Spiny water flea impacts on fish: Year 1
by: Michael Rennie, Associate Professor Lakehead University; Canada Research Chair in Freshwater Ecology and Fisheries
We are now into our second year of work in Quetico Provincial Park to investigate the impact of spiny water flea (or Bythotrephes to us scientists). Thanks to generous funding from the Quetico Foundation, we initiated our first full year of fieldwork in Quetico, with some different approaches than originally planned and modifications due to COVID, but were highly successful in gathering critical information to answer our research questions. Much of the fieldwork this summer was focused on collecting aging structures for walleye from lakes that will help us to answer questions about the potential negative impacts of Bythotrephes on early growth rates of Walleye, being led by MSc student Danielle Gartshore.