Golden Shiner (<i>Notemigonus crysoleucas</i>) Population Abundance Correlations with Food and Predators

Abstract

A winterkill at Lake St. George, Ontario eliminated most of the piscivorous fish and some of the planktivores and also influenced zooplankton community structure. This disturbance and the subsequent recovery of the populations provided the opportunity to evaluate potential impacts of food and predators on the population structure and abundance of the dominant planktivore; the golden shiner (Notemigonus crysoleucas). interpretation of the 8-yr data set suggested that there was a positive relationship between adult golden shiner condition and zooplankton abundance, but that this did not translate into a significant stock–recruitment relationship between female numbers and young-of-the-year (YOY) recruitment. Also, there was no significant relationship between golden shiner survival and zooplankton abundance. However, there were significant negative correlations between YOY and adult golden shiner survival estimates and predator abundances. We conclude that at Lake St. George, golden shiner recruitment and population density is strongly influenced by predator density and is not influenced by food abundance.