Lower trophic level impacts on fish recruitment
David A. Culver. Funded by: Ohio Department of Natural Resources, Division of Wildlife, Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration.

Project FADX09 began in 1995 and seeks to determine how spatial and temporal variation in phytoplankton and zooplankton species composition and abundance is reflected in the recruitment of Lake Erie forage and sportfish species. Plankton samples are collected by ODW personnel in conjunction with their trawling surveys of year-class strength of Lake Erie fish. Additional sampling is being performed by the Canadian National Water Research Institute and our staff during fieldwork on the USEPA’s Lake Erie Trophic Study (2003-2004). We also analyze plankton and chlorophyll samples taken by ODW for their contribution to the Lake Erie Forage Task Group.

Recent results have identified a trend of increasing phytoplankton abundance since a minimum in 1995, plus increased frequency of blooms of potentially toxic cyanobacterial (bluegreen algae) blooms, whereas seasonally averaged zooplankton biomass has remained the same. We have initiated a program to combine results from our laboratory analyses with those of other Lake Erie fish projects to more closely examine the impacts of changing plankton dynamics on forage and sportfish species.

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Dave Culver's Limnology Lab

Dave Culver can be emailed at culver.3 "at" osu.edu