Abstract

Inland fisheries provide essential ecosystem services, yet they face growing threats from anthropogenic activities and climate change. To sustainably manage these fisheries under global change, understanding the main drivers of freshwaters fish populations is key. Since the late 1980s, the Québec government has conducted standardized gillnet surveys to monitor game fish species and their habitats. Here, we identified the main drivers influencing the abundance of walleye, brook trout, and lake trout. Through random forest models, we analyzed 662 lakes and 38 predictor variables, revealing that fish community composition shaped the abundance of the two salmonid species. The best model performance was for brook trout (R2=0.54), followed by lake trout (R2=0.46), and walleye (R2=0.44). Brook trout populations were larger in allopatric lakes, while lake trout abundances were smaller in association with large piscivores. On the other hand, climate was more important for walleye. The dominant explanatory variables varied across species, suggesting different ecological niches. Our findings deepen understanding of fish population drivers in Québec lakes, highlighting the need for management plans to consider fish community context.

Affiliated Institutions

Related Publications

Publication Info

Year
2025
Type
article
Citations
0
Access
Closed

External Links

Social Impact

Social media, news, blog, policy document mentions

Citation Metrics

0
OpenAlex

Cite This

Cindy Paquette, Stéphanie Gagné, Maxime Gaudet‐Boulay et al. (2025). Drivers of walleye, brook trout, and lake trout abundance in Québec lakes. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences . https://doi.org/10.1139/cjfas-2024-0332

Identifiers

DOI
10.1139/cjfas-2024-0332