Implementation of a gap analysis: comparing historical and contemporary coregonine habitat use in the Great Lakes
Contributing Authors
Cory Brant (USGS, cbrant@usgs.gov) & Karen Alofs (University of Michigan, kmalofs@umich.edu), Katelyn King (University of Michigan), Peter Flood (University of Michigan)
Executive Summary
Our Gap Analysis team has multiple proposals in progress related to implementation of our Gap Analysis methodology for Great Lakes coregonines. We are proud to report that we have completed our objectives related to this project proposal (Year 2, FY23, Appendix 1). Our team has been working closely with the rest of the Coregonine Restoration Framework (CRF) science teams, coordinated through regular science team leadership meetings (i.e. superteam meetings), to implement our Council of Lake Committees-approved methodology to model and map historical and contemporary spawning habitats in the Great Lakes. Based on requests from the Lake Erie Committee (received 5/03/2023), we completed historical spawning habitat models and maps for Lake Erie Cisco. We then completed and compared Lake Ontario Cisco and Lake Whitefish models and maps based on requests from the Lake Ontario Committee (received 8/21/2023). In our other synergistic multi-year CRF proposals (FY22, FY24), we provide updates on our recent completion of Round Whitefish and Bloater models for Lake Ontario as well as updates on data collection to prepare models for Lake Michigan Cisco and Kiyi (not of this completion report).
Outcomes
A manuscript related to Lake Erie model results has been submitted
A manuscript comparing historical and contemporary spawning habitat models for Cisco and Lake Whitefish in Lake Ontario has been submitted
Presentation of the Maxent model, maps, and CORHIST data to experts at the Spatial Units Delineation workshop for Lake Erie Cisco
Presentation of the models to experts at the Spatial Units Delineation workshops for Lake Ontario Bloater, Cisco, Lake Whitefish, and Round Whitefish
All models used by Population Viability Analysis team for implementation in Lakes Erie and Ontario
Two hundred years of historical spawning and nursery data for coregonine fishes in the Laurentian Great Lakes | Scientific Data
Great Lakes Ice Duration Geodatabase | University of Michigan - Deep Blue Data
Historical Lake Erie Cisco Spawning Habitat Suitability
Gap Analysis: A Proposed Methodology to Describe and Map Historical and Contemporary Populations and Habitats