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Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Grassbed Treatments As Habitat For Juvenile Black Bass In A Drawdown Reservoir, D. R. Ratcliff, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, J. Zustak
Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Grassbed Treatments As Habitat For Juvenile Black Bass In A Drawdown Reservoir, D. R. Ratcliff, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh, J. Zustak
Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications
Many reservoirs in arid regions experience highly variable water levels caused by seasonal inflow fluctuations and designated outflow requirements. At Shasta Lake, California, managers plant cereal-grain grassbeds on exposed drawdown shorelines to increase juvenile fish habitat, localize productivity, and increase invertebrate fish prey. To determine the efficacy of these plantings, the abundance of juvenile black basses Micropterus spp. (20–55 mm standard length) and the amount of periphyton and macroinvertebrate prey were compared among three treatment types: (1) planted grassbeds of cereal barley Hordeum vulgare; (2) artificial rope grassbeds, which eliminated physical deterioration and nutrient release; and (3) nonplanted control sites …
Ontogenetic Habitat Shifts Of Juvenile Bear Lake Sculpin, J. Ruzycki, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh
Ontogenetic Habitat Shifts Of Juvenile Bear Lake Sculpin, J. Ruzycki, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh
Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications
Bear lake sculpin Cottus extensus exhibit ontogenetic habitat shifts during their initial year of life. Distribution and habitat switching was measured with bimonthly bottom-trawl surveys repeated throughout the summer. Patterns of daily growth increments on otoliths were used to measure the history of habitat residence, individual size at the time of the habitat switch, and habitat-specific growth rates. Laboratory experiments and known-age fish confirmed daily increment formation of otoliths. After dispersing during an initial pelagic larval stage, postlarval juveniles settled in both the warm, food-rich littoral zone and the cold, unproductive profundal zone. During summer, initial profundal-zone inhabitants underwent a …
Visual Feeding By Juvenile Bear Lake Sculpin, D. Neverman, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh
Visual Feeding By Juvenile Bear Lake Sculpin, D. Neverman, Wayne A. Wurtsbaugh
Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications
Young-of-the-year Bear Lake sculpin Cottus extensus feed throughout the day on benthic invertebrates and cease feeding at night when they migrate to the metalimnion. We investigated their reliance on vision by conducting feeding trials at different light levels in the laboratory. Feeding rate reached a maximum at intermediate light levels (near 10^16 photons sm^–2 ss^–1; approximately 1 lux) but decreased as light intensity increased beyond this range. At this maximum rate, the fish fed nine times faster than they were able to feed in the dark, showing that young Bear Lake sculpin rely heavily upon vision to feed. The light …