Post-hatch dispersal of lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens, Rafinesque, 1817) yolk-sac larvae in relation to substrate in an artificial stream

Abstract

Summary Knowledge of the effects of environment and genotype on behavior during early ontogenetic stages of many fish species including lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) is generally lacking. Understanding these effects is particularly important at a time when human activities are fundamentally altering habitats and seasonal and diel physical and biotic stream features. Artificial stream channels were used in a controlled experiment to quantify lake sturgeon yolk‐sac larvae dispersal distance and stream substrate preference from different females (N = 2) whose eggs were incubated at different temperatures (10 and 18°C) that simulated stream conditions during early and late spawning and incubation periods in the Black River, Michigan. Data revealed that yolk‐sac larvae exhibited considerable variability in dispersal distance as a function of family (genotype), temperature experienced during previous (embryonic) ontogenetic stages, and environmental ‘grain’. Yolk‐sac larvae dispersal distance varied as a function of the juxtaposition of substrate to location of egg hatch. Lake sturgeon yolk‐sac larvae dispersed from mesh screens attached to bricks and settled exclusively in gravel substrate. Dispersal distance also varied as a function of family and egg incubation temperatures, reflecting differences in offspring body size and levels of endogenous yolk reserves (yolk sac area) at hatch. Expression of plasticity in dispersal behavior may be particularly important to individual survival and population levels of recruitment contingent upon the location, size, and degree of fragmentation of suitable (gravel) habitats between adult spawning and yolk‐sac larvae rearing areas.

If you build it, will they come? Spawning habitat remediation for sturgeon

“…The importance of hydraulic conditions to spawning habitat selection (Du et al., ; Zhang et al., ) underscores the need for pre and post‐project monitoring to ensure that hydraulic conditions are maintained or enhanced. Detailed modelling (Hildebrand et al., ; McDougall et al., ; nhc, ) and direct measurement (e.g., using ADCP; Elliott, Jacobson, & DeLonay, ; Johnson et al., 2006a, 2006b) have both been used to understand hydraulic responses. This aspect of physical monitoring is important to improve our understanding of spawning habitat selection at both the project design and monitoring stages.…”

The Expression of Pre- and Postcopulatory Sexually Selected Traits Reflects Levels of Dietary Stress in Guppies

“…These traits and fitness consequences include growth [2], [3], survival [4], [5] and reproduction [6], [7], among others. Among the environmental factors contributing to these effects, dietary resources can play a pivotal role in shaping fitness by affecting an animal's physiology, behaviour, immunity and life history traits (e.g.…”

Evaluation and Comparison of a Habitat Suitability Model for Postdrift Larval Lake Sturgeon in the St. Clair and Detroit Rivers

“…Given that larval Lake Sturgeon have been shown to drift greater distances when suitable substrate was not readily encountered (Hastings et al. ), prolonged time spent drifting could result in increased risks of predation and starvation (Auer and Baker ; Peterson et al. ), corresponding to high larval mortality rates and the relatively low abundance observed in our study.…”

“…In a series of flume trials, Hastings et al. () observed that when gravel substrate was present close to the initial larval release point, larval drift distance was short and larvae settled in those areas. When a different substrate was offered immediately downstream of the release point, larvae drifted longer distances to find gravel.…”