Influences of seasonality and habitat quality on Great Lakes coastal wetland fish community composition and diets

Great Lakes coastal wetlands (GLCW) have been severely degraded by anthropogenic activity over the last several decades despite their critical role in fish production. Many species use wetland habitats for spawning, feeding, shelter, and nurseries throughout year. The goal of our study was to compare GLCW community composition spring, summer, fall months investigate how water quality relates diversity, presence functional groups, juvenile diets. We summarized data collected from across basin used monitoring program’s quality-land indicator quantify quality. Basin-wide, we found taxonomic group differences among three sampling seasons, as well range Water positively associated with abundance small cyprinids relative some habitat reproductive specialists. Seasonal were also observed many these more temperature- pollution-sensitive fishes captured spring nest-spawning summer fall. In diet study, that age-0 primarily consumed zooplankton fall, whereas age-1 macroinvertebrates spring. Moreover, trichopteran prey abundance. concluded communities vary markedly respect season. Thus, a full understanding gradient requires multi-season sampling.