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<oai_dc:dc xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:oai_dc="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc/ http://www.openarchives.org/OAI/2.0/oai_dc.xsd">
  <dc:contributor>Tomas O. Höök</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Richard Kraus</dc:contributor>
  <dc:contributor>Paris D. Collingsworth</dc:contributor>
  <dc:creator>Joshua M. Tellier</dc:creator>
  <dc:date>2023</dc:date>
  <dc:description>&lt;p&gt;&lt;span&gt;In large freshwater systems, the dominant production pathways supporting food webs are often spatiotemporally variable. We used&amp;nbsp;stable isotope&amp;nbsp;analysis and&amp;nbsp;analysis of covariance&amp;nbsp;(ANCOVA) models to investigate spatial and interannual variation in the dominant production pathways supporting fish consumers within the central basin of&amp;nbsp;Lake Erie. We examined C and N stable isotope ratios of zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, and four species of fish common to nearshore areas of the central basin (yellow perch,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Perca flavescens&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;; white perch,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Morone americana&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;; rainbow smelt,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Osmerus mordax&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;; and round goby,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;&lt;i&gt;Neogobius melanostomus&lt;/i&gt;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;span&gt;) using tissue samples collected in 2017 and 2019.&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;δ&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span&gt;C values varied by location consistent with expected baseline differences in nutrient loading (&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span&gt;C was more enriched in the southern region) in two of six ANCOVA models. Furthermore,&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;δ&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span&gt;N values varied with individual fish size and by location in a manner consistent with spatial patterns of nutrient loading from surrounding&amp;nbsp;agricultural landscapes&amp;nbsp;(&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span&gt;N was more enriched in the northern region) and a&amp;nbsp;longitudinal gradient&amp;nbsp;of&amp;nbsp;eutrophication, decreasing from west to east. These patterns were not exhibited by all species and did not necessarily persist across years, suggesting that additional factors (e.g., regional diet differences,&amp;nbsp;river plume&amp;nbsp;dynamics) also contributed to observed&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;δ&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup&gt;13&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span&gt;C and&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;i&gt;δ&lt;/i&gt;&lt;span&gt;&amp;nbsp;&lt;/span&gt;&lt;sup&gt;15&lt;/sup&gt;&lt;span&gt;N variation. We suggest that spatiotemporal variation of stable isotope ratios should be accounted for in studies of trophic basis of production and food web structure in Lake Erie.&lt;/span&gt;&lt;/p&gt;</dc:description>
  <dc:format>application/pdf</dc:format>
  <dc:identifier>10.1016/j.jglr.2023.07.006</dc:identifier>
  <dc:language>en</dc:language>
  <dc:publisher>Elsevier</dc:publisher>
  <dc:title>Spatially and temporally variable production pathways support the Lake Erie central basin food web</dc:title>
  <dc:type>article</dc:type>
</oai_dc:dc>