Movements by wild brown trout in a boreal river: response to habitat and flow contrasts

Abstract

Radio transmitters were implanted in wild brown trout, Salmo trutta L., in the River Ma˚na at low summer water flows (n = 18), higher flow in summer (n = 20), and variable, peaking flows in autumn (n = 20), and tracked two to four times day and night for 4-5 weeks. Individuals were caught and released in a 4-km uniformly channelised section, and in a 4-km natural diverse river section. Substantial individual variation in home range and total movement (924-85 818 m 2 and 295-7014 m) suggested flexibility to adapt to local environmental conditions. Fish were stationary most of the time (median movement 0 m), but some individuals undertook few and apparently sporadic longer movements, sometimes involving shifts in home range. No consistent diurnal pattern in movements was found. Trout in the uniform habitat section appeared to have larger home ranges and moved more than trout in the natural section. Differences were, however, not statistically significant in most comparisons, due to large individual variation. Similarly, larger home ranges and movements between trials related to higher flow were found, but differences were generally not significant. No consistent effects of sudden, extreme peaking flows on area use or movements by the brown trout were observed. K E Y W O R D S : brown trout, habitat, movement, stream, telemetry, water flow.

Movement and Mortality of Adult Brown Trout in the Motupiko River, New Zealand: Effects of Water Temperature, Flow, and Flooding

“…The movement rates we observed were also similar to the range of movement rates reported for spawning rainbow trout Oncorhynchus mykiss in New Zealand (321-487 m/d; Dedual and Jowett 1999;Venman and Dedual 2005), but lower than that reported for bull trout Salvelinus confluentus (up to 4.4 km/d; Swanberg 1997). The total distances moved by brown trout in our study (up to 41 km) were also within the range reported elsewhere for brown trout (Allen 1951;Clapp et al 1990;Meyers et al 1992;Burrell et al 2000;Knouft and Spotila 2002;Ovidio et al 2002;Bettinger and Bettoli 2004;Diana et al 2004;Rustadbakken et al 2004;Heggenes et al 2007), although somewhat less than the 76-202 km reported by Young (1994), Wilson and Boubee (1996), and Strickland et al (1999). Maximum movements are presumably constrained by the size of the catchments studied and the distances among foraging, refuge and spawning habitats.…”

“…Research on river-resident salmonids over the last 15 years has indicated that widespread movement is much more common than previously thought (Gowan et al 1994;Young 1996;Young et al 1997;Diana et al 2004;Mellina et al 2005;Heggenes et al 2007). Movement can be within an extended home range of several hundred meters (Rodriguez 2002;Diana et al 2004;Mellina et al 2005;Roghair 2005) up to largerscale movements of many kilometers (Clapp et al 1990;Bettinger and Bettoli 2004;Gresswell and Hendricks 2007;Heggenes et al 2007).…”

“…Movement can be within an extended home range of several hundred meters (Rodriguez 2002;Diana et al 2004;Mellina et al 2005;Roghair 2005) up to largerscale movements of many kilometers (Clapp et al 1990;Bettinger and Bettoli 2004;Gresswell and Hendricks 2007;Heggenes et al 2007). Large-scale movements can be important for providing valuable permanent or seasonal fisheries in particular reaches of rivers (Meyers et al 1992;Meka et al 2003) and also help explain patterns in size distribution of fish throughout catchments (Hughes 1999).…”

Hydropower-related pulsed-flow impacts on stream fishes: a brief review, conceptual model, knowledge gaps, and research needs

“…Numerous field studies found no consistent effect of sudden, extreme peaking flows (ranging from 0.15 to [200 m 3 s -1 ) on area use or movements by adult trout and salmon (Bunt et al 1999;Gido et al 2000;Heggenes et al 2007;Scruton et al 2005). Similarly, domestic rainbow trout in the South Fork American River (California USA), with SL [ 25 cm, were not forced downstream by daily pulsed flow increases from 5 to [40 m 3 s -1 .…”

Distribution and movement of domestic rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, during pulsed flows in the South Fork American River, California

“…In contrast, the longitudinal displacement of larger fish seems less likely due to their increased swimming performance, compared with smaller fishes (Webb 1971), unless there are velocity refugia that are more accessible to smaller-sized fish. Field studies have found no consistent effect of sudden, extreme peaking flows on area use or movements by adult trout and salmon (Bunt et al 1999;Gido et al 2000;Scruton et al 2005;Heggenes et al 2007). …”