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FISH COMMUNITIES IN LAKE IN SUBREGION 2B (UPPER PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN) IN RELATION TO LAKE ACIDITY: VOLUME I
Citation:
Cusimano, R., J. Baker, W. Warren-Hicks, W. Taylor, M. Fabrizio, D. Hayes, AND B. Baldigo. FISH COMMUNITIES IN LAKE IN SUBREGION 2B (UPPER PENINSULA OF MICHIGAN) IN RELATION TO LAKE ACIDITY: VOLUME I. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Washington, D.C., EPA/600/3-89/021a.
Description:
Surveys of fish community status were conducted in summer 1987 in 49 lakes in Subregion 20, the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, as part of Phase II of the Eastern Lake Survey. Lake selection involved a variable probability sampling design. Fish communities were surveyed using gill nets, trap nets, beach seines, and angling. Duplicate surveys were conducted for 10 of the 49 lakes as part of the quality assurance/quality control protocol. Fish were collected in 47 of the 49 lakes surveyed. Extrapolation of the results to the Eastern Lake Survey Phase II target population suggests that 99.4% of the lakes in the area support fish. For the 49 survey lakes, the number of fish species caught per lake (species richness) was lower in seepage lakes (without inlets or outlets) than in non-seepage lakes and was also lower in lakes with lower pH, ANC, calcium (and other base cations), DOC, and silica and with higher levels of extractable aluminum. For several fish species and for cyprinid (minnow) and darter species as a group, lakes without fish had significantly lower levels of pH, ANC, calcium, base cations, silica, and sulfate; were smaller in size; and were more often seepage lakes than non-seepage lakes. In contrast to the large number of variables associated with fish presence/absence and species richness, variations in the numbers of fish caught and catch per unit effort among lakes appeared to be independent of lake characteristics.