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Research about Lake Erie

Source-linked reports with geographic coverage including Lake Erie.

104 records · Page 6Linked to original sources
USGS2005

Potential oxygen demand of sediments from Lake Erie

Dreissenid mussels ( Dreissena polymorpha and D. bugensis ) biodeposit large quantities of filtered materials (i.e., feces and pseudofeces) directly on bottom substrates. These biodeposits have the potential to increase oxygen demand in sediments and overlying waters and thus contribute to hypolimnetic anoxia in Lake Erie. We hypothesized that higher potential oxygen demand of sediments would occur in areas near shore than in offshore hypolimnetic waters as a result of biodeposits carried by currents from littoral water where mussels, available foods, and biodeposits may be most abundant. To address this hypothesis, we measured potential oxygen demand (mg O2/L/120 h incubation) at six sites near shore and six sites offshore monthly June to September 2002 and August 2003. In addition, we compared, in post priori hypothesis, seven sites with and five sites without dreissenid mussels. Contrary to our hypotheses, potential oxygen demand was not significantly higher in bottles containing nearshore sediments than offshore sediments. Similarly, potential oxygen demand was not significantly higher at sites with dreissenid mussels than at sites without mussels. Data are consistent with pre-dreissenid studies which show oxygen demand and percent ash-free dry weights of sediments were higher offshore than near shore and ash-free dry weight of sediments decreased June to September. Therefore, the present study provides no evidence that dreissenid mussels have contributed directly-via biodeposition-to increased anoxia observed in Lake Erie in the mid to late 1990s.

Lake Erie↗
USGS2004

The influence of diet, consumption and lipid use on recruitment of white bass

The abundance of white bass ( Morone chrysops ) in Lake Erie has declined in recent years, sparking interest in mechanisms influencing its recruitment. We evaluate two mechanisms affecting recruitment: diet and the potential for competition, and storage of lipid energy reserves and the relationship to overwinter survival. The fish in our study were characteristic of white bass in the northern portion of their range, feeding predominantly on zooplankton. Only the largest age-0 white bass ate fish as a significant portion of their diet. Over the summer sampling period, we found decreasing ration sizes, expressed as a percentage of maximum ration, as the summer progressed with a concomitant decrease in the relative amount of lipid storage. In laboratory experiments, age-0 white bass held at 5°C and given food ad libitum did feed, but at rates that were insufficient to maintain body weight. Loss in weight was accompanied with a loss in lipids at a rate of 2.8 mg of lipids per gram of body weight per day. Based on our data, we concluded that age-0 white bass in Lake Erie were food-limited. Food limitation resulted in reduced growth rates, presumably related to competition with other planktivorous fishes. Reduced growth results in increased mortality and, ultimately, low recruitment through increased risk of predation by larger piscivorous fishes, reduced ability for white bass to switch to more energetically profitable piscivory and the increased likelihood of higher overwinter mortality because of reduced lipid stores.

Michigan, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania↗
USGS2000

Reduction in recruitment of white bass in Lake Erie after invasion of white perch

Recruitment to the adult population of white bass Morone chrysops in Lake Erie sharply declined during the early 1980s. To explain this phenomenon, we formulated the following four hypotheses: (1) the biological characteristics of adult spawners changed during the early 1980s, so that the ability to produce eggs decreased; (2) the decrease in phosphorus loadings to Lake Erie during the 1970s resulted in a lower abundance of crustacean zooplankton and thus in reduced survival of age-0 white bass; (3) the increase in the population of adult walleyes Stizostedion vitreum in Lake Erie during the 1970s and 1980s led to reduced survival of age-0 white bass; and (4) establishment of the white perch Morone americana population in Lake Erie during the early 1980s led to reduced survival of the early life stages of white bass. The growth, maturity, and fecundity of adults during the period 1981–1997 were compared with the same characteristics found by earlier studies. The mean length, weight, and condition factors that we calculated were higher than those reported for Lake Erie in 1927–1929 for all age groups examined, and white bass in Lake Erie matured at an earlier age during 1981–1997 than during 1927–1929. Fecundity estimates ranged from 128,897 to 1,049,207 eggs/female and were similar to estimates from other populations. Therefore, the first hypothesis was rejected. With respect to the second hypothesis, zooplankton surveys conducted during 1970 and 1983–1987 indicated that the abundance of crustacean zooplankton in Lake Erie did not change between the two time periods. However, these results were not conclusive because only a single-year survey was conducted before 1980. Based on walleye diet studies and estimates of walleye population size, walleye predation pressure on age-0 white bass in Lake Erie during 1986–1988 was just slightly higher than that during 1979–1981. Thus, such pressure can explain only a minor portion of the reduction in white bass recruitment. To test the fourth hypothesis, intervention analysis was applied to the long-term abundance series for white bass. The abundance of age-0 white bass in Lake Erie between 1982 and 1997 was significantly lower than that between 1969 and 1981. The catch per unit effort of adult white bass in commercial trap nets between 1987 and 1997 was significantly lower than it was before 1987. Moreover, the period of reduced recruitment for white bass in Oneida Lake, New York, which extends from 1955 to the present, coincides with occupation of the lake by white perch. Thus, of the four hypotheses entertained, the most plausible explanation for the reduction in white bass recruitment in Lake Erie is that white perch reduced the survival of white bass during its early life history.

Michigan, New York, Ohio, Ontario, Pennsylvania↗
USGS1991

Long-term decline in freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) of the western basin of Lake Erie

Long-term trends in the abundance of unionids in the western basin of Lake Erie were examined from data collected at 17 stations in 1961, 1972, and 1982. The mean number of unionids at these stations declined over this time period, decreasing from 10 m −2 in 1961, to 6 m −2 in 1972, down to 4 m −2 in 1982. This decline in abundance was reflected in the decrease in the number of stations where mussels were found; unionids were found at 16 of the 17 stations in 1961, but at only 6 stations in 1982. Reasons for the decrease in the unionid population are not generally apparent, but are probably related to the decline in water quality and periods of low oxygen levels over the time period of the surveys.

Lake Erie↗
USGS1989

The zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas, 1771), in North America: impact on raw water users

The zebra mussel, Dreissena polymorpha (Pallas), is a small mollusc native to the Black, Caspian, and Azov Seas that was discovered in Lake Erie of the Laurentian Great Lakes of North America in 1988. Its presence there raises immediate concerns for users of raw water because it can become abundant enough to obstruct the flow of water through pipes, hoses, screens, and condensers. Biofouling attributed to this mussel was observed at several power plants, water treatment plants, and food processing and industrial facilities along Lake Erie in 1989. Estimated densities at one power plant intake canal were as high as 700,000 per m2. In addition, large numbers were found in main steam condensors and in the service water system, threatening the water supply for cooling, fire protection, and dust suppression systems. Municipal water intakes along the Canadian and United States shorelines have also been impaired. In one southeast Michigan city, drinking water withdrawal from Lake Erie was reduced 45% by the mussel. Routine checks of raw water supplies for free-floating zebra mussel veligers are reommended to determine if reproducing adult populations are present in local water bodies. After an early alert, raw water intakes could be protected to alleviate damage from the biofouling zebra mussel.

Lake Erie↗
USGS1973

Effects of exploitation, environmental changes, and new species on the fish habitats and resources of Lake Erie

No other lake as large as Lake Erie (surface area, 25,690 km 2 ) has been subjected to such extensive changes in the drainage basin, the lake environment, and the fish populations over the last 150 years. Deforestation and prairie burning led to erosion of the watershed and siltation of valuable spawning grounds. Marsh spawning areas were drained. Lake-to-river spawning migrations of sturgeon, walleye, and other fishes were blocked by mill dams. Accelerated cultural nutrient loading increased total dissolved solids by nearly 50% (1920-70). Phosphate loading reached 469 metric tons per year by the 1950's and continued to increase. The biomass of phytoplankton increased 20-fold between 1919 and 1963. Oxygen demand for decomposition of these algae so degraded oxygen regimes in the western and central basins by the 1950's that the once abundant mayfly nymphs were destroyed and the central basin hypolimnion became anoxic. The sequence of disappearance or severe depletion of fish species was as follows: lake trout, sturgeon, lake herring, lake whitefish, sauger, blue pike, and walleye. Yellow perch are now declining. All resources were intensively exploited at one time or another. Lake trout suffered only this stress, but changes in the watershed significantly stressed sturgeon and lake whitefish. Degradation of the lake spawning grounds, benthos, and oxygen regimes culminated in severe stress by the 1950's on the remnants of the lake herring and lake whitefish, and on the sauger, blue pike, and walleye. Additional mortality may have been imposed on walleye and blue pike fry by predacious smelt that successfully colonized Lake Erie after first appearing in 1932. The cultural stresses, in the probable order of greatest to least net effects on the fish community of Lake Erie, appear to have been: (1) an intense, opportunistic, ineffectively controlled commercial fishery; (2) changes in the watershed, such as erosion and siltation of stream beds and inshore lake areas, and construction of dams in tributaries; (3) nutrient loading, destruction of biota, and reduction of dissolved oxygen; and (4) the competitive and predatory activities of invading species.

Lake Erie↗
USGS1972

Lake Erie: Effects of exploitation, environmental changes and new species on the fishery resources

In no other lake as large as Lake Erie (surface area, 25,690 km 2 ) have such extensive changes taken place in the drainage basin, the lake environment, and the fish populations over the last 100 years. Deforestation and prairie burning led to erosion and siltation of valuable spawning grounds. Marsh spawning areas were drained. Lake-to-river spawning migrations were blocked by mill dams. Accelerated cultural nutrient loading increased total dissolved solids by nearly 50% (1920-70). Average summer water temperatures increased 1.1 C. Phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance increased severalfold. Severe oxygen depletion developed in the bottom waters of all three basins of the lake. Lake sturgeon were fished out as nuisance fish in the late 1800s. The commercial fisheries for lake trout, lake whitefish, and lake herring collapsed by 1940 and those for blue pike and walleye by 1960. Yellow perch production became unstable in the 1960s. The effects of exploitation, environmental changes, and new species on these fish populations are discussed.

Lake Erie↗
USGS1970

A brief history of commercial fishing in Lake Erie

Salient features of the development of the industry from about 1815 to 1968, changes in fishing gears and methods, changes in the kinds and abundance of fishes caught, and the attendant effects of disappearing species on the stability of the fishery are described. The history and present status of the walleye, yellow perch, and eight other fishes, still taken in commercial quantities, are presented in more detail and are considered in the context of their effect on the current moribund state of the U.S. fishery. Past and present contributions of Lake Erie's tributaries and northerly connecting waters to the fishery are outlined briefly. The "outlook" for the fishery under present conditions of selective overfishing for high-value species, excessive pollution, ineffective and uncoordinated regulation, and antiquated methods of handling, processing, and marketing fish are discussed, and possible solutions to these problems are suggested.

Lake Erie↗
USGS1953

Hydrology of Lake Erie and tributaries

The drainage area of the Great Lakes is equal to nearly one-tenth of the entire area of the United States; 58 percent of this area lies within the United States. The information in Table 3 affords a ready comparison of the land and water areas involved in the United States and Canada in the Great Lakes system. It will be noted that the total water surface is almost one-third of the entire drainage area and more than five-eighths of this water area is on the United States side of the international boundry. Throughout the history of the North American continent, the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence River have formed a navigable water system of tremendous social and economic importance, extending from the interior of the continent to the Atlantic Ocean.

Lake Erie↗
USGS1953

Chemical and physical quality examination

In a balanced study of water pollution or water utilization a thorough chemical and physical examination is essential. This provides a basis for evaluation of stream conditions, their effects and remedies. Such information is of value to the general public who are interested in clean water and in recreation, hunting, fishing, and wildlife; to the chemist, engineer, hydrologist, and industrialist who are interested in the domestic and industrial use of water both as raw material and as a vehicle for the removal of waste materials; to the sanitarian who is interested in healthful conditions; and to the biologist who is interested in maintaining a favorable biological balance. For every living plant and animal there are optimum physical and chemical conditions and these characteristics are determining factors in the aquatic life of any body of water.

Lake Erie↗