Using coarse-scale physical lake characteristics to model lake sturgeon (acipenser fulvescens) feeding habitat and their prey

Abstract

Coarse-scale, physical lake characteristics (lake fetch, shoreline exposure, and littoral-zone slope) were investigated as to their ability to predict benthic macroinvertebrate communities and lake sturgeon feeding along shorelines in the southern portion of Rainy Lake. Rainy Lake is a large water body and hosts a fishery shared between Minnesota, U.S.A. and Ontario, Canada. Benthic samples were drawn from different sections the littoral zone during a period of three months in the summer of 2010 and in August 2011.