Marine Sciences and Technology Dissertations Collection

Beaver Dams Maintain Native Fish Biodiversity Via Altered Habitat Heterogeneity in a Coastal Stream Network: Evaluating Gear, Quantifying Fish Assemblages, and Testing Ecological Hypotheses

Smith, Joseph Michael — Thu, 08 Mar 2012 10:37:39 PST

Understanding the relationship between heterogeneity, biodiversity and ecosystem function is an active focus of ecological research that has direct applications to the formulation of sustainable, science-based, watershed conservation plans. Here, I applied ecological theory on heterogeneity to the expansion of North American beaver to test hypotheses about physical habitat and fish biodiversity at a riverscape scale. To test these hypotheses (Chapter 4), I first addressed two methodological issues (Chapter 2, 3). By evaluating three types of gear at three levels of effort in a randomized block design over 4 replicate days, I show that 10 minnow traps, 2 hoop nets and 20 m of electrofishing captured most fish species within a 30-m sampling area (Chapter 2). Multiple statistical measures provided similar information, therefore I used general indices (richness, diversity), ecological guilds (flow based), and select multivariate analyses (DCA) to summarize fish communities (Chapter 3). I used these methodological insights to test ecological hypotheses by collecting habitat and fish data at all beaver dams (n = 15) and select control sites (n = 9) in Fish Brook, a coastal watershed in northeastern Massachusetts. From these data, I gained six basic and applied insights. First, beaver dams were distributed throughout the stream network. Second, at a local scale, beaver dams created more habitat heterogeneity than control sites. Specifically, beaver dams created four types of habitat alterations based on upstream-downstream differences in stream width, depth, velocity, and substrate. Third, richness and diversity of fish species around beaver dams were linked to habitat heterogeneity. Fourth, the mechanisms by which beaver dams altered fish biodiversity were mediated through habitat changes at the beaver dam patch boundary. Upstream of the dam macrohabitat guilds occupied the lentic areas, while below dams, fluvial fish guilds used shallow, faster water. Fifth, fluvial species responded the most dramatically to these habitat changes. Finally, in a system depauperate of lotic habitat, fluvial habitats created below beaver dams provided an important refuge for native stream fish. These source areas can increase resiliency and maintaining them may be useful for sustainable watershed conservation plans in these types of systems.

Vulnerability of Logfin Inshore Squid (Loligo Pealeii) to Predation: The Influence of Relative Prey Size and Behavior

Staudinger, Michelle Dana — Tue, 06 Apr 2010 12:27:27 PDT

Cephalopods provide forage to a wide range of predators in marine food-webs. Despite their ecological importance, a basic understanding of the mechanisms controlling predation risk and demand is lacking. This is true of one of the most common species of squid found in the northwest Atlantic, the longfin inshore squid (Loligo pealeii). In this dissertation, I address this shortcoming by investigating the role that size and behavior play in influencing squid’s vulnerability to predation. I used long-term food habits, population survey, and commercial landings data, to quantify size-based patterns of predation respective to 25 species of predators. Additionally, I estimated the amount of overlap between predatory consumption and the fishery catch for squid by size. I found that finfish and elasmobranchs generally consumed juvenile and sub-adult squid, while marine mammals primarily targeted adults. Consequently, marine mammals had the highest overlap with the fishing industry for squid size resources. Although large squid were not common in predator diets, predators did not appear to be gape-limited when feeding on squid. This suggested that other factors, including behavior, were important in shaping size-based patterns of predation. I used a laboratory-based approach to quantify attack and capture behaviors towards squid by two predators representing contrasting foraging tactics. Bluefish (Pomatomus saltatrix) and summer flounder (Paralichthys dentatus) were chosen as cruising and ambush predators, respectively. Patterns in attack rates suggested that sizeselection on squid was constrained by passive processes rather than active choice in both predators. Size-dependent profitability functions were calculated by combining capture success rates, handling times, and relative prey mass, and determined that bluefish was the more efficient predator of squid. Lastly, I evaluated the occurrence and effectiveness of anti-predator responses used by squid in the presence of bluefish and flounder. Squid behavior depended on the type of predator present, and the survival value of primary and secondary defense behaviors differed during interactions with each predator. The results of this project are intended to improve the quality of management of squid and their predators by providing a better understanding of predator-prey interactions in the northwest Atlantic.