Counterintuitive patterns of spawning stock age structure and recruitment in Lake Erie yellow perch (Perca flavescens)

Abstract

Older spawning fish were often observed to contribute more recruits to harvested stocks than younger fish. However, effects of spawning stock age structure on recruitment were not universally detected. We tested effects of age-dependent absolute fecundity, age-dependent relative fecundity, and age-related maternal effects on recruitment by Lake Erie yellow perch (Perca flavescens). No effects of age-dependent absolute fecundity and age-dependent relative fecundity, nor positive age-related maternal effects, were detected at multidecadal or finer temporal scales of analysis, between 1975 and 2013. Instead, we found evidence of negative age-related maternal effects, of spatially and temporally varying strength; older cohorts in the spawning stock were sometimes associated with lower offspring survival. Such counterintuitive results imply that biotic and abiotic factors, such as interspecific predation, during larval and juvenile life stages might strongly affect recruitment of Lake Erie yellow perch.