Movements & Habitat Use of Juvenile Lake Sturgeon in the North Channel of the St. Clai River

Juvenile Sturgeon Acipenser Fulvescens;North Channel of St. Clair River;Movement and Habitat Use of Juvenile Sturgeon Acipenser Fulvescens;School of Natural Resources and Environment

Lord, KatherineWiley, Michael ;

University of Michigan

关键词: Juvenile Sturgeon Acipenser Fulvescens;    North Channel of St. Clair River;    Movement and Habitat Use of Juvenile Sturgeon Acipenser Fulvescens;    School of Natural Resources and Environment;   

Others  :  https://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/handle/2027.42/50471/THESIS_Final_Draft_4_16_2007.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y

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来源: The Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

【 摘 要 】

Abstract: Juvenile sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens between the ages of 3-7 years werestudied to determine movement patterns and habitat usage in the North Channel of the St.Clair River. Nine juveniles were implanted with ultrasonic transmitters and tracked inthe summer seasons of 2005 and 2006. Telemetry data and Geographic InformationSoftware were used to determine habitat preferences. All fish tracked showed a largedegree of site fidelity, with an overall home range area between 0.8km² and 10.8km².Juvenile lake sturgeon habitat selection was strongly related to depth, and they werefound over 95% of the time in depths that exceeded 9m. Sturgeon appeared to occupydeeper habitats compared to what was available; sturgeon were most commonly found indepths between 12 and 18m (44% of occupied locations), however the most frequentlyavailable habitat was between 9-12m (32% of all available locations). Many sturgeonhad a high degree of home range overlap, and overlap was significantly higher in areasthat contained gravel bottom substrate without zebra mussels. Juvenile home range wasalso smaller in areas that contained gravel substrate than in areas with appreciable zebramussel coverage, indicating that more food might be available in areas that contain gravelsubstrate. A significant negative correlation was found between the amount of zebramussel cover and depth, meaning greater depths had lower zebra mussel coverage. Thesedata suggest that sturgeon chose deeper sections of the North Channel because of a lackof zebra mussels and greater amounts of other types of invertebrates that served as food.