Effects of storms, angling, and nest predation during angling on smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) nest success
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Date
2005
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Abstract
We studied how storms, angling, and nest predation during angling affected smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) nest survival in the Bass Islands, Lake Erie, Ohio, USA. Increasing angler effort and introduction of an exotic nest predator, round goby (Neogobious melanostomus), have raised concerns about smallmouth bass recruitment in
Lake Erie. We surveyed smallmouth bass nests and calculated daily survival rates for nests assigned to different angling
treatments: control, angling without predation, or angling with predation treatments. Only 30% of control nests
were successful compared with 11% of angling without predation and 14% of angling with predation treatments. We
used the Mayfield method and maximum likelihood models in the program MARK to estimate the survival rates for
nests of different treatments and exposed to different numbers of storms. Although nest predators consumed about 35%
of broods during angling, daily nest survival rates of both angling treatments were similar. Angling reduced nest survival
compared with controls by approximately 5%. Storms reduced both nest success and daily survival. The best
model predicting daily nest survival included the added effects of angling treatment and number of storms. Thus,
whereas storms and angling affected smallmouth bass nest survival, nest predation during angling did not.
Description
Abstract in English and French
Keywords
smallmouth bass, maximum likelihood model, Mayfield method, storms, angling, nest predation
Citation
Steinhart, Geoffrey B.; Leonard, Nancy J.; Stein, Roy A.; Marschall, Elizabeth A. "Effects of storms, angling, and nest predation during angling on smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) nest success," Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, v. 62, no. 11, 2005, pp. 2649-2660.