Body condition and diet data for gamefish in 15 hardwater lakes of southern Saskatchewan, Canada

Mitigating threats of aquatic invasive species in lakes requires holistic insights into the biological, physical, and chemical conditions sustaining fish communities. This study establishes the ecological baseline conditions for three key gamefishes—walleye, northern pike, and yellow perch—across 15 hardwater prairie lakes in south-central Saskatchewan, Canada, that are threatened by zebra mussel invasion. We employed stomach content analysis to evaluate diet composition and ontogenetic nutritional shifts in adult fishes and assessed how fish size and environmental factors influence body condition. Adult walleye transition from a diet of amphipods to fishes as they grow, demonstrating greater dietary flexibility compared to perch and pike, which maintain a stable diet of chironomids and fish, respectively. While walleye and pike decline in body condition with size, perch maintain a consistently high body condition as they grow. Lake productivity and alkalinity are important predictors o..., Fish and water sampling were conducted across 15 hard-water lakes in south-central Saskatchewan from May to August 2019 to establish baseline ecological conditions. Gamefish species (walleye, northern pike, and yellow perch) were measured for length and weight. Stomach content analysis quantified prey contributions using the index of relative importance (IRI). Multivariate analyses (MANOVA, RDA) assessed diet variation between size groups while controlling for lake effects. Multiple regression and relative importance analysis examined how total length and environmental factors (surface area, depth, alkalinity, chlorophyll-a, total phosphorus) influenced fish body condition. Permutation tests and adjusted R² confirmed that diet composition varied by size in walleye but not for perch or pike, while environmental factors had species-specific effects on body condition. Associated scripts and code required to replicate all analyses in the manuscript are provided., , # Body Condition and Diet Data for Gamefish in 15 Hardwater Lakes of Southern Saskatchewan, Canada

[https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8w9ghx3xz](https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8w9ghx3xz)

### Files and variables

Input files are comma-delimited CSV files containing environmental (**env**), body condition indices (**bci**), and diet data matrices for walleye (**wa**), northern pike (**pi**), and yellow perch (**pe**) across multiple spatial scales. These datasets are essential for understanding diet, feeding dynamics, and trends in the well-being of prairie gamefish. Species abbreviations are consistent across datasets, scripts, and data files. For example, the walleye diet data for two size classes are stored in *wa_diet_combined_2_classes.csv*.

**Note:** All analyses were conducted using R version 4.2.0 (2020) and associated packages within this version.

#### File: all_diet.csv

**Description:** The file (*all.diet.csv*) contains diet data for three gamefish species—walleye, northern pik...,

防控湖泊水生入侵物种威胁，需要全面掌握维持鱼类群落的生物、物理与化学环境特征。本研究针对加拿大萨斯喀彻温省中南部15个面临斑马贻贝入侵威胁的硬水草原湖泊，建立了三种主要垂钓鱼类——大眼梭鲈（walleye）、白斑狗鱼（northern pike）和黄鲈（yellow perch）的生态基线特征。本研究采用胃含物分析法，评估成鱼的日粮组成及个体发育过程中的营养策略转变，并探究鱼类体型与环境因子对其身体状况的影响。随着体型增长，大眼梭鲈的日粮从端足类转变为鱼类，相较于黄鲈和白斑狗鱼展现出更强的食性灵活性——后两者分别维持以摇蚊幼虫和鱼类为主的稳定食性。大眼梭鲈与白斑狗鱼的身体状况随体型增大而下降，而黄鲈在生长过程中始终保持较高的身体状况。湖泊生产力与碱度是重要的预测因子……
鱼类与水体采样于2019年5月至8月在萨斯喀彻温省中南部15个硬水湖泊开展，以建立生态基线条件。研究人员对三种垂钓鱼类（大眼梭鲈、白斑狗鱼与黄鲈）的体长与体重进行测量。通过胃含物分析法，利用相对重要性指数（index of relative importance, IRI）量化各类饵料生物的贡献占比。采用多元统计分析（多变量方差分析MANOVA、冗余分析RDA），在控制湖泊效应的前提下，探究不同体型组间的食性差异。通过多元回归与相对重要性分析，探究鱼类总体长与环境因子（湖泊表面积、水深、碱度、叶绿素a、总磷）对其身体状况的影响。置换检验与校正决定系数（adjusted R²）分析结果显示，仅大眼梭鲈的食性组成随体型产生显著变化，黄鲈与白斑狗鱼则无此现象；同时环境因子对鱼类身体状况的影响具有物种特异性。本研究提供了复现论文中所有分析所需的配套脚本与代码。

# 加拿大萨斯喀彻温省南部15个硬水湖泊中垂钓鱼类的身体状况与食性数据集
https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.8w9ghx3xz

### 数据文件与变量说明
输入文件为逗号分隔的CSV格式文件，涵盖多空间尺度下的环境数据（**env**）、身体状况指数（**bci**）以及大眼梭鲈（**wa**）、白斑狗鱼（**pi**）与黄鲈（**pe**）的食性数据矩阵。本数据集为解析草原垂钓鱼类的食性、摄食动态与健康趋势提供了核心支撑。所有数据集、脚本与数据文件中均使用统一的物种缩写。例如，包含两个体型组的大眼梭鲈食性数据存储于*wa_diet_combined_2_classes.csv*文件中。

**注：** 本研究所有分析均基于R 4.2.0（2020）版本及其配套扩展包完成。

#### 文件：all_diet.csv
**文件说明：** 该文件（*all.diet.csv*）包含三种垂钓鱼类——大眼梭鲈、白斑狗鱼……的食性数据