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  • North Temperate Lakes LTER: Fish Length Frequency 1981 - current
  • NTL LTER Lead PI; Center for Limnology
    NTL LTER
  • 2012
  • Center for Limnology and NTL LTER. 2013. North Temperate Lakes LTER: Fish Length Frequency 1981 - current ver 10. Environmental Data Initiative. https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/0b51702766bb7ac261e0763957b8cdb7 (Accessed 2025-07-25).
  • This data set is a derived data set based on fish catch and length data. Data are collected annually to enable us to track the fish assemblages of eleven primary lakes (Allequash, Big Muskellunge, Crystal, Sparkling, Trout, bog lakes 27-02 [Crystal Bog] and 12-15 [Trout Bog], Mendota, Monona, Wingra and Fish). Sampling on Lakes Monona, Wingra, and Fish started in 1995; sampling on other lakes started in 1981. Sampling is done at six littoral zone sites per lake with seine, minnow or crayfish traps, and fyke nets; a boat-mounted electrofishing system samples three littoral transects. Vertically hung gill nets are used to obtain two pelagic samples per lake from the deepest point. A trammel net samples across the thermocline at two sites per lake. In the bog lakes only fyke nets and minnow traps are deployed. Parameters measured include species-level identification and lengths for all fish caught, and scale samples and weight from a subset. Derived data sets include species richness, catch per unit effort, and size distribution by species, lake, and year. Dominant species vary from lake to lake. Perch, rockbass, and bluegill are common, with walleye, large and small mouth basses, northern pike and muskellunge as major piscivores. Cisco have been present in the pelagic waters of four lakes, and the exotic species, rainbow smelt, is present in two. The bog lakes contain mudminnows. Sampling Frequency: annually Protocol used to generate data : Gill net data have been standardized to a 24-hour sampling period. Assumptions used in the standardization are available from the investigators. Day seines were only used in 1981 and have been eliminated from this data set to make sampling effort across years comparable. The number of fish caught in each five mm length interval (0

  • N: 46.079      S: 43.045      E: -89.325      W: -89.704
  • Data Policies Copyright Board of Regents, University of Wisconsin, Madison. This information is released to the public and may be used for academic, educational, or commercial purposes subject to the following restrictions: The Data User must realize that these data sets are being actively used by others for ongoing research and that coordination may be necessary to prevent duplicate publication. The Data User is urged to contact the NTL lead Principal Investigator, leadpi@lter.limnology.wisc.edu, to check on other uses of the data. Where appropriate, the Data User may be encouraged to consider collaboration and/or co-authorship with original investigators. The Data User must realize that the data may be misinterpreted if taken out of context. We request that you provide the NTL lead Principal Investigator, ATTN: Data Access, Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 680 North Park St., Madison, WI 53706 with a copy of any manuscript using the data so that it may be reviewed and comments provided on the presentation of our data. The Data User must acknowledge use of the data by an appropriate citation (see Citation) of the NTL-LTER database. A generic citation for our databases is: name of data set, North Temperate Lakes Long Term Ecological Research program, NSF, contact person for data set, Center for Limnology, University of Wisconsin-Madison. The data set name and contact person for each data set can be found in the metadata header of the online data sets. The Data User must send two reprints of any publications resulting from use of the data to the address above. We would like to include such manuscripts in our LTER publications list. The Data User must not redistribute original data and documentation without permission from Emily Stanley, lead Principal Investigator, (ehstanley@wisc.edu). While substantial efforts are made to ensure the accuracy of data and documentation, complete accuracy of data sets cannot be guaranteed. All data are made available "as is". The North Temperate Lakes LTER shall not be liable for damages resulting from any use or misinterpretation of data sets. Data users should be aware that we periodically update data sets. Our goal is to release all long term data associated with core research areas within 2 years of collection. These data and accompanying metadata will be available for download from the NTL-LTER web site. By using these data, the Data User agrees to abide by the terms of this agreement. Thank you for your cooperation.
  • https://doi.org/10.6073/pasta/0b51702766bb7ac261e0763957b8cdb7
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  • A data package in this series has been cited, or was used as the source data, in the following journal article(s):
    1. Extreme events in lake ecosystem time series (10.1002/lol2.10037), Limnology and Oceanography Letters (knb-lter-ntl.8.30)


EDI is a collaboration between the University of New Mexico and the University of Wisconsin – Madison, Center for Limnology:

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