Lakes provide valuable ecosystem services to society such as drinking water, recreation, and food from fishing, but development of lake shorelines can degrade riparian habitats and lake ecosystems. Conservation of inland lake ecosystems and their fisheries requires an understanding of how ecosystem processes are affected by shoreline development. This dissertation investigates the effects of riparian and littoral habitats, which are rapidly changing as shorelines become more developed, on an economically and ecologically important fish species that uses these habitats, Largemouth Bass Micropterus salmoides. This dissertation first assesses whether the abundance of aquatic vegetation, which is often removed by shoreline property owners, affects the growth of Largemouth Bass during the summer and fall of the first year of their lives. This growth is important, because age-0 Largemouth Bass growth and mortality are predictors of recruitment into the fishery. I used open-bottomed mesocosm enclosures to conduct an experiment with three vegetation treatments (low coverage, vegetation edge, and high coverage), and found that age-0 Largemouth Bass consumed more fish prey and more prey overall in macrophyte edge and high macrophyte coverage treatments than those with low vegetation coverage. These increases in consumption led to increases in growth rates, which is an important predictor of increased recruitment.Second, I evaluated catch, density and recruitment of Largemouth Bass in 16 inland Michigan lakes to determine whether macrophytes, large woody debris, and lake trophic status increased age-0 Largemouth Bass density or recruitment. Age-0 Largemouth Bass catches were higher at intermediate and high (40 – 100%) vegetation volumes in the water column, in areas near vegetation edges, near large woody debris, and areas having higher coverages of submersed aquatic vegetation. I estimated littoral age-0 and adult Largemouth Bass densities using independent habitat- and fish size-specific estimates of catchability. Using these density estimates, I found evidence that the ratio of age-0 to adult Largemouth Bass increased with trophic state and submersed aquatic vegetation, so efforts to improve Largemouth Bass recruitment should consider conserving submersed aquatic vegetation.Third, I conducted a survey of Michigan's lakefront property owners to assess characteristics of shoreline properties and property owners that corresponded with higher willingness to participate in conservation programs. Respondents were significantly less likely to enroll in littoral area conservation easements to protect fish habitat and water quality if they indicated that they felt social pressure for manicured lawns and more likely to enroll if they had more years of formal education, shoreline frontage, naturally occurring riparian plants, ecological knowledge about lake shorelines, or if the lake had a more developed shoreline. Enrollment in riparian easements was significantly less likely if property owners indicated social pressure for manicured lawns, but was more likely if they had more years of formal education, naturally occurring riparian plants, or shoreline frontage. Small increases to conservation payments at low payment levels (e.g. $100-$500 year-1) resulted in relatively large gains in enrollment; some respondents would enroll in littoral (29.8 % ± 2.2; mean ± SE) and riparian (24.4 % ± 2.1) easements even without payment due to the ecosystem services provided by these habitats.
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