2025 Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference

AUTHORS: Andrew Foley, The Ohio State University; Jim Hood, The Ohio State University; Lindsey Bruckerhoff, The Ohio State University; Stuart Ludsin, The Ohio State University

ABSTRACT: Lake Erie fisheries are a unique case study of conservation interest as many surrounding agencies are focused on understanding their population dynamics. Within the lake, sportfish populations vary in response to human-driven environmental change, including climate change, altered nutrient inputs, and invasive species. Understanding how these ecosystem changes impact fish during susceptible life stages is vital to maintaining healthy fish stocks. While the exact mechanisms interacting with these fisheries have generally remained elusive, processes operating during early life stages (e.g., egg, larval, and juvenile) are thought to be the primary driver of variability in recruitment to Lake Erie’s recreational and commercial fisheries. One population that has declined during the past decade for unknown reasons is central Lake Erie Yellow Perch (Perca flavescens), with no strong year-classes occurring since 2012. We hypothesized failed recruitment to the age-0 juvenile stage, is primarily due to recent increases in top predators, including invasive White Perch (Morone americana) and native Walleye (Sander vitreus), with zooplankton (prey) limitation during spring being of secondary importance. Fortunately, a wealth of long-term data exists from 2000-2023 on many biotic and abiotic mechanisms known to impact fish recruitment. To test our hypothesis, we analyzed data from multiple management agencies across a long time series and broad spatial scale to better understand fish recruitment during this time of management need. Using Generalized Additive Models, we tested the effects of zooplankton (prey) availability, temperature, predation pressure, river discharge, and hypoxia on Yellow Perch recruitment. Herein, we report findings from our modeling, which indicate recruitment and the processes driving it have varied through time as well as spatially across the central basin. We discuss the value of our research as a case study for understanding the long-term impacts of human-driven environmental change on recruitment using historical datasets and their application to fisheries management.

AUTHORS: Shelby Timm, MO Department of Conservation; Brad Graham, MO Department of Conservation

ABSTRACT: The Missouri Ozark Forest Ecosystem Project (MOFEP) was initiated in 1989 by the Missouri Department of Conservation and was designed to continue for over 100 years. MOFEP experimentally investigates the landscape-scale impacts of uneven-aged and even-aged forest management practices on a range of ecosystem components. MOFEP was designed to be adaptive so that lessons learned can be applied throughout the life of the project. Over 30 research projects have been initiated on MOFEP in collaboration with numerous partners. Of those projects, five are considered “core” projects that are repeated periodically to monitor changes throughout the life of MOFEP. Due to the extensive temporal and spatial scales, MOFEP has faced a range of challenges over the first 35 years. Some of those challenges include maintaining data throughout the evolution of technology and software advances, maintaining clean datasets across sampling intervals and researchers, and maintaining relevance in the face of new conservation challenges and priorities. Despite these various challenges, MOFEP continues to adapt and inform forest management actions throughout the Central Hardwood Region. As technology advances, so does the range of opportunities to use these long-term data to investigate new questions and contribute to new priorities. Currently, MOFEP data are being used to develop multiple new planning tools and forest models that will contribute to Missouri’s tiered approach to natural community and habitat management.