Effects of river discharge on abundance and instantaneous growth of age‐0 carpsuckers in the Oconee River, Georgia, USA

Peterson, Rebecca Cull; Jennings, Cecil A.

doi:10.1002/rra.1029

Cited by 10 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 23 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Broadly, and consistent with other research (Propst & Gido, 2004;King, Tonkin & Mahoney, 2009;Tan et al, 2010), native fish densities were highest at all sites in years with above average discharge. However, other aspects of flow regime such as timing (Bednarski, Miller & Scarnecchia, 2008) and stability of flows (Freeman et al, 2001;Peterson & Jennings, 2007) are also known to favour recruitment of stream fishes. Because these variables were highly correlated with mean annual discharge, we were unable to segregate the relative influence of each factor.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Spatially variable response of native fish assemblages to discharge, predators and habitat characteristics in an arid-land river

Stefferud

Gido

Propst³

2011

Freshwater Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Summary 1. Fish assemblages and habitats were sampled annually at fixed sites in three tributaries of the Gila River catchment over a 21‐year span that included prolonged low‐ and high‐flow periods. Model selection was used to evaluate responses of seven native fishes with variable ecological traits (four small‐bodied cyprinids, one large‐bodied cyprinid, and two large‐bodied catostomids) to mean annual discharge and predacious non‐native fishes across the three sites. We also compared habitat use and overlap of native and non‐native fishes to identify potential for negative interactions among species. 2. Assemblage structure (species abundance and richness) and recruitment of native species was strongly and primarily affected by mean annual discharge and secondarily by location and densities of non‐native predators (mainly the centrarchid Micropterus dolomieui). 3. Densities of age‐0 catostomids and small‐bodied cyprinids were positively associated with discharge, and this pattern was strongest in the tributary with the lowest densities of non‐native predators. Absence or extreme low abundance of natives during low‐flow years was most pronounced at the sites where non‐native predators were comparatively common. Densities of adults of large‐bodied native species also varied by site, but often were positively associated with densities of non‐native predators. 4. Spatially variable responses of native fish assemblages indicated that the persistence of native fishes could be jeopardized if key habitats were lost or flow regimes unnaturally altered, particularly during low‐flow conditions when recruitment of native fishes is low and predation by non‐natives is high. Large‐bodied species may be less vulnerable to multiple years of poor conditions because adults are able to avoid predation by non‐natives and thus can rely on occasional high discharge years for successful recruitment. 5. As in other arid‐land streams, native fish assemblages of the Gila River Basin continue to decline. Our results indicate that conservation requires specific knowledge and consideration of physical influences as well as life‐history attributes of native and non‐native fishes.

show abstract

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Spatially variable response of native fish assemblages to discharge, predators and habitat characteristics in an arid-land river

Stefferud

Gido

Propst³

2011

Freshwater Biology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…For example, fully assessing the role of hydrologic variation on a given population may require determining flow-ecology relationships at multiple temporal scales. Sub-daily flow variation may influence short-term habitat use (Schwartz and Herricks, 2005), migration (Carmichael et al, 1998), feeding ability (Barwick and Hudson, 1985) and spawning success (Grabowski and Isely, 2007), while habitat creation (Trush et al, 2000), growth (Peterson and Jennings, 2007), and recruitment (Rulifson and Manooch, 1990) may be influenced by hydrologic variation at seasonal or annual scales. Cumulative frequency plots like those presented here represent the distribution of each hydrologic metric calculated for each day, rather than daily statistics for many years.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characterizing Sub‐Daily Flow Regimes: Implications of Hydrologic Resolution on Ecohydrology Studies

Bevelhimer

McManamay

O’Connor

2014

River Research & Apps

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Natural variability in flow is a primary factor controlling geomorphic and ecological processes in riverine ecosystems. Within the hydropower industry, there is growing pressure from environmental groups and natural resource managers to change reservoir releases from daily peaking to run‐of‐river operations on the basis of the assumption that downstream biological communities will improve under a more natural flow regime. In this paper, we discuss the importance of assessing sub‐daily flows for understanding the physical and ecological dynamics within river systems. We present a variety of metrics for characterizing sub‐daily flow variation and use these metrics to evaluate general trends among streams affected by peaking hydroelectric projects, run‐of‐river projects and streams that are largely unaffected by flow altering activities. Univariate and multivariate techniques were used to assess similarity among different stream types on the basis of these sub‐daily metrics. For comparison, similar analyses were performed using analogous metrics calculated with mean daily flow values. Our results confirm that sub‐daily flow metrics reveal variation among and within streams that are not captured by daily flow statistics. Using sub‐daily flow statistics, we were able to quantify the degree of difference between unaltered and peaking streams and the amount of similarity between unaltered and run‐of‐river streams. The sub‐daily statistics were largely uncorrelated with daily statistics of similar scope. On short temporal scales, sub‐daily statistics reveal the relatively constant nature of unaltered stream reaches and the highly variable nature of hydropower‐affected streams, whereas daily statistics show just the opposite over longer temporal scales. Published 2014. This article is a U.S. Government work and is in the public domain in the USA.

show abstract

“…Although discharge did not explain a high proportion of the variation in year‐class strength, all relationships (expect for one) were negative. Peterson and Jennings () found that long periods of high discharge were inversely related to year‐class strength of Carpiodes spp. in the Oconee River, Georgia.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Freeman et al (2001) reported that high densities of age-0 catostomids in the Tallapoosa River, Alabama, were positively associated with persistence of shallow-water habitat in summer. As such, Peterson and Jennings (2007) argued that poor recruitment of age-0 Carpiodes spp. was due to reduced availability of shallow-water habitats during high flows.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Population Demographics of Catostomids in Large River Ecosystems: Effects of Discharge and Temperature on Recruitment Dynamics and Growth

Quist

Spiegel

2011

River Research & Apps

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Catostomids are among the most widespread and ecologically important groups of fishes in North America, particularly in large river systems. Despite their importance, little information is available on their population demographics and even less is known about factors influencing their population dynamics. The objectives of this study were to describe annual mortality, recruitment variation, and growth of eight catostomid species, and to evaluate the effects of discharge and temperature on year‐class strength and growth in Iowa rivers. Catostomids were sampled from 3‐km reaches in four nonwadable rivers during June–August 2009. Northern hogsucker, Hypentelium nigricans, golden redhorse, Moxostoma erythrurum, and shorthead redhorse, M. macrolepidotum, typically lived 6–8 years, had very stable recruitment, and had high total annual mortality (i.e., 40–60%). Golden redhorse exhibited the fastest growth of all species. Growth of northern hogsucker and shorthead redhorse was intermediate to the other catostomids. Highfin carpsucker, Carpiodes velifer, quillback, Carpiodes cyprinus, and white sucker, Catostomus commersonii, had high growth rates, low mortality (i.e., 25–30%), and relatively stable recruitment. River carpsucker, Carpiodes carpio, and silver redhorse, M. anisurum, had higher maximum ages (up to age 11), slower growth, lower total annual mortality (20–25%), and higher recruitment variability than the other species. Neither discharge nor temperature was strongly related to recruitment of catostomids. In contrast, several interesting patterns were observed with regard to growth. Species (e.g., carpsuckers, Carpiodes spp.) that typically consume prey items most common in fine substrates (e.g., chironomids) had higher growth rates in reaches dominated by sand and silt substrate. Species (e.g., northern hogsucker) that consume prey associated with large substrates (e.g., plecopterans) had much faster growth in reaches with a high proportion of rocky substrates. Temperature was weakly related to growth of catostomids; however, discharge explained a substantial amount of the variation in growth of nearly all species. Results of this study provide important information on the autecology of catostomids that can be used for comparison among species and systems. These data also suggest that connection of rivers with their floodplain is an important feature for catostomids in temperate river systems. Published in 2011 by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

show abstract

Effects of river discharge on abundance and instantaneous growth of age‐0 carpsuckers in the Oconee River, Georgia, USA

Cited by 10 publications

References 23 publications

Spatially variable response of native fish assemblages to discharge, predators and habitat characteristics in an arid-land river

Spatially variable response of native fish assemblages to discharge, predators and habitat characteristics in an arid-land river

Characterizing Sub‐Daily Flow Regimes: Implications of Hydrologic Resolution on Ecohydrology Studies

Population Demographics of Catostomids in Large River Ecosystems: Effects of Discharge and Temperature on Recruitment Dynamics and Growth

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About