Data for Spatio-temporal dynamics of the ecological community in Lake George, NY, USA

Lakes have complex interplays between spatial processes and environmental conditions for multiple taxa. Differences among taxa in their ability to disperse and respond to the environment impact the food web and will be reflected in their abundances over time at different sites within the lake. Depending on their mobility, we may expect to see synchronous dynamics throughout the lake for populations that are highly mobile while populations may exhibit asynchronous dynamics if they are unable to overcome local environmental conditions via dispersal. We provide a high-level overview of changes in the densities of key food web groups in Lake George, NY to determine how their densities have changed over time and whether those changes are similar across multiple sub-basins of the lake. Phytoplankton abundance (indirectly measured as chlorophyll a) and zooplankton densities showed strong seasonal and longer-term trends that are mostly synchronous across space. Similarly, most macroinvertebrate groups showed significant non-linear long-term trends, though some showed differences across basins. For phytoplankton and several macroinvertebrate groups, we found that density was highest in the South Basin, potentially reflecting the gradient of decreasing nutrients in the lake from south to north. We also found differences across basins in the relationship between fish length and weight, suggesting that fish condition varies across space. Despite these differences in fish growth, which suggest variability in food web structure across basins, plankton and macroinvertebrates generally follow synchronous trends in abundance across all three basins, possibly reflecting the importance of bottom-up regulation. <br>