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Ontogenetic Habitat Shift Of Juvenile Bear Lake Sculpin (Cottus Extensus), James R. Ruzycki

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Bear Lake sculpin (Cottus extensus) exhibited an ontogenetic habitat shift during their first year of life. Soon after hatching in the littoral zone, the fry swam to the surface where they dispersed throughout the lake. Most juveniles that initially settled in the profundal zone returned to the littoral zone during their first summer. Patterns in the daily growth increments of otoliths confirmed the history of habitat residence and the individual size at the habitat switch. We used this habitat shift to test a μ/g model incorporating a growth rate-mortality risk trade-off. A trade-off occurred in the littoral …