A dataset listing Michigan counties by population for 2024.

These data consist of lake trout and burbot diet information collected from USGS spring and fall gillnet surveys in Northern Lake Michigan from 2021-2023. All prey were identified, enumerated and weighed. Only fish prey had lengths measured.

Established in 1935, a regular grid of 256 permanent plots includes about 20% of a 100-ha old-growth forest at the Dukes Research Natural Area in northern Michigan, USA. Woody stems have been remeasured 3�7 times providing extensive quantitative records of population and community dynamics over periods of up to 72 years. Woody stems in upland hemlock�northern hardwood stands, about half of the study plots, have been mapped and individually tracked since about 1990. Remaining plots are in swampy stands dominated by Fraxinus nigra and Thuja occidentalis. Detailed, long-term demographic data for late-successional forests are rare in general; this data set is both of exceptional duration and unusual in spatial intensity and detail. Because sample plots are in a regular array over the stand, they can support analyses of spatiotemporal pattern at various scales. A major wind disturbance in 2002 provides a unique opportunity to compare disturbance response to baseline dynamics. Several publications based on this data set have already provided new insights into late-successional processes, but general availability of the data set with metadata should permit a range of further comparative and integrative analyses. The study is ongoing, and new measurements will be added to the archived data set. Several ancillary data sets are available from the author. Data presented here are the same from the published Ecological Archives paper found here: http://www.esapubs.org/Archive/ecol/E090/251/default.htm

We investigated fine-scale genetic patterns of the federally threatened Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake (Sistrurus catenatus) on a relatively undisturbed island in northern Michigan, USA. This species often persists in habitat islands throughout much of its distribution due to extensive habitat loss and distance-limited dispersal. These data are from 102 individual Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnakes sampled at Bois Blanc Island, Michigan and genotyped at 15 microsatellite loci. Samples were collected as part of a study to examine functional connectivity for the Eastern Massasauga. We found that the entire island population exhibited weak genetic structuring with spatially segregated variation in effective migration and genetic diversity.

The 2015 TIGER Geodatabases are extracts of selected nation based and state based geographic and cartographic information from the U.S. Census Bureau's Master Address File/Topologically Integrated Geographic Encoding and Referencing (MAF/TIGER) database. The geodatabases include feature class layers of information for the fifty states, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, and the Island areas (American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, Guam, and the United States Virgin Islands). The geodatabases do not contain any sensitive data. The 2015 TIGER Geodatabases are designed for use with Esriâ s ArcGIS.

        The 2015 State Geodatabase for Michigan contains multiple layers. These layers are the Block, Block Group, Census Designated Place, Census Tract,
        County Subdivision and Incorporated Place layers.

        Block Groups (BGs) are clusters of blocks within the same census tract. Each census tract contains at least one BG, and BGs are uniquely numbered
        within census tracts. BGs have a valid code range of 0 through 9. BGs have the same first digit of their 4-digit census block number from the same
        decennial census. For example, tabulation blocks numbered 3001, 3002, 3003,.., 3999 within census tract 1210.02 are also within BG 3 within that
        census tract. BGs coded 0 are intended to only include water area, no land area, and they are generally in territorial seas, coastal water, and
        Great Lakes water areas. Block groups generally contain between 600 and 3,000 people. A BG usually covers a contiguous area but never crosses
        county or census tract boundaries. They may, however, cross the boundaries of other geographic entities like county subdivisions, places, urban
        areas, voting districts, congressional districts, and American Indian / Alaska Native / Native Hawaiian areas. 

        The BG boundaries in this release are those that were delineated as part of the Census Bureau's Participant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP) for the
        2010 Census. 

        The primary purpose of census tracts is to provide a stable set of geographic units for the presentation of census data and comparison back to
        previous decennial censuses. Census tracts generally have a population size between 1,200 and 8,000 people, with an optimum size of 4,000 people.
        When first delineated, census tracts were designed to be homogeneous with respect to population characteristics, economic status, and living
        conditions. The spatial size of census tracts varies widely depending on the density of settlement. Physical changes in street patterns caused by
        highway construction, new development, and so forth, may require boundary revisions. In addition, census tracts occasionally are split due to
        population growth, or combined as a result of substantial population decline. Census tract boundaries generally follow visible and identifiable
        features. They may follow legal boundaries such as minor civil division (MCD) or incorporated place boundaries in some States and situations to
        allow for census tract-to-governmental unit relationships where the governmental boundaries tend to remain unchanged between censuses. State and
        county boundaries always are census tract boundaries in the standard census geographic hierarchy. In a few rare instances, a census tract may
        consist of noncontiguous areas. These noncontiguous areas may occur where the census tracts are coextensive with all or parts of legal entities
        that are themselves noncontiguous. For the 2010 Census, the census tract code range of 9400 through 9499 was enforced for census tracts that
        include a majority American Indian population according to Census 2000 data and/or their area was primarily covered by federally recognized American
        Indian reservations and/or off-reservation trust lands; the code range 9800 through 9899 was enforced for those census tracts that contained little
        or no population and represented a relatively large special land use area such as a National Park, military installation, or a business/industrial
        park; and the code range 9900 through 9998 was enforced for those census tracts that contained only water area, no land area. 

        An incorporated place is established to provide governmental functions for a concentration of people as opposed to a minor civil division (MCD),
        which generally is created to provide services or administer an area without regard, necessarily, to population. Places always nest within a state,
        but may extend across county and county subdivision boundaries. An incorporated place usually is a city, town, village, or borough, but can have
        other legal descriptions. CDPs are delineated for the decennial census as the statistical counterparts of incorporated places. CDPs are delineated
        to provide data for settled concentrations of population that are identifiable by name, but are not legally incorporated under the laws of the state
        in which they are located. The boundaries for CDPs often are defined in partnership with state, local, and/or tribal officials and usually coincide
        with visible features or the boundary of an adjacent incorporated place or another legal entity. CDP boundaries often change from one decennial
        census to the next with changes in the settlement pattern and development; a CDP with the same name as in an earlier census does not necessarily
        have the same boundary. The only population/housing size requirement for CDPs is that they must contain some housing and population. 

        The boundaries of most incorporated places in this shapefile are as of January 1, 2013, as reported through the Census Bureau's Boundary and
        Annexation Survey (BAS). Limited updates that occurred after January 1, 2013, such as newly incorporated places, are also included. The boundaries
        of all CDPs were delineated as part of the Census Bureau's Participant Statistical Areas Program (PSAP) for the 2010 Census.

        The primary legal divisions of most states are termed counties. In Louisiana, these divisions are known as parishes. In Alaska, which has no
        counties, the equivalent entities are the organized boroughs, city and boroughs, municipalities, and for the unorganized area, census areas. The
        latter are delineated cooperatively for statistical purposes by the State of Alaska and the Census Bureau. In four states (Maryland, Missouri,
        Nevada, and Virginia), there are one or more incorporated places that are independent of any county organization and thus constitute primary
        divisions of their states. These incorporated places are known as independent cities and are treated as equivalent entities for purposes of data
        presentation. The District of Columbia and Guam have no primary divisions, and each area is considered an equivalent entity for purposes of data
        presentation. The Census Bureau treats the following entities as equivalents of counties for purposes of data presentation: Municipios in Puerto
        Rico, Districts and Islands in American Samoa, Municipalities in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and Islands in the U.S. Virgin
        Islands. The entire area of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas is covered by counties or equivalent entities. 

        The boundaries for counties and equivalent entities are mostly as of January 1, 2013, primarily as reported through the Census Bureau's Boundary and
        Annexation Survey (BAS). However, some changes made after January 2013, including the addition and deletion of counties, are included.

        County subdivisions are the primary divisions of counties and their equivalent entities for the reporting of Census Bureau data. They include
        legally-recognized minor civil divisions (MCDs) and statistical census county divisions (CCDs), and unorganized territories. For the 2010 Census,
        the MCDs are the primary governmental and/or administrative divisions of counties in 29 States and Puerto Rico; Tennessee changed from having CCDs
        for Census 2000 to having MCDs for the 2010 Census. In MCD States where no MCD exists or is not defined, the Census Bureau creates statistical
        unorganized territories to complete coverage. The entire area of the United States, Puerto Rico, and the Island Areas are covered by county
        subdivisions. The boundaries of most legal MCDs are as of January 1, 2013, as reported through the Census Bureau's Boundary and Annexation Survey
        (BAS). 

        The boundaries of all CCDs, delineated in 21 states, are those as reported as part of the Census Bureau's Participant Statistical Areas Program
        (PSAP) for the 2010 Census.

aΔAICc  =  difference from the Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) best model, adjusted for small sample size, w  =  AICc model weight, K  =  no. of parameters, −2l  =  twice the negative log-likelihood.bBeta estimates for abundance covariates CANOPY and CWD with 95% CI in parentheses.

This package contains tree demographic data from multiple remeasurements of several sets of permanent study plots in old-growth hemlock-northern hardwood forests in northern Marquette Co., Michigan. Plots were established from 1962-2001, with five to nine censuses over the study period.

 Plots are distributed over a large and diverse area of old-growth forests protected since ca. 1880, with no commercial management and active management limited to maintenance of trails and tracks. Most plots have not experienced stand-originating disturbances for at least 400 years (based on increment cores); three plots are in stands originating following a fire ca. 1830 ("Bourdo plots" 7094-7096). Forests are dominated by sugar maple (Acer saccharum) and eastern hemlock (Tsuga canadensis); secondary species include yellow birch (Betula alleghaniensis), basswood (Tilia americana), and hop-hornbeam (Ostrya virginiana). Soils are variable, ranging from deep sandy outwash to thin layers of rocky till over bedrock. 

 Mortality and diameter growth of all trees were recorded at each remeasurement. Protocols for measurement and stem-mapping are described in Methods. Several publications use some of the data included in this package -- see 'journal citations'.


 (identified as Kalkaska series) are developed on deep sandy glacial outwash. The plot is within a much larger region of old-growth forest, protected since ca. 1880, with only minimal disturbance associated with access tracks and trails. Numerous other forest community and dendrochronological studies support the interpretation that the area around the study plot has not experienced stand-initiating disturbance for at least 400 years.
 Initial mapping and measurements (1993-1995 for 2.52 ha; an additional 0.2 ha added in 1999) used a 20x20 m grid established in a near-level area of uniform substrate. All stems were identified to species, mapped on polar coordinates from the center of each grid cell (including, at first measurement, identifiable dead trees, standing and down), and diameter at breast height (dbh) measured to nearest 0.1 cm. All stems were remeasured on a five-year cycle 1999-2019, and new mortality was recorded at each remeasurement. New recruits > 2 cm dbh were added at each remeasurement.

The Dukes Research Natural Area (Hiawatha National Forest, Marquette Co., MI) amounts to ca. 100 ha of minimally disturbed original forests, including a mix of mesic 'hemlock-northern hardwood' types and peaty wetlands dominated by several species of swamp conifers and black ash (Fraxinus nigra). The RNA hosts a regular grid of 250 0.2-acre (~0.08 ha) permanent monitoring (CFI) plots. This package includes tree censuses for subsets of CFI plots conducted in 1935, 1948, and 1974-1980, and repeated censuses with mapped stems from 1989 to 2019. This 84-year record constitutes one of the longest repeated-measurement, permanent-plot data-sets for old-growth temperate forest.

How to identify the drivers of population connectivity remains a fundamental question in ecology and evolution. Answering this question can be challenging in aquatic environments where dynamic lake and ocean currents coupled with high levels of dispersal and gene flow can decrease the utility of modern population genetic tools. To address this challenge, we used RAD-Seq to genotype 959 yellow perch (Perca flavescens), a species with an ~40-day pelagic larval duration (PLD), collected from 20 sites circumscribing Lake Michigan. We also developed a novel, integrative approach that couples detailed biophysical models with eco-genetic agent-based models to generate 'predictive' values of genetic differentiation. By comparing predictive and empirical values of genetic differentiation, we estimated the relative contributions for known drivers of population connectivity (e.g., currents, behavior, PLD). For the main basin populations (i.e., the largest contiguous portion of the lake), we found that high gene flow led to low overall levels of genetic differentiation among populations (FST = 0.003). By far the best predictors of genetic differentiation were connectivity matrices that were derived from periods of time when there were strong and highly dispersive currents. Thus, these highly dispersive currents are driving the patterns of population connectivity in the main basin. We also found that populations from the northern and southern main basin are slightly divergent from one another, while those from Green Bay and the main basin are highly divergent (FST = 0.11). By integrating biophysical and eco-genetic models with genome-wide data, we illustrate that the drivers of population connectivity can be identified in high gene flow systems. Methods For the biophysical model, we used a Lagrangian particle tracking model previously developed to study the transport of larval cod (Churchill et al., 2011; Huret et al., 2007), where three-dimensional current velocities and turbulent diffusivity were output from the application of the Finite Volume Community Ocean Model (FVCOM). A random-walk scheme for spatially varying vertical diffusivity was used, including a vertical floating/sinking/swimming velocity (Gräwe, 2011; Rowe et al., 2016). Particles were designated to be either 1.) neutrally buoyant or 2.) have an upward vertical swimming velocity of 0.0003 m/s. We chose to use an upward vertical swimming velocity because yellow perch larvae are more likely to be collected in the upper layers of Lake Michigan (Martin et al. 2011). The Lagrangian particle tracking simulations were forced by output from FVCOM simulation of Lake Michigan-Huron (Anderson & Schwab, 2013) incorporating exchange currents in the Straits of Mackinac. Horizontal grid resolution varied with finer resolution nearshore and in regions with complex coastlines (e.g., 100 m in the Straits of Mackinac to 2.5 km in the center of the lakes), and each horizontal grid was discretized into 20 terrain-following (sigma) layers.

Presence and relocation data for common merganser broods on intervention and control lakes.

Collection and infection data for Stagnicola emarginata snails examined in this study.

Historical prevalences of T. stagnicolae in Stagnicola emarginata from lakes in this study.

Remote sensing approaches that could identify species of submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV) and measure their extent in lake littoral zones would greatly enhance their study and management, especially if they can provide faster or more accurate results than traditional field methods. Remote sensing with multispectral sensors can provide this capability, but SAV identification with this technology must address the challenges of light extinction in aquatic environments where chlorophyll, dissolved organic carbon, and suspended minerals can affect water clarity and the strength of the sensed light signal. Here, we present environmental data collected to support a study using an unmanned aerial system (UAS)-enabled methodology to identify the extent of the invasive SAV species Myriophyllum spicatum (Eurasian watermilfoil, or EWM) in the Les Cheneaux Islands area of northwestern Lake Huron, Michigan, USA. Data collected includes water chemistry (nitrogen, phosphorus, carbon, suspended solids, chlorophyll a), light profiles, and submerged aquatic vegetation characteristics including cover, species dominance using aquatic vegetation survey methods (AVAS), and biomass.