Individual variability in the movement ecology of Northern pike Esox lucius in a highly connected wetland system

Abstract

Maintaining hydrological connectivity is important for sustaining freshwater fish populations as the high habitat connectivity supports large-scale fish movements, enabling individuals to express their natural behaviours and spatial ecology. Northern pike Esox lucius is a freshwater apex predator that requires access to a wide range of functional habitats across its lifecycle, including spatially discrete foraging and spawning areas. Here, pike movement ecology was assessed using acoustic telemetry and stable isotope analysis in the River Bure wetland system, eastern England, comprising of the Bure mainstem, the River Ant and Thurne tributaries, plus laterally connected lentic habitats, and a system of dykes and ditches. Of 44 tagged pike, 30 were tracked for over 100 days, with the majority of detections being in the laterally connected lentic habitats and dykes and ditches, but with similar numbers of pike detected across all macrohabitats. The movement metrics of these pike indicated high individual variability, with total ranges to over 26 km, total movements to over 1182 km and mean daily movements to over 2.9 km. Pike in the Thurne tributary were more vagile than those in the Ant and Bure, and with larger Thurne pike also having relatively high proportions of large-bodied and highly vagile common bream Abramis brama in their diet, suggesting the pike movements were potentially related to bream movements. These results indicate the high individual variability in pike movements, which was facilitated here by their access to a wide range of connected macrohabitats due to high hydrological connectivity.