Managing spawning and nursery habitat of the Georgian Bay muskellunge (Esox Masquinongy). Leblanc, J. P. M. Ph.D. Thesis, August, 2015. Accepted: 2015-09-24T15:32:57Z![Managing spawning and nursery habitat of the Georgian Bay muskellunge (Esox Masquinongy) [link]](https://bibbase.org/img/filetypes/link.svg "link")
Paper abstract bibtex The self-sustaining status of Georgian Bay’s trophy muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) fishery is owed in part to the widespread distribution of high quality coastal wetlands used as nursery habitat. The specific wetland features that promote the recruitment of young-of-the-year (YOY) muskellunge in Georgian Bay have not been clearly defined, and without such information, it is unclear to what extent an unprecedented period of sustained low water-levels (c. 1999), and/or shoreline modifications, will continue to degrade the suitability of nursery habitats used by muskellunge throughout Georgian Bay. In this thesis, I use data from two years of intensive sampling in two embayments of northern Georgian Bay to statistically differentiate between wetlands that were found with and without YOY muskellunge. By doing so, I have provided the first quantifiable definition of suitable nursery habitat for muskellunge in Georgian Bay. Muskellunge nurseries have a structurally complex community of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV; e.g. Potamogeton richardsonii) within the water column (≤ 1-m depth) and a fish community that had abundant suitable prey (e.g. Cypinid species) and a scarcity of early-life predators (e.g. Perca flavescens). Some key aspects of the SAV community were governed by wetland's bathymetry, and this relationship makes it possible to model the effect of changing water-level scenarios on habitat suitability. I translated these results into a management tool for fish management agencies by creating an Index of Nursery Habitat Suitability (INHS) that can be applied to other embayments in Georgian Bay to identify high quality early-life habitats for muskellunge. I developed two INHS models and applied them to an independent dataset from other regions of Georgian Bay, and found them to differentiate between sites that were known to be used by YOY muskellunge and those where YOY were absent. These were also able to track deterioration in habitat quality associated with the recent decade of low water levels. Both INHS models rely on variables based on robust ecological relationships known to favour YOY survivorship that can be readily collected by fish management agencies, and one INHS model does not require detailed information of the aquatic plant community. Both models were also designed to minimize the frequency of false negatives (suitable nursery sites misidentified as unsuitable) and false positives (unsuitable nursery sites misidentified as suitable). These INHS models should become an important tool that will complement harvest regulations to promote this economically and ecologically valuable, self-sustaining muskellunge population in Georgian Bay.
@phdthesis{leblanc_managing_2015,
type = {Doctor of {Philosophy}},
title = {Managing spawning and nursery habitat of the {Georgian} {Bay} muskellunge ({Esox} {Masquinongy})},
url = {https://macsphere.mcmaster.ca/handle/11375/18098},
abstract = {The self-sustaining status of Georgian Bay’s trophy muskellunge (Esox masquinongy) fishery is owed in part to the widespread distribution of high quality coastal wetlands used as nursery habitat. The specific wetland features that promote the recruitment of young-of-the-year (YOY) muskellunge in Georgian Bay have not been clearly defined, and without such information, it is unclear to what extent an unprecedented period of sustained low water-levels (c. 1999), and/or shoreline modifications, will continue to degrade the suitability of nursery habitats used by muskellunge throughout Georgian Bay. In this thesis, I use data from two years of intensive sampling in two embayments of northern Georgian Bay to statistically differentiate between wetlands that were found with and without YOY muskellunge. By doing so, I have provided the first quantifiable definition of suitable nursery habitat for muskellunge in Georgian Bay. Muskellunge nurseries have a structurally complex community of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV; e.g. Potamogeton richardsonii) within the water column (≤ 1-m depth) and a fish community that had abundant suitable prey (e.g. Cypinid species) and a scarcity of early-life predators (e.g. Perca flavescens). Some key aspects of the SAV community were governed by wetland's bathymetry, and this relationship makes it possible to model the effect of changing water-level scenarios on habitat suitability.
I translated these results into a management tool for fish management agencies by creating an Index of Nursery Habitat Suitability (INHS) that can be applied to other embayments in Georgian Bay to identify high quality early-life habitats for muskellunge. I developed two INHS models and applied them to an independent dataset from other regions of Georgian Bay, and found them to differentiate between sites that were known to be used by YOY muskellunge and those where YOY were absent. These were also able to track deterioration in habitat quality associated with the recent decade of low water levels. Both INHS models rely on variables based on robust ecological relationships known to favour YOY survivorship that can be readily collected by fish management agencies, and one INHS model does not require detailed information of the aquatic plant community. Both models were also designed to minimize the frequency of false negatives (suitable nursery sites misidentified as unsuitable) and false positives (unsuitable nursery sites misidentified as suitable). These INHS models should become an important tool that will complement harvest regulations to promote this economically and ecologically valuable, self-sustaining muskellunge population in Georgian Bay.},
language = {en},
urldate = {2023-07-04},
author = {Leblanc, John Paul MR},
month = aug,
year = {2015},
note = {Accepted: 2015-09-24T15:32:57Z},
keywords = {Terrestrial Ecoregions (CEC 1997)},
}
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The specific wetland features that promote the recruitment of young-of-the-year (YOY) muskellunge in Georgian Bay have not been clearly defined, and without such information, it is unclear to what extent an unprecedented period of sustained low water-levels (c. 1999), and/or shoreline modifications, will continue to degrade the suitability of nursery habitats used by muskellunge throughout Georgian Bay. In this thesis, I use data from two years of intensive sampling in two embayments of northern Georgian Bay to statistically differentiate between wetlands that were found with and without YOY muskellunge. By doing so, I have provided the first quantifiable definition of suitable nursery habitat for muskellunge in Georgian Bay. Muskellunge nurseries have a structurally complex community of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV; e.g. Potamogeton richardsonii) within the water column (≤ 1-m depth) and a fish community that had abundant suitable prey (e.g. Cypinid species) and a scarcity of early-life predators (e.g. Perca flavescens). Some key aspects of the SAV community were governed by wetland's bathymetry, and this relationship makes it possible to model the effect of changing water-level scenarios on habitat suitability. I translated these results into a management tool for fish management agencies by creating an Index of Nursery Habitat Suitability (INHS) that can be applied to other embayments in Georgian Bay to identify high quality early-life habitats for muskellunge. I developed two INHS models and applied them to an independent dataset from other regions of Georgian Bay, and found them to differentiate between sites that were known to be used by YOY muskellunge and those where YOY were absent. These were also able to track deterioration in habitat quality associated with the recent decade of low water levels. Both INHS models rely on variables based on robust ecological relationships known to favour YOY survivorship that can be readily collected by fish management agencies, and one INHS model does not require detailed information of the aquatic plant community. Both models were also designed to minimize the frequency of false negatives (suitable nursery sites misidentified as unsuitable) and false positives (unsuitable nursery sites misidentified as suitable). 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Muskellunge nurseries have a structurally complex community of submersed aquatic vegetation (SAV; e.g. Potamogeton richardsonii) within the water column (≤ 1-m depth) and a fish community that had abundant suitable prey (e.g. Cypinid species) and a scarcity of early-life predators (e.g. Perca flavescens). Some key aspects of the SAV community were governed by wetland's bathymetry, and this relationship makes it possible to model the effect of changing water-level scenarios on habitat suitability. \nI translated these results into a management tool for fish management agencies by creating an Index of Nursery Habitat Suitability (INHS) that can be applied to other embayments in Georgian Bay to identify high quality early-life habitats for muskellunge. I developed two INHS models and applied them to an independent dataset from other regions of Georgian Bay, and found them to differentiate between sites that were known to be used by YOY muskellunge and those where YOY were absent. These were also able to track deterioration in habitat quality associated with the recent decade of low water levels. Both INHS models rely on variables based on robust ecological relationships known to favour YOY survivorship that can be readily collected by fish management agencies, and one INHS model does not require detailed information of the aquatic plant community. Both models were also designed to minimize the frequency of false negatives (suitable nursery sites misidentified as unsuitable) and false positives (unsuitable nursery sites misidentified as suitable). 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