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Full-Text Articles in Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Growth, Mortality, And Movement Of Endemic Bartram's Bass And Invasive Alabama Bass In Upper Savannah River Basin Tributaries, Tyler Zumwalt
Growth, Mortality, And Movement Of Endemic Bartram's Bass And Invasive Alabama Bass In Upper Savannah River Basin Tributaries, Tyler Zumwalt
All Theses
Bartram’s Bass are an endemic to the Upper Savannah River basin in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. Bartram’s Bass are facing many risks, primary among them being hybridization with nonnative Alabama Bass. More recently, nonnative Alabama Bass and their hybrid congeners have been observed moving from reservoirs into tributaries where the remaining Bartram’s Bass populations exist. Thus, for Chapter 1 we sought to better understand the threat of nonnative gene spreading in tributary systems. To do this, we 1) quantified the movement of pure Alabama Bass, Bartram’s Bass, and their hybrids, 2) assessed correlations between movement and abiotic variables, …
Characterizing Habitat Suitability For Gulf Sturgeon (Acipenser Oxyrinchus Desotoi) In Southern Louisiana, Jenna N. Brogdon
Characterizing Habitat Suitability For Gulf Sturgeon (Acipenser Oxyrinchus Desotoi) In Southern Louisiana, Jenna N. Brogdon
LSU Master's Theses
A generalized additive modeling (GAM) framework was used to characterize fish-habitat relationships and develop habitat suitability maps to predict spatiotemporal and ontogenetic shifts in Gulf sturgeon distribution within an impacted estuary in the northern Gulf of Mexico, Lake Pontchartrain. Gulf sturgeon (n = 103) were fitted with acoustic transmitters in the Pearl River during the early summer and fall from 2013 to 2018, and an array of acoustic receivers (n = 81) was used to monitor Gulf sturgeon habitat use and movement in the estuary from 2016 to 2019. Daily presence data from the telemetry array were paired with environmental …
Assessing Populations Of Eastern Brook Trout (Salvelinus Fontinalis) Above And Below Waterfalls In Mountain Streams Of Virginia, Hannah Eisemann Macmillan
Assessing Populations Of Eastern Brook Trout (Salvelinus Fontinalis) Above And Below Waterfalls In Mountain Streams Of Virginia, Hannah Eisemann Macmillan
Masters Theses, 2010-2019
Anthropogenically driven factors, such as increasing temperature and sediment in valley streams, acidification of mountain streams, and the introduction of non-native trout, are restricting habitat suitable for healthy populations of eastern brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) throughout their native Appalachian range. Brook trout are important as predators of insects in mountain streams and as a favorite of anglers. It is crucial that remaining populations in sustainable habitats be identified and preserved. Waterfalls are geologic knickpoints preventing base-level lowering that create unique, stable landscapes above them, which may alleviate the temperature-productivity/acidity “habitat squeeze” for populations of brook trout and could …
A Hemimysis Driven Novel Ecosystem At A Modified Boulder Breakwall, Eric John Geisthardt
A Hemimysis Driven Novel Ecosystem At A Modified Boulder Breakwall, Eric John Geisthardt
Theses and Dissertations
The US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) is mandated to maintain and repair aging breakwall structures in all commercial ports on the Great Lakes. In May of 2014, the construction of Milwaukee Harbor USACE “green” breakwall (GBW) reconciliation created complex rocky aquatic habitat by depositing cobble-sized stone as a veneer over standard 6-10 ton boulders, thus creating “control” (boulder) and “treatment” (cobble) habitats. The breakwall is home to a prolific population of Hemimysis anomala, the introduced Ponto-Caspian mysid, which is significantly more abundant on cobble versus boulders (p<0.05, using a novel trap for Hemimysis). Fish and forage communities were sampled in 2015 and 2016 using a combination of experimental and micromesh gill nets, night scuba diving surveys, and a novel Hemimysis trap. This nearshore lithophilic mysid appears to provide a significant new seasonal food resource in the Milwaukee Harbor for pelagic prey fishes during inshore spawning migrations and upwelling events. Alewife (Alosa pseudoharengus) and rainbow smelt (Osmerus mordax) fed heavily on Hemimysis with some individuals consuming hundreds of mysids. Night scuba diving surveys and gill netting confirmed that rainbow smelt preferred to forage on the cobble section (p<0.05), and also consumed more Hemimysis there than they did at the control breakwall site (p<0.05). Hemimysis were also the primary food item consumed by nearshore game fishes such as YOY yellow perch (Perca flavescens), YOY largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides), and juvenile rock bass (Ambloplites rupestris) caught at the breakwall. This study provides the first documented evidence that where abundant in the Laurentian Great Lakes, Hemimysis do have the ability to significantly impact local food webs and drive the feeding ecology of both pelagic transient and nearshore resident fishes.
The Natural Life History Of Cambarus (Puncticambarus) Smilax, The Greenbrier Crayfish, Paul William Hughes
The Natural Life History Of Cambarus (Puncticambarus) Smilax, The Greenbrier Crayfish, Paul William Hughes
Theses, Dissertations and Capstones
The natural life history of Cambarus (Puncticambarus) smilax, the Greenbrier Crayfish, was studied in West Fork of the Greenbrier River and in Thorny Creek, a tributary of the main stem of the Greenbrier River. The Greenbrier Crayfish gets its name from the Greenbrier River watershed where it is thought to occur exclusively. Among described members of the subgenus Puncticambarus, C. smilax is a sister taxon most similar to Cambarus (Puncticambarus) robustus. Monthly collections were made within the two study sites, from August 2010 to July 2011. Collecting techniques included dip-netting, seine-netting, and hand collecting. Cambarus smilax and all other species …
Evaluating The Utility Of Beaver Reintroduction Programs For Enhancing Habitat For Rainbow Trout And Steelhead, Jonathan Rodger Hegna
Evaluating The Utility Of Beaver Reintroduction Programs For Enhancing Habitat For Rainbow Trout And Steelhead, Jonathan Rodger Hegna
All Master's Theses
Beaver reintroduction programs are increasingly being viewed as a way to enhance salmonid habitat and production. However, the actual effectiveness of using beavers as a habitat enhancement tool for ESA listed steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss populations is unknown. We examined the type of habitat, at both the microhabitat and mesohabitat levels, preferred by steelhead in three small streams in the upper Yakima Basin, WA through standard snorkel surveys and habitat measurements. Our results suggest that steelhead in small streams strongly prefer (relative to availability) microhabitats that have deeper water(> 30 cm), slow stream velocities(< 0 .05 mis), and complex cover types. Habitat partitioning among the size-classes (small< 50 mm, medium 50-90 mm, large> 90 mm total length, TL) principally operated …