Fish distributions among habitats in the littoral zone of Douglas Lake

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to sample fish community composition in different habitat types found in Douglas Lake in Cheboygan County, Michigan and to determine if the composition of the community varies with habitat. To set up this study, we chose four different habitat types: sandy, cobble, woody debris, and vegetated. At each different habitat location in Douglas Lake, we set up a gang of five minnow traps that were used to sample the fish species diversity and abundance at each habitat type. The Kruskal-Wallis test shows that there is not a statistically significant difference in species richness, CPUE per day, and diversity index values between the four sites that we sampled. There is no statistical difference but the data supports a trend in which species diversity, species richness, and average CPUE per site is highest at the vegetated habitat and lowest at the sandy habitat.