Community science helps digitize 78 years of fish and habitat data for thousands of lakes in Michigan, USA
Abstract North temperate lakes are an important resource across North America and Eurasia, however, their ecosystems are declining and projected to continue to face further impacts under future land use and climate change. Understanding how lake ecosystems respond to environmental stressors and mana...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Nature Portfolio
2025-06-01
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| Series: | Scientific Data |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05241-z |
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| author | Katelyn B. S. King Justin Schell Kevin E. Wehrly Michael Lenard Randal Singer Hernán López-Fernández Andrea K. Thomer Karen M. Alofs |
| author_facet | Katelyn B. S. King Justin Schell Kevin E. Wehrly Michael Lenard Randal Singer Hernán López-Fernández Andrea K. Thomer Karen M. Alofs |
| author_sort | Katelyn B. S. King |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract North temperate lakes are an important resource across North America and Eurasia, however, their ecosystems are declining and projected to continue to face further impacts under future land use and climate change. Understanding how lake ecosystems respond to environmental stressors and management actions is critical for identifying resilient lakes and developing adaptation strategies. However, the ability to manage lakes is hampered by a lack of historical information. We describe our methods to produce a usable (i.e. machine-readable, uniform, and standardized) historical dataset of inland lake habitat and fish communities across the State of Michigan, United States of America. Historical data were originally archived as index cards at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Using our workflows, the cards were transcribed by community scientists and subsequently curated. We focused on three types of data records: lake summary cards (lake characteristics and fish species present), fish collection cards (gear, effort, and fish species counts), and fish growth cards (species length-at-age) from >1,300 lakes across 78 years (1921–1998). |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-785b9013faf14b61bb6f2bcfdcf750ea |
| institution | OA Journals |
| issn | 2052-4463 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-06-01 |
| publisher | Nature Portfolio |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Scientific Data |
| spelling | doaj-art-785b9013faf14b61bb6f2bcfdcf750ea2025-08-20T02:10:31ZengNature PortfolioScientific Data2052-44632025-06-0112111010.1038/s41597-025-05241-zCommunity science helps digitize 78 years of fish and habitat data for thousands of lakes in Michigan, USAKatelyn B. S. King0Justin Schell1Kevin E. Wehrly2Michael Lenard3Randal Singer4Hernán López-Fernández5Andrea K. Thomer6Karen M. Alofs7Institute for Fisheries Research, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and University of MichiganUniversity of Michigan LibraryInstitute for Fisheries Research, Michigan Department of Natural Resources, and University of MichiganIllinois State Geological SurveyDepartment of Biological Sciences, Augusta UniversityDepartment of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology & Museum of Zoology, University of MichiganCollege of Information Science, University of ArizonaSchool for Environment and Sustainability, University of MichiganAbstract North temperate lakes are an important resource across North America and Eurasia, however, their ecosystems are declining and projected to continue to face further impacts under future land use and climate change. Understanding how lake ecosystems respond to environmental stressors and management actions is critical for identifying resilient lakes and developing adaptation strategies. However, the ability to manage lakes is hampered by a lack of historical information. We describe our methods to produce a usable (i.e. machine-readable, uniform, and standardized) historical dataset of inland lake habitat and fish communities across the State of Michigan, United States of America. Historical data were originally archived as index cards at the Michigan Department of Natural Resources. Using our workflows, the cards were transcribed by community scientists and subsequently curated. We focused on three types of data records: lake summary cards (lake characteristics and fish species present), fish collection cards (gear, effort, and fish species counts), and fish growth cards (species length-at-age) from >1,300 lakes across 78 years (1921–1998).https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05241-z |
| spellingShingle | Katelyn B. S. King Justin Schell Kevin E. Wehrly Michael Lenard Randal Singer Hernán López-Fernández Andrea K. Thomer Karen M. Alofs Community science helps digitize 78 years of fish and habitat data for thousands of lakes in Michigan, USA Scientific Data |
| title | Community science helps digitize 78 years of fish and habitat data for thousands of lakes in Michigan, USA |
| title_full | Community science helps digitize 78 years of fish and habitat data for thousands of lakes in Michigan, USA |
| title_fullStr | Community science helps digitize 78 years of fish and habitat data for thousands of lakes in Michigan, USA |
| title_full_unstemmed | Community science helps digitize 78 years of fish and habitat data for thousands of lakes in Michigan, USA |
| title_short | Community science helps digitize 78 years of fish and habitat data for thousands of lakes in Michigan, USA |
| title_sort | community science helps digitize 78 years of fish and habitat data for thousands of lakes in michigan usa |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1038/s41597-025-05241-z |
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