A pilot study of adult fish communities in different habitats in the Les Cheneaux Islands in Lake Huron.

Abstract

A pilot survey of juvenile and adult fishes was performed in three Great Lakes marsh bays in the Les Cheneaux Islands area of northern Lake Huron during June and July, 1997. Two of the bays, Mackinac Bay and Mismer Bay, have relatively little human activity on their shores while the third, Cedarville Bay, includes a town. Three habitats were sampled in each bay: nearshore, seasonal, and permanent marsh. Measures of species richness, diversity, and equitability did not differ among bays in the nearshore habitat. There were significant (p<0.05) negative, linear relationships between two measures of human activity, boating activity and road density, and species richness in the nearshore habitat. Permanent marshes in Cedarville had lower richness, abundance, and diversity compared to the other two bays. In addition, the species present in Cedarville's permanent marsh were typical of degraded marshes. A trend toward decreasing abundance with increasing human activity was not quite significant at the 5% level.