Historical, abiotic, and biotic drivers influence contemporary lacustrine fish community composition in the glacial Lake Agassiz basin

Historical determinants and local ecological filters tend to drive community assembly at large and smaller spatiotemporal scales, respectively. We examined the effects of differential contact to the Wisconsinan deglaciation dispersal corridor, Lake Agassiz, and habitat heterogeneity and species interactions on contemporary lacustrine fish community composition in 261 northwestern Ontario lakes. Species composition varied significantly across lakes grouped by their most recent glacial lake coverage, driven by turnover, and the number of connections (not-covered, single, and secondary contact) to the dispersal corridor over time, explained by nestedness. Maximum lake depth, elevation, and most recent stage of glacial lake coverage were dominant drivers of community composition patterns; and most of the significant species co-occurrence relationships were positive. While the dominant environmental variables reflect the effects of habitat heterogeneity and isolation from the dispersal corri..., , # Data and code from: Historical, abiotic, and biotic drivers influence contemporary lacustrine fish community composition in the glacial Lake Agassiz basin

Notes for accompanying Illyes and Mandrak_CJFAS_Lake Agassiz_data.xlsx file

Raw fish data with species at risk removed for their protection. The full set of fish data (including species at risk) are available for non-commercial purposes from the Ministry of Natural Resources in Ontario (https://geohub.lio.gov.on.ca) through their standard data-sharing agreements.

Export sheets from Illyes_and_Mandrak_CJFAS_Lake_Agassiz_data.xlsx as .csv to load them in the R script

Sheet 1:
* Lake_Name = name of lake
* LID = unique numerical identifier of lake
* Surf_Area = lake surface area in [ha]
* Max_Depth in [m]
* Z = lake elevation in [m.a.s.l.]
* Species_ri = species richness
* First_stg = first stage of Lake Agassiz coverage
* Last_stg_merge = last stage of Lake Agassiz coverage
* Sec_con_merge = contact type
* Time_fr = ti...,