Digital Commons Network^™

Assessing The Effects Of Myxobolus Cerebralis And Other Environmental Factors On The Dynamics, Abundance, And Distribution Of Trout Populations In The Logan River, Utah, Ernesto A. De La Hoz Franco

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The presence of nonnative trout and the recent introduction of Myxobolus cerebralis in the Logan River drainage pose a threat to the native Bonneville cutthroat trout population (Oncorhynchus clarki Utah). The variability in the response of susceptible trout populations to M. cerebralis, causing agent of whirling disease, suggests that environmental factors may influence the effects of the parasite in infected environments. I investigated the relationship between temperature, discharge, substrate size, nutrient concentration (nitrogen and phosphorus), periphyton (chlorophyll a), and the relative abundance of Tubifex tubifex to the distribution, and prevalence of M. cerebralis in wild salmonid populations and …