Identifying Land-Lake Linkages for Fish Communities in Nearshore Zones of Lake Erie

Approximately 80% of fishes from the Laurentian Great Lakes use the nearshore zone in some way (e.g., feeding, spawning, or nursery area) for at least part of the year. Extensive shoreline alteration and development along Ohio’s Lake Erie coast has reduced habitat complexity and changed the ecological linkage at the interface of land and water. Therefore, we hypothesized that shoreline features such as the types of terrestrial vegetation and armoring may affect the nearshore fish community composition. In order to determine relationships between shoreline types and the nearshore fish community, terrestrial vegetation and shoreline structures were classified at sites in the western basin of Lake Erie where fish were sampled between 2011 and 2015. Indices of the nearshore fish community were compared to shoreline habitat classifications. Highest species richness was associated with vegetated shorelines that are structurally complex, while lowest species richness occurred along homogeneous shorelines without vegetation. Unarmored shorelines with mixed vegetation had the highest relative abundances of native fish species. The influence of coastal landscape characteristics on nearshore ecosystem services must be accounted for in urban planning of sustainable coastal communities.