Movements and distribution of adult Lake Sturgeon from their spawning site in the St. Clair River, Michigan

Abstract

Summary Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens were studied to determine spawning migrations, seasonal movement patterns and habitat use in the St. Clair River and Lake St. Clair. Ultrasonic transmitters were successfully implanted in 15 sexually mature adult fish during spawning periods in 1997–1999. Telemetry data, along with GIS software, were used to determine where Lake Sturgeon resided in Lake St. Clair following implantation. Movement information collected from tagged Lake Sturgeon from May 1997–October 2000 revealed three patterns. Following implantation, 73% of the fish (four females and seven males) moved downstream from the St. Clair River to Lake St. Clair, 13% of the fish (one female and one male) were presumed to have moved upriver to Lake Huron, and 20% of the fish (one female and two males) remained in or returned to the St. Clair River for at least 1 year. The fish that moved into Lake St. Clair were found most often in an area near the St. Clair River Delta, at depths of 4–6 m (>98% of observations). Fish that remained in the St. Clair River were commonly found (>84%) at depths between 9 and 18 m. Four females and three males returned to the spawning site in the St. Clair River in subsequent spawning seasons. Females returned at intervals of 1–3 years and males at 1–2 years. For all invertebrates tested, only Ephemeroptera density was a significant predictor of Lake Sturgeon presence/absence in Lake St. Clair.

Lake Sturgeon Geographic Range, Distribution, and Migration Patterns in the Saskatchewan River

“…It is difficult to directly compare extent of movement between systems as the number and frequency of impoundments restricting movement vary and the majority of studies focus on mainly lake populations (Rusak and Mosindy 1997;Auer 1999;Adams et al 2006). Area use by Lake Sturgeon is likely to fluctuate significantly between years due to the complex multiyear sturgeon life cycle and associated variations in habitat use (Auer 1996a;Boase et al 2011). For example, though most of the Lake Sturgeon in this study would be considered adults, Barth et al (2011) found juvenile Lake Sturgeon had very high site fidelity and smaller ranges than adult Lake Sturgeon and often do not move far from core areas, suggesting that younger Lake Sturgeon or those that are not in a spawning year may exhibit much smaller ranges.…”

Review of a species in peril: what we do not know about lake sturgeon may kill them

“…Similar studies confirm that variation is the norm in sturgeon habitat selection or that selection may be based on what is available in the system. Boase et al (2011) tagged a population of lake sturgeon in the St. Clair River and found the largest congregations at depths of 4-6 m. The remaining fish in the St. Clair River were commonly found at depths between 9 and 18 m. Similarly, Daugherty et al (2009) found that staging habitat was characterized by water depths greater than 2 m and located near potential spawning habitat. An earlier study by Daugherty et al (2008) studied available habitat in the Great Lakes using geo-referenced habitat information characterizing substrate composition, water depth, and stream gradient and applied these to specific lake sturgeon life history suitabilities.…”

“…For example, in Lake St. Clair, Boase et al (2011) tested a series of invertebrates and only Ephemeroptera density was a significant predictor of lake sturgeon presence or absence. However, this association does not necessarily provide a dietary link between lake sturgeon and Ephemeroptera in these sites, particularly since Lake St. Clair is host to a diversity of crayfish (Crocker and Barr 1968) that may occur in the habitats sampled by Boase et al (2011) yet would be dramatically under-represented by their method of assessing the benthic fauna (i.e., Ponar grabs).…”

Effects of acoustic tag implantation on lake sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens: lack of evidence for changes in behavior

“…The lower St. Clair River is core habitat for a large remnant lake sturgeon population [15]. Many of these fish remain in the North and Middle Channels year-round or move between the lower river and Lake St. Clair [16], which increased the likelihood that individuals tagged in a given year would be detected nearby in subsequent years. Lake sturgeon in this study were captured and tagged as part of a project designed to elucidate lake sturgeon population structure in the Lake Huron-to-Lake Erie corridor.…”

“…Two analyses of movement frequency were performed to account for variation in lake sturgeon migratory behavior in the lower St. Clair River, which ranges from yearround river residency to adfluvial potamodromy [16]. In the first analysis, the response variable was the frequency of "short-distance" movements made by individual acoustic-tagged lake sturgeon within a given observation period.…”