surveys for pelagic prey fish. The size spectrum was stable across two time periods separated by 5 years. The primary scaling or overall slope of the normalized biomass s
Authors
Peder M. Yurista, Daniel L. Yule, Matt Balge, Jon D. VanAlstine, Jo A. Thompson, Allison E. Gamble, Thomas R. Hrabik, John R. Kelly, Jason D. Stockwell, Mark Vinson
Status and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2013
In 2013, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 79 nearshore and 35 offshore locations. In the nearshore zone, a total of 23,432 individuals of 27 species or morphotypes were collected. Nearshore lakewide mean biomass was 5.5 kg ha-1, which was slightly higher than that observed in the past few years, but below the long-term average of 8.8 kg ha-1. In the offsho
Authors
Mark Vinson, Lori M. Evrard, Owen T. Gorman, Daniel L. Yule
Hydrologic alteration affects aquatic plant assemblages in an arid-land river
We evaluated the effects of long-term flow alteration on primary-producer assemblages. In 1962, Flaming Gorge Dam was constructed on the Green River. The Yampa River has remained an unregulated hydrologically variable river that joins the Green River 100 km downstream from Flaming Gorge Dam. In the 1960s before dam construction only sparse occurrences of two macroalgae, Cladophora and Chara, and n
Authors
Mark Vinson, Bennett Hestmark, Mary E. Barkworth
Use of classification trees to apportion single echo detections to species: Application to the pelagic fish community of Lake Superior
Acoustic methods are used to estimate the density of pelagic fish in large lakes with results of midwater trawling used to assign species composition. Apportionment in lakes having mixed species can be challenging because only a small fraction of the water sampled acoustically is sampled with trawl gear. Here we describe a new method where single echo detections (SEDs) are assigned to species base
Authors
Daniel L. Yule, Jean V. Adams, Thomas R. Hrabik, Mark R. Vinson, Zebadiah Woiak, Tyler D. Ahrenstroff
Status and trends in the fish community of Lake Superior, 2012
The Great Lakes Science Center has conducted daytime nearshore bottom trawl surveys of Lake Superior (15-80 m bathymetric depth zone) each spring since 1978 and an offshore survey (>80 m) since 2011 to provide long-term trends of relative abundance and biomass of the fish community. In 2012, 72 nearshore and 34 offshore stations were sampled with a 12-m Yankee bottom trawl.
The 2012 estimate of la
Authors
Owen T. Gorman, Lori M. Evrard, Gary A. Cholwek, Mark Vinson
Sources of variability and comparability between salmonid stomach contents and isotopic analyses: study design lessons and recommendations
We compared sources of variability and cost in paired stomach content and stable isotope samples from three salmonid species collected in September 2001–2005 and describe the relative information provided by each method in terms of measuring diet overlap and food web study design. Based on diet analyses, diet overlap among brown trout, rainbow trout, and mountain whitefish was high, and we observe
Authors
M.R. Vinson, P. Budy
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Publications by this scientist
Filter Total Items: 38Age, growth, and size of Lake Superior Pygmy Whitefish (Prosopium coulterii)
Pygmy Whitefish (Prosopium coulterii) are a small, glacial relict species with a disjunct distribution in North America and Siberia. In 2013 we collected Pygmy Whitefish at 28 stations from throughout Lake Superior. Total length was recorded for all fish and weight and sex were recorded and scales and otoliths were collected from a subsample. We compared the precision of estimated ages between reaAuthorsTaylor Stewart, Derek Ogle, Owen T. Gorman, Mark VinsonStatus and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2015
In 2015, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 76 nearshore and 33 offshore stations. Spring and summer water temperatures in 2015 were colder than average, but warmer than that observed in 2014. In the nearshore zone, a total of 11,882 individuals from 22 species or morphotypes were collected. Nearshore lakewide mean biomass was 1.8 kg/ha, which was near the lAuthorsMark Vinson, Lori M. Evrard, Owen T. Gorman, Daniel L. YuleEvaluating the importance of abiotic and biotic drivers on Bythotrephes biomass in Lakes Superior and Michigan
The ability of planktivorous fishes to exert top-down control on Bythotrephes potentially has far-reaching impacts on aquatic food-webs, given previously described effects of Bythotrephes on zooplankton communities. We estimated consumption of Bythotrephes by planktivorous and benthivorous fishes, using bioenergetics and daily ration models at nearshore (18 m), intermediate (46 m), and offshore (1AuthorsKevin M. Keeler, David B. Bunnell, James S. Diana, Jean V. Adams, Justin G. Mychek-Londer, David M. Warner, Daniel Yule, Mark VinsonStatus and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2014
In 2014, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 73 nearshore and 30 offshore stations. Spring and summer water temperatures were the coldest measured for the period of records for the surveys. In the nearshore zone, a total of 15,372 individuals from 28 species or morphotypes were collected. Nearshore lakewide mean biomass was 6.9 kg/ha, which was higher than thAuthorsMark Vinson, Lori M. Evrard, Owen T. Gorman, Daniel YuleMuskie lunacy: does the lunar cycle influence angler catch of muskellunge (Esox masquinongy)?
We analyzed angling catch records for 341,959 muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) from North America to test for a cyclic lunar influence on the catch. Using periodic regression, we showed that the number caught was strongly related to the 29-day lunar cycle, and the effect was consistent across most fisheries. More muskellunge were caught around the full and new moon than at other times. At night, morAuthorsMark R. Vinson, Ted R. AngradiBurrowing mayfly populations in Chequamegon Bay, Wisconsin: 2002 and 2012
Burrowing mayflies (Ephemeroptera: Ephemeridae) are sensitive to pollution and have been used as environmental indicators in the Great Lakes. Hexagenia limbata and Ephemera simulans population abundance and biomass estimates from Chequamegon Bay, Lake Superior, were compared between the years 2002 and 2012 as well as inside and outside the Northern States Power Lakefront Superfund site. Mean abundAuthorsKristin M. Brunk, Mark R. Vinson, Derek H. Ogle, Lori M. EvrardA new look at the Lake Superior biomass size spectrum
We synthesized data from multiple sampling programs and years to describe the Lake Superior pelagic biomass size structure. Data consisted of Coulter counts for phytoplankton, optical plankton counts for zooplankton, and acoustic surveys for pelagic prey fish. The size spectrum was stable across two time periods separated by 5 years. The primary scaling or overall slope of the normalized biomass sAuthorsPeder M. Yurista, Daniel L. Yule, Matt Balge, Jon D. VanAlstine, Jo A. Thompson, Allison E. Gamble, Thomas R. Hrabik, John R. Kelly, Jason D. Stockwell, Mark VinsonStatus and trends in the Lake Superior fish community, 2013
In 2013, the Lake Superior fish community was sampled with daytime bottom trawls at 79 nearshore and 35 offshore locations. In the nearshore zone, a total of 23,432 individuals of 27 species or morphotypes were collected. Nearshore lakewide mean biomass was 5.5 kg ha-1, which was slightly higher than that observed in the past few years, but below the long-term average of 8.8 kg ha-1. In the offshoAuthorsMark Vinson, Lori M. Evrard, Owen T. Gorman, Daniel L. YuleHydrologic alteration affects aquatic plant assemblages in an arid-land river
We evaluated the effects of long-term flow alteration on primary-producer assemblages. In 1962, Flaming Gorge Dam was constructed on the Green River. The Yampa River has remained an unregulated hydrologically variable river that joins the Green River 100 km downstream from Flaming Gorge Dam. In the 1960s before dam construction only sparse occurrences of two macroalgae, Cladophora and Chara, and nAuthorsMark Vinson, Bennett Hestmark, Mary E. BarkworthUse of classification trees to apportion single echo detections to species: Application to the pelagic fish community of Lake Superior
Acoustic methods are used to estimate the density of pelagic fish in large lakes with results of midwater trawling used to assign species composition. Apportionment in lakes having mixed species can be challenging because only a small fraction of the water sampled acoustically is sampled with trawl gear. Here we describe a new method where single echo detections (SEDs) are assigned to species baseAuthorsDaniel L. Yule, Jean V. Adams, Thomas R. Hrabik, Mark R. Vinson, Zebadiah Woiak, Tyler D. AhrenstroffStatus and trends in the fish community of Lake Superior, 2012
The Great Lakes Science Center has conducted daytime nearshore bottom trawl surveys of Lake Superior (15-80 m bathymetric depth zone) each spring since 1978 and an offshore survey (>80 m) since 2011 to provide long-term trends of relative abundance and biomass of the fish community. In 2012, 72 nearshore and 34 offshore stations were sampled with a 12-m Yankee bottom trawl. The 2012 estimate of laAuthorsOwen T. Gorman, Lori M. Evrard, Gary A. Cholwek, Mark VinsonSources of variability and comparability between salmonid stomach contents and isotopic analyses: study design lessons and recommendations
We compared sources of variability and cost in paired stomach content and stable isotope samples from three salmonid species collected in September 2001–2005 and describe the relative information provided by each method in terms of measuring diet overlap and food web study design. Based on diet analyses, diet overlap among brown trout, rainbow trout, and mountain whitefish was high, and we observeAuthorsM.R. Vinson, P. Budy - Data
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