Event Title

Session B7- Understanding spawning-related movements of flathead chub in a prairie stream: Implications for fish passage

Location

UMass Amherst

Start Date

29-6-2011 10:40 AM

End Date

6-2011 11:00 AM

Description

Flathead chub (Platygobio gracilis) is a species of special concern in Colorado, state threatened in Kansas, and considered imperiled or critically imperiled in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Specific causes of historic and more recent possible declines of flathead chub in Colorado are unknown. However, several poorly understood but widely believed life history characteristics of other species in the genus (for example, upstream movement to spawn, semi-buoyant eggs, and downstream drift of weak swimming fry); suggest that barriers restricting upstream movement may play a role. In support of providing successful fish passage in a Great Plains stream in Colorado, the Fountain Creek Watershed Greenway and Flood Control District, the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Geological Survey began an intensive mark-recapture study in 2010. Objectives of the study were to determine if, when, and how far flathead chub migrate upstream, if such migrations are associated with spawning, and if they currently pass an existing diversion structure thought to impede upstream movement. Results of this study identified peak periods of upstream movement related to spawning and determined movements of up to 34 km. These results enable engineers to ensure design criteria based on swimming characteristics of flathead chub are met in the fishway during peak periods of upstream movement.

Comments

Robert Zuellig obtained his Ph.D. in Ecology at Colorado State University. He is currently an ecologist with the US Geological Survey (USGS) at the Colorado Water Science Center in Denver, Colorado. Since 2001, his research has primarily focused on stream insect, fish, and diatom communities and how they respond and recover from a variety of human induced stressors as well as aquatic insect taxonomy, distribution, and biogeography. He is currently involved in a variety of projects with the USGS National Water Quality Assessment Program and with various USGS cooperators in Colorado.

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Jun 29th, 10:40 AM Jun 1st, 11:00 AM

Session B7- Understanding spawning-related movements of flathead chub in a prairie stream: Implications for fish passage

UMass Amherst

Flathead chub (Platygobio gracilis) is a species of special concern in Colorado, state threatened in Kansas, and considered imperiled or critically imperiled in Arkansas, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, and Texas. Specific causes of historic and more recent possible declines of flathead chub in Colorado are unknown. However, several poorly understood but widely believed life history characteristics of other species in the genus (for example, upstream movement to spawn, semi-buoyant eggs, and downstream drift of weak swimming fry); suggest that barriers restricting upstream movement may play a role. In support of providing successful fish passage in a Great Plains stream in Colorado, the Fountain Creek Watershed Greenway and Flood Control District, the Colorado Division of Wildlife and the U.S. Geological Survey began an intensive mark-recapture study in 2010. Objectives of the study were to determine if, when, and how far flathead chub migrate upstream, if such migrations are associated with spawning, and if they currently pass an existing diversion structure thought to impede upstream movement. Results of this study identified peak periods of upstream movement related to spawning and determined movements of up to 34 km. These results enable engineers to ensure design criteria based on swimming characteristics of flathead chub are met in the fishway during peak periods of upstream movement.