SFS Annual Meeting

5/22/2019  |   09:00 - 09:15   |  250 CF

HELLBENDER SALAMANDERS AND FOUR FISH; SCIENCE, LITERATURE REVIEWS AND PERCEPTIONS HELLBENDER SALAMANDER (CRYPTOBRANCHUS ALLEGANENSIS) POPULATION DECLINE HAS PARTIALLY BEEN ATTRIBUTED TO PREDATION BY FISH. MUCH SUPPORT FOR THIS HYPOTHESIS COMES FROM BEHAVIIORAL STUDIES INTERPRETING THE MOVEMENT OF OR LACK OF MOVEMENT OF HELLBENDERS OR FISH FOLLOWING A POTENTIAL STIMULUS. THESE BEHAVIORAL STUDIES USED INDIVIDUAL C. ALLEGANIENSIS FROM MISSOURI STREAMS WHERE WE HAVE CONDUCTED FIELD STUDIES FOR MANY YEARS. HEREIN, WE EXAMINE THE HYPOTHESIS THAT FOUR FISH SPECIES MAY CAUSE SUFFICIENT PREDATION OF HELLBENDERS TO CAUSE POPULATION DECLINE.THESE SPECIES INCLUDE TWO NATIVE SPECIES; THE OZARK SCULPIN COTTUS HYPESELURUS AND BANDED SCULPIN C. CAROLINAE AND TWO INTRODUCED SPECIES; RAINBOW TROUT ONCORHYCHUS MYKISS AND BROWN TROUT SALMO TRUTTA. WE REVIEWED DATA FROM OUR LABS FISH DIETS, POPULATION SAMPLES, AND FIELD DATA FROM FOUR C. A. BISHOPI STREAMS AND FROM FOUR C.A, ALLEGANIENSIS STREAMS (1968 - 2007) AND FROM SEVEN NON-MISSOURI STREAMS (1970 -2013).WE ALSO SURVEYED THE LITERATURE CONCERNING THE DIETS OF THESE FISH. WE FOUND NO EVIDENCE SUPPORTING THESE SPECIES AS HELLBENDER PREDATORS. EVEN IF THEY MAY BE OCCASIONAL PREDATORS, THERE IS NO SUPPORT FOR THEM CAUSING SIGNIFICANT POPULATION DECLINE.

Max Nickerson (Primary Presenter/Author), University of Florida, maxn@flmnh.ufl.edu;


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5/22/2019  |   09:15 - 09:30   |  250 CF

LOCALIZED RESOURCE RELIANCE OF YOUNG-OF-YEAR LARGEMOUTH BASS IN GLACIAL LAKES: IMPLICATIONS FOR NEARSHORE HABITAT MANAGEMENT Midwestern glacial lakes support a diversity of economically and ecologically important fish species. Human activities can have significant purposeful and unintentional impacts on various in-lake biotic and abiotic processes. For instance, patches of nearshore vegetation are often removed for recreation and perceived aesthetic improvement by lakeshore landowners. However, the effects of such removals on fish populations are not well understood. We suggest that the extent to which fish rely on local versus lake-wide resources will have important implications as to how they respond to patchy habitat alterations. Based on stomach content analyses, young-of-year largemouth bass (YOY LMB) exhibit spatially localized trophic relationships within small lakes. We aim to determine if these localized patterns are consistent through time using stable isotope ratios (?13 Carbon, ?15 Nitrogen, ?18 Oxygen and ?2 Hydrogen). Elucidating the degree of reliance on local resources should have implications for the appropriate scale for nearshore habitat management.

Patricia Nease (Primary Presenter/Author), Purdue University, neasep@purdue.edu;


Tomas Hook (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Purdue University & Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program, thook@purdue.edu;


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5/22/2019  |   09:30 - 09:45   |  250 CF

EFFECTS OF CARCASS ADDITIONS ON STREAM FOOD WEBS ALONG A FISH ASSEMBLAGE GRADIENT IN AN INTERIOR COLUMBIA RIVER BASIN TRIBUTARY We added steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) carcasses to three stream pairs in an interior Columbia River Basin tributary to evaluate how the reduction of marine derived nutrient (MDN) subsidies in this region may be impacting stream food webs. Juvenile salmonids were present in all three pairs (each with a control and treatment) but the proportion of native non-salmonids increased with distance downstream. Stable isotope analysis indicated that the majority of the food web – periphyton, various macroinvertebrate guilds, and non-salmonids – assimilated MDN through bottom-up pathways in the middle and downstream pair, but not the upstream pair. However, we estimated that most of these taxa only obtained 5-12% of their energy from MDN. In contrast, across the three study pairs, juvenile Chinook (O. tshawytscha) and steelhead obtained between 20-25% and 40-61% of their energy from MDN, respectively. Juvenile Chinook and steelhead growth rates and body condition were significantly greater in treatment reaches compared to controls 0-4 weeks after carcass additions. Diet analysis clearly indicated that salmonid MDN assimilation and enhanced growth were primarily attributed to direct consumption of carcass tissue and eggs. Diet analysis further revealed that non-salmonids did not consume eggs or carcass material.

Matthew Kaylor (Primary Presenter/Author), Oregon State University, matthew.kaylor@oregonstate.edu;


Seth White (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Columbia River Inter-Tribal Fish Commission, whis@critfc.org;


Edwin Sedell (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, edwin.r.sedell@state.or.us;


Ashley Sanders (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Oregon State University, a.sanders333@gmail.com;


Dana Warren (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Oregon State University, dana.warren@oregonstate.edu;


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5/22/2019  |   09:45 - 10:00   |  250 CF

THE ENVIRONMENTAL NICHE OF TWO IMPERILED STREAM ECOSYSTEM ENGINEERS: HORNYHEAD CHUB (NOCOMIS BIGUTTATUS) AND REDSPOT CHUB (NOCOMIS ASPER) The Hornyhead Chub (Nocomis biguttatus) and Redspot Chub (Nocomis asper) are mound-building spawners. Several other fish species use chub mounds as spawning habitat, thus making chubs ecosystem engineers. Both chubs are threatened in Kansas because of population declines, which could also contribute to lower spawning success of several imperiled mound-spawning associates. We sought to describe the environmental niche of Kansas Nocomis to identify factors limiting their distribution. We addressed our objective by examining co-occurrences between chubs and other fishes (correlation and non-metric multidimensional scaling), comparing physicochemical variables between sites where chub were present versus absent (analysis of deviance), and by constructing environmental niche models (generalized linear model). Hornyhead Chub exhibited positive co-occurrences with Carmine and Sand Shiners, while Redspot Chub were positively associated with Ozark Minnow and Cardinal Shiner. Furthermore, streams where chub were present had clearer water, less silt, and less upstream watershed area as agricultural or reservoir habitat compared to sites where absent. Potential repatriation streams should possess these environmental characteristics, and stream management should strive to preserve or restore these conditions to recover chub populations.

James Whitney (Primary Presenter/Author), Pittsburg State University, jewhitney@pittstate.edu;


Joshua Holloway (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Pittsburg State University, jholloway@gus.pittstate.edu;


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5/22/2019  |   10:00 - 10:15   |  250 CF

SUPPLY AND DEMAND: EVALUATING THE EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE AND FOOD AVAILABILITY ON THE PERFORMANCE OF A MID-LEVEL CONSUMER WITHIN ARCTIC LAKES Due to the temperature-dependence of physiological processes, climatic warming may lead to substantial modifications to individual ectotherm performance, with consequences at higher levels of biological organization. Additionally, demand for resources will increase with warming; thus, the effects of warming may be modulated by resource availability. We investigated the independent and interactive effects of warming and food availability on Slimy Sculpin (Cottus cognatus), an abundant mid-level consumer in arctic lakes. We used both a factorial experiment manipulating temperature and food availability as well as bioenergetic simulations. Experimental results indicated significant increases in consumption, excretion, and respiration with warming, while growth decreased with warming, but only when food levels were low. Our bioenergetic simulations agreed with our experimental results and demonstrated that if sculpin behaviorally thermoregulate (select optimal temperatures), growth increases relative to ambient and warmed conditions. With changes in slimy sculpin growth and performance, there will likely be consequences for top predators which rely on sculpin as a prey source. Our results indicate the importance of considering the interaction between temperature and resource availability as well as individual behavior when evaluating the effects of climatic warming on individuals and food webs.

Nicholas Barrett (Primary Presenter/Author), Utah State University, nbarrett1992@gmail.com;


Phaedra Budy (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), U.S. Geological Survey, Utah Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Utah State University, phaedra.budy@usu.edu;


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5/22/2019  |   10:15 - 10:30   |  250 CF

EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL VARIATION ON DISPERSAL DISTANCE IN A STREAM SALAMANDER Dispersal represents a mechanism to escape fitness costs resulting from changes in environmental conditions. While there is evidence that active dispersers base emigration decisions (stay vs. leave) on environmental factors related to habitat quality (e.g., food availability, mortality risk), it is less well understood how these factors influence dispersal distance – a more comprehensive measure of dispersal. Decades of empirical work suggest that individuals use local habitat cues to make movement decisions, but theory predicts that dispersal can evolve as a fixed trait – independent of local conditions – in environments characterized by a history of stochastic spatiotemporal variation. Our goal was to test whether conditional or fixed models of dispersal predict variation in dispersal distance in the stream salamander Gyrinophilus porphyriticus. We found that dispersal distances increased with declining survival probability – an index of long-term patterns of environmental variability, but were unrelated to spatial variation in body condition – an index of short-term, local conditions. These results provide the first empirical support for fixed models of dispersal evolution and underscore the value of assessing alternative scales of environmental variation to gain the most complete understanding of dispersal evolution.

Brett Addis (Primary Presenter/Author), University of Montana, addisbrett@gmail.com;


Winsor Lowe (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Montana, winsor.lowe@umontana.edu;


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