Data from: Benefits of turbid river plume habitat for Lake Erie yellow perch (Perca flavescens) recruitment determined by juvenile to larval genotype assignment

Nutrient-rich, turbid river plumes that are common to large lakes and coastal marine ecosystems have been hypothesized to benefit survival of fish during early life stages by increasing food availability and (or) reducing vulnerability to visual predators. However, evidence that river plumes truly benefit the recruitment process remains meager for both freshwater and marine fishes. Here, we use genotype assignment between juvenile and larval yellow perch (Perca flavescens) from western Lake Erie to estimate and compare recruitment to the age-0 juvenile stage for larvae residing inside the highly turbid, south-shore Maumee River plume versus those occupying the less turbid, more northerly Detroit River plume. Bayesian genotype assignment of a mixed assemblage of juvenile (age-0) yellow perch to putative larval source populations established that recruitment of larvae was higher from the turbid Maumee River plume than for the less turbid Detroit River plume during 2006 and 2007, but not in 2008. Our findings add to the growing evidence that turbid river plumes can indeed enhance survival of fish larvae to recruited life stages, and also demonstrate how novel population genetic analyses of early life stages can contribute to determining critical early life stage processes in the fish recruitment process.广泛分布于大型湖泊与沿海海洋生态系统的高营养、高浑浊度河口水羽流，已有假说提出其可通过提升食物可获得性、（或）降低视觉捕食者的捕食风险，助力鱼类早期生活史阶段的个体存活。然而，无论是淡水还是海水鱼类，河口水羽流确实能促进鱼类补充过程的相关实证仍较为匮乏。本研究以伊利湖（Lake Erie）西部采集的幼龄与仔期黄鲈（Perca flavescens）为对象，开展基因型归属分析（genotype assignment），进而估算并比较了栖息于南岸边高度浑浊的莫米河羽状流（Maumee River plume），与栖息于北侧浑浊度更低的底特律河羽状流（Detroit River plume）的仔鱼，在补充至0龄幼鱼（age-0 juvenile）阶段的存活率。针对2006、2007年的混合幼龄（0龄）黄鲈群体的贝叶斯基因型归属分析（Bayesian genotype assignment）结果显示，2006与2007年浑浊度更高的莫米河羽状流区域仔鱼的补充量显著高于浑浊度较低的底特律河羽状流区域，但该趋势在2008年未出现。本研究结果进一步佐证了高浑浊河口水羽流确可提升鱼类仔鱼至补充群体阶段的存活率，同时也展示了针对鱼类早期生活史阶段的新型群体遗传学分析方法，可有效助力解析鱼类补充过程中的关键早期生活史过程。