Stephen R. Carpenter Daniel A. Isermann Giancarlo Coppola T. Douglas Beard Jr. Abigail J. Lynch Greg. G Sass Zachary S. Feiner M. Jake Vander Zanden Holly Susan Embke 2022 <div class="abstract-group "><div class="article-section__content en main"><p>Lake ecosystems are shifting due to many drivers including climate change and landscape-scale habitat disturbance, diminishing their potential to support some fisheries. Walleye<span>&nbsp;</span><i>Sander vitreus</i><span>&nbsp;</span>(Mitchill) populations, which support recreational and tribal fisheries across North America, have declined in some lakes. Climate change, harvest, invasive species and concurrent increases in warm-water fishes (e.g. Centrarchidae) may have contributed to declines. To test the utility of an intensive management action to resist walleye loss, an experimental removal of ~285,000 centrarchids from a 33-ha lake over 4&nbsp;years was conducted while monitoring the fish community response. Centrarchid abundance declined and yellow perch<span>&nbsp;</span><i>Perca flavescens</i><span>&nbsp;</span>(Mitchill) increased, yet no evidence of walleye recruitment was observed. These findings explore the feasibility of intensive resistance as a management strategy in supporting walleye facing environmental change and provide a platform for management discussions to move beyond resist strategies in the Resist-Accept-Direct (RAD) framework to navigate ecosystem change.</p></div></div> application/pdf 10.1111/fme.12544 en Wiley Resisting ecosystem transformation through an intensive whole-lake fish removal experiment article