Walleye Growth Modeling (a.k.a. the nerdiest way to debunk a fish story) w/ Noland Michels

Walleye are an important subsistence fishery for Native American and First Nations people, as well as a popular sport fish across North America with the focus in the Upper Midwest. Through long-term datasets such as the North Temperate Lakes Long-Term Ecological Research (NTL-LTR), Escanaba Lake Research Station, and other various DNR and management agencies walleye populations are becoming more variable in lakes. One major foci of current research is what drives this variability and how the observed variability affects recruitment, or the process in which young-of-the-year fish survive their first summer and are added to the fishery. One way to go about understanding variability in recruitment is by using an Individual-Based Model, or IBM. IBM’s when formulated using observed estimates for environmental variables and populations can be very useful to help predict foraging efficiency, and can even be taken and extrapolated over time to see how growth rates vary between different conditions. We are going to dive in to the versatility of these models and how they can be applied to various ecological events such as climate change and introductions of invasive species.
Join the Cafe Sci Twin Ports community for this free science presentation and discussion led by biologist, Noland Michels. It is open to all backgrounds. Background in the topic is not required, but curiosity is strongly encouraged!
Learn more at www.cafescitwinports.org