Realm: Freshwater
Climate: Temperate
Biome: Small Lake Ecosystems
Central latitude: 44.324690
Central longitude: -89.565060
Duration: 40 years, from 1981 to 2021
1586 records
41 distinct species
Across the time series
Catostomus commersonii is the most frequently occurring species
Methods
The same sampling sites are used each year. All sampling occurs between the 3rd week of July and Labor Day. Sampling sites were chosen by random process in 1981 for the Northern lakes (Trout, Allequash, Sparkling, Crystal, and Big Muskellunge). Sites for Lake Mendota were chosen in 1981, and for the other Madison lakes (Monona, Fish, and Wingra) in 1995. All sites are identified with GPS coordinates, except on the bog lakes (Trout Bog and Crystal Bog) where nets are placed equal distances apart around the entire circumference of the lake in approximately the same locations each year.
A trammel net is set at two sites in each lake, and fished for approximately 24 hours at each site. The net is set on the bottom, along a line perpendicular to the shoreline and crossing the thermocline, with the shallow end at about 3m depth,. The trammel net used is 30.5 m long and 1.1 m deep. It consists of two outer nets of 170 mm square 32 kg test mesh multifilament nylon with an inner panel of 51 mm stretch mesh 9 kg test multifilament nylon. The three nets are connected at the leaded foot line and the buoyed head rope.
Abundance is Catch per unit effort, so the total yearly catches have been divided by effort. This data is only referring to Trammel nets' catches and it's part of the North Temperate Lakes LTER sampling. For trammel nets sampling, effort is igen by the number of nets, so abundance as Catch Per Unit Effort is the total yearly catch divided by nets deployed each year.
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