Aquatic macrophyte, snail, and crayfish abundance and richness data for ten lakes in Vilas County, WI, USA, 1987-2020

Data accompanying the paper Szydlowski et al. "Macrophyte and snail community responses to 30 years of population declines of invasive rusty crayfish (Faxonius rusticus)." Macrophytes and snails were sampled in ten lakes in Vilas County, Wisconsin, USA during summer sampling events in 1987, 2002, 2011, and 2020. Lakes had varying levels of invasion by F. rusticus, which affected measures of macrophytes and snails. Macrophytes were sampled using a point-intercept transect method and snails were sampled using different sampler types which were dependent on substrate. Macrophytes were sampled at 6-14 sites per lake and snails were sampled at 16-31 sites per lake. Crayfish were regularly sampled at either 24 or 36 sites per lake between 1987 and 2020. Overall, this dataset provides abundance and richness data for over 25 species of snails and over 40 species of macrophytes in 10 north temperate lakes.