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Item Prioritizing Imperiled Native Aquatic Species for Conservation Propagation(1944-687X, 2023-10) Webb, Molly A.H.; Guy, Christopher S.; Treanor, Hilary B.; Wilson, Krissy W.; Mellon, Cassie D.; Abate, Paul; Crockett, Harry J.; Hofmeier, Jordan; Pasbrig, Chelsey; Isakson, PatrickNative aquatic species are in decline, and hatcheries can play an important role in stemming these losses until larger ecological issues are addressed. However, as more federal and state agencies face budget uncertainty and the number of imperiled species increases, it is necessary to develop a tool to prioritize species for conservation propagation. Our objective was to create prioritized lists of aquatic species that may benefit from conservation propagation for five states in the United States. Biologists developed an influence diagram and provided information for multiple attributes affecting prevalence of species. The influence diagram and information for each species was used in a Bayesian belief network to generate a score to prioritize propagation of a species and the feasibility of propagation. When all taxa were ranked together within a state, mussels, amphibians, and a crustacean were included among fishes in the top species that may benefit from propagation. We recognize that propagation is one tool for conservation of imperiled species and that additional factors will need to be addressed to ensure species persistence. Nevertheless, we contend our quantitative approach provides a useful framework for prioritizing conservation propagation.Item Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Recovery in Yellowstone Lake: Complex Interactions Among Invasive Species Suppression, Disease, and Climate Change(Wiley, 2023-10) Glassic, Hayley C.; Chagaris, David D.; Guy, Christopher S.; Tronstad, Lusha M.; Lujan, Dominque R.; Briggs, Michelle A.; Albertson, Lindsey K.; Brenden, Travis O.; Walsworth, Timothy E.; Koel, Todd M.n Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming, the largest inland population of nonhybridized Yellowstone Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii bouvieri, hereafter Cutthroat Trout, declined throughout the 2000s because of predation from invasive Lake Trout Salvelinus namaycush, drought, and whirling disease Myxobolus cerebralis. To maintain ecosystem function and conserve Cutthroat Trout, a Lake Trout gill netting suppression program was established in 1995, decreasing Lake Trout abundance and biomass. Yet, the response of Cutthroat Trout to varying Lake Trout suppression levels, collectively with the influence of disease and climate, is unknown. We developed an ecosystem model (calibrated to historical data) to forecast (2020–2050) whether Cutthroat Trout would achieve recovery benchmarks given disease, varying suppression effort, and climate change. Lake Trout suppression influenced Cutthroat Trout recovery; current suppression effort levels resulted in Cutthroat Trout recovering from historical lows in the early 2000s. However, Cutthroat Trout did not achieve conservation benchmarks when incorporating the influence of disease and climate. Therefore, the National Park Service intends to incorporate age‐specific abundance, spawner biomass, or both in conservation benchmarks to provide better indication of how management actions and environmental conditions influence Cutthroat Trout. Our results illustrate how complex interactions within an ecosystem must be simultaneously considered to establish and achieve realistic benchmarks for species of conservation concern.Item Spawning Locations of Pallid Sturgeon in the Missouri River Corroborate the Mechanism for Recruitment Failure(MDPI, 2023-05) Cox, Tanner L.; Guy, Christopher S.; Holmquist, Luke M.; Webb, Molly A. H.Conservation propagation of pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) upstream of Fort Peck Reservoir, MT, USA, has successfully recruited a new generation of spawning-capable pallid sturgeon where there would otherwise be fewer than 30 remaining wild reproductively mature pallid sturgeon. Successful recovery of pallid sturgeon will now rely on the behavior of pallid sturgeon (e.g., successful spawning in locations that provide adequate drift distance for larvae to recruit). We used location data of pallid sturgeon during four putative spawning seasons to answer the following questions: Where do pallid sturgeon spawn? Are spawning locations related to discharge? Are substrate characteristics at the spawning locations similar to other river reaches? Do spawning-capable females, spawning-capable males, and female pallid sturgeon undergoing mass ovarian follicular atresia use the river similarly? Additionally, we considered if spawning locations are far enough from the river–reservoir transition zone to provide adequate drift distance for larvae to recruit. Spawning-capable pallid sturgeon did explore upstream locations, and four spawning-capable pallid sturgeon were located in the Marias River during the spawning season in 2018 when discharge was at an unprecedented high. Pallid sturgeon exited the Marias River and moved downstream prior to spawning, and when spawning occurred, it was not far enough upstream to prevent larvae from entering the transition zone of Fort Peck Reservoir. Thus, management of discharge and water temperature to mimic 2018 conditions may increase use of the Marias River by pallid sturgeon during the spawning season, which would increase drift distance available to larvae and increase the probability of successful recruitment.Item Relative Condition Parameters for Fishes of Montana, USA(MDPI AG, 2022-12) Eckelbecker, Robert W.; Heili, Nathaniel M.; Guy, Christopher S.; Schmetterling, David A.Body condition indices are commonly used in the management of fish populations and are a surrogate to physiological attributes such as tissue-energy reserves. Relative condition factor (Kn) describes the condition of species relative to populations in a geographic area. We developed models to allow for the calculation of Kn in Montana, USA by using the weight–length data collected by Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks. We generated log10weight–log10length relationships to obtain Montana specific parameter estimates for relative condition equations (W′) for 51 species and three subspecies. We developed separate models by water type (e.g., lotic and lentic) and sex for five species due to varying growth based on sexual dimorphism and varying ecosystem types. Relative condition offers the advantage of describing body condition relative to species in Montana, provides a condition index for species that do not have standard-weight models developed for relative weight (Wr), and affords more information for the global database on weight–length relationships of fishes.Item Fish carcass deposition to suppress invasive lake trout through hypoxia causes limited, non-target effects on benthic invertebrates in Yellowstone Lake(Wiley, 2022-10) Briggs, Michelle A.; Albertson, Lindsey K.; Lujan, Dominique R.; Tronstad, Lusha M.; Glassic, Hayley C.; Guy, Christopher S.Invasive species can have negative effects on native biodiversity and ecosystem function, and suppression is often required to minimize the effects. However, management actions to suppress invasive species may cause negative, unintended effects on non-target taxa. Across the United States, lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) are invasive in many freshwater ecosystems, reducing native fish abundance and diversity through predation and competition. In an integrated pest management approach, lake trout embryos in Yellowstone Lake, Wyoming, are suppressed by depositing lake trout carcasses onto spawning sites; the carcasses reduce dissolved oxygen concentrations as they decay, causing embryo mortality. We conducted a field experiment during one ice-free season at four sites in Yellowstone Lake to investigate the non-target effects of carcass treatment on benthic invertebrates, which could have consequences for native fish diets. While overall invertebrate density and biomass did not respond to carcass treatment, Chironomidae midges and Sphaeriidae fingernail clams decreased in abundance. Carcass treatment altered invertebrate community structure based on density, but not biomass. Carcass treatment to suppress invasive fish embryos has spatially localized, non-target effects on some benthic invertebrate taxa. Given the small spatial extent of carcass treatment within the lake, we conclude it is unlikely that carcass treatment will alter food availability for native fishes.Item Uncovering process domains in large rivers: Patterns and potential drivers of benthic substrate heterogeneity in two North American riverscapes(2021-02) Scholl, Eric A.; Cross, Wyatt F.; Baxter, Colden V.; Guy, Christopher S.Identifying and understanding functional process domains (sensu Montgomery, 1999) in rivers is paramount for linking the physical habitat template to ecosystem structure and function. To date, efforts to do this have been rare, especially in large rivers, as they require appropriate tools for quantifying habitat heterogeneity with fine-scale resolution across broad spatial extents. In this study, we used side-scan sonar technology to map riverbed substrate at six sites in the Yellowstone and Missouri rivers. Substrate maps were then analyzed and visualized using geospatial analysis to relate fine-grained spatial substrate patterns to process domain structure. Our findings revealed two distinct nested domains of substrate patchiness, suggesting that different factors are responsible for shaping patterns of substrate at different scales. Although small-scale patchiness in substrate was likely driven by internal, or autogenic, physical processes, patterns at larger segment extents (>3 km) were often driven by abrupt transitions in habitat related to exogenous factors such as lateral erosion of talus, tributary inputs, and bank armoring. Additionally, we found that heterogeneity in benthic substrate increased with spatial extent at all of our study sites; however, this relationship was lower in the Missouri River, which is altered by impoundment. Our study represents one of the first efforts to relate benthic habitat heterogeneity to nested process domain structure in large riverscapes, and offers a unique perspective for linking landscape processes, geomorphological habitat heterogeneity, and biological structure and function in large rivers.Item A Framework for Assessing the Feasibility of Native Fish Conservation Translocations: Applications to Threatened Bull Trout(2016-07) Galloway, Benjamin Thomas; Muhlfeld, Clint C.; Guy, Christopher S.; Downs, Christopher C.; Fredenberg, Wade A.There is an urgent need to consider more aggressive and direct interventions for the conservation of freshwater fishes that are threatened by invasive species, habitat loss, and climate change. Conservation introduction (moving a species outside its indigenous range to other areas where conditions are predicted to be more suitable) is one type of translocation strategy that fisheries managers can use to establish new conservation populations in areas of refugia. To date, however, there are few examples of successful conservation-based introductions. Many attempts fail to establish new populations-in part because environmental factors that might influence success are inadequately evaluated before the translocation is implemented. We developed a framework to assess the feasibility of rescuing threatened fish populations through translocation into historically unoccupied stream and lake habitats. The suitability of potential introduction sites was evaluated based on four major components: the recipient habitat, recipient community, donor population, and future threats. Specific questions were then developed to evaluate each major component. The final assessment was based on a scoring system that addressed each question by using criteria developed from characteristics representative of highly suitable habitats and populations. This framework was used to evaluate the proposed within-drainage translocation of three Bull Trout Salvelinus confluentus populations in Glacier National Park, Montana. Our results indicated that within-drainage translocation is a feasible strategy for conserving locally adapted populations of Bull Trout through the creation of new areas of refugia in Glacier National Park. The framework provides a flexible platform that can help managers make informed decisions for moving threatened fishes into new areas of refugia for conservation and recovery programs.