Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Abundance and movement patterns of age-0 juvenile lake sturgeon in the Peshtigo River, Wisconsin

  • Published:
Environmental Biology of Fishes Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In Great Lakes tributaries, age-0 juvenile lake sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens use riverine nursery habitats during their first summer of life and migrate to adjacent lakes after a seasonal decline in water temperature. We used mark-recapture data collected during this river-residency phase to monitor patterns in juvenile abundance and movement in the Peshtigo River, Wisconsin, during 2006 and 2007. Jolly-Seber and multistate models were used to estimate abundance and describe the probability of movement between river sections. Juvenile abundance was higher in 2007 than in 2006; however, in both years, abundance at the end of the sampling season was lower than at the beginning. Downstream movements were observed more frequently than upstream movements, and the probability of a downstream movement was higher than the probability of an upstream movement. The lower abundance later in the sampling season and propensity for downstream movements suggests that some age-0 juvenile lake sturgeon may leave the natal river before a seasonal decline in water temperature.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Auer NA (1999a) Lake sturgeon: a unique and imperiled species in the Great Lakes. In: Taylor W, Ferreri CP (eds) Great Lakes fisheries policy and management: a binational perspective. Michigan State University Press, East Lansing, pp 515–536

    Google Scholar 

  • Auer NA (1999b) Population characteristics and movements of lake sturgeon in the Sturgeon River and Lake Superior. J Gt Lakes Res 25:282–293

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Auer NA, Baker EA (2002) Duration and drift of larval lake sturgeon in the Sturgeon River, Michigan. J Appl Ichthyol 18:557–565

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Beamish FWH, Noakes DLG, Rossiter A (1998) Feeding ecology of juvenile lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, in northern Ontario. Can Field-Naturalist 112:459–468

    Google Scholar 

  • Benson AC, Sutton TM, Elliott RF, Meronek TG (2005a) Evaluation of sampling techniques for age-0 lake sturgeon in a lake Michigan tributary. N Am J Fish Manage 25:1378–1385

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benson AC, Sutton TM, Elliott RF, Meronek TG (2005b) Seasonal movement patterns and habitat preferences of age-0 lake sturgeon in the lower Peshtigo River, Wisconsin. Trans Am Fish Soc 134:1400–1409

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Benson AC, Sutton TM, Elliott RF, Meronek TG (2006) Biological attributes of age-0 lake sturgeon in the lower Peshtigo River, Wisconsin. J Appl Ichthyol 22:103–108

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brownie C, Hines JE, Nichols JD, Pollock KH, Hestbeck JB (1993) Capture-recapture studies for multiple strata including non-Markovian transitions. Biom 49:1173–1187

    Google Scholar 

  • Burnham KP, Anderson DR (2002) Model selection and multimodel inference. Springer, New York

    Google Scholar 

  • Caroffino DC (2009) Early life history dynamics of lake sturgeon. University of Alaska Fairbanks, Dissertation

    Google Scholar 

  • Chiasson WB, Noakes DLG, Beamish FWH (1997) Habitat, benthic prey, and distribution of juvenile lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) in northern Ontario rivers. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 54:2866–2871

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Choquet R, Reboulet AM, Lebreton JD, Gimenez O, Pradel R (2005) U-CARE 22 User’s Manual CEFE, Montpellier, France (http://ftp.cefe.cnrs.fr/biom/Soft-CR/)

  • Cormack RM (1964) Estimates of survival from the sighting of marked animals. Biom 51:429–438

    Google Scholar 

  • Daugherty DJ, Sutton TM, Elliott RF (2009) Suitability modeling of lake sturgeon habitat in five northern Lake Michigan tributaries: implications for population rehabilitation. Rest. Ecol. 17:245–257

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fajfer S, Meyers L, Willman G, Carpenter T, Hansen M (1999) Growth of juvenile lake sturgeon reared in tanks at three densities. N Am J Aquac 61:331–335

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Fortin R, Mongeau J, Desjardins G, Dumont P (1993) Movements and biological statistics of lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) populations from the St Lawrence and Ottawa River system, Quebec. Can J Zool 71:638–650

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gadomski DM, Parsley MJ (2005a) Effects of turbidity, light level, and cover on predation of white sturgeon larvae by prickly sculpins. Trans Am Fish Soc 134:369–374

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gadomski DM, Parsley MJ (2005b) Laboratory studies on the vulnerability of young white sturgeon to predation. N Am J Fish Manage 25:667–674

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Harkness WJK, Dymond JR (1961) The lake sturgeon: the history of its fishery and problems of conservation. Ont Dept of Lands and Forests, Ottawa

    Google Scholar 

  • Hay-Chmielewski EM, Whelan GE (1997) Lake sturgeon rehabilitation strategy. Michigan Dept of Nat Res, Special Rep Number 18, Lansing

  • Holtgren JM, Auer NA (2004) Movement and habitat of juvenile lake sturgeon (Acipenser fulvescens) in the Sturgeon River/Portage Lake system, Michigan. J Freshw Ecol 19:419–432

    Google Scholar 

  • Hurvich CM, Tsai CL (1989) Regression and time-series model selection in small samples. Biom 76:297–307

    Google Scholar 

  • Jolly GM (1965) Explicit estimates from capture-recapture data with both death and immigration in a stochastic model. Biom 52:225–247

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Kempinger JJ (1988) Spawning and early life history of lake sturgeon in the Lake Winnebago system, Wisconsin. Am Fish Soc Symp 5:110–122

    Google Scholar 

  • Kempinger JJ (1996) Habitat, growth, and food of young lake sturgeons in the Lake Winnebago system, Wisconsin. N Am J Fish Manage 116:102–114

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Knights BC, Vallazza JM, Zigler SJ, Dewey MR (2002) Habitat and movement of lake sturgeon in the upper Mississippi River system, USA. Trans Am Fish Soc 131:507–522

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McKinley S, Der Kraak GV, Power G (1998) Seasonal migrations and reproductive patterns in the lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, in the vicinity of hydroelectric stations in northern Ontario. Environ Biol Fish 51:245–256

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peake S, Beamish FWH, McKinley RS, Scruton DA, Katopodis C (1997) Relating swimming performance of lake sturgeon, Acipenser fulvescens, to fishway design. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 54:1361–1366

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Peterson DL, Vecsei P, Jennings CA (2006) Ecology and biology of the lake sturgeon: a synthesis of current knowledge of a threatened North American Acipenseridae. Rev Fish Biol Fish 16:386–404

    Google Scholar 

  • Pradel R, Winterbert CMA, Gimenez O (2003) A proposal for a goodness-of-fit test to the Arnason-Schwarz multisite capture-recapture model. Biom 59:43–53

    Google Scholar 

  • Rusak JA, Mosindy T (1997) Seasonal movements of lake sturgeon in Lake of the Woods and the Rainy River, Ontario. Can J Zool 74:383–395

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Seber GAF (1965) A note on the multiple recapture census. Biom 52:249–259

    CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Secor DH, Anders PJ, Van Winkle W, Dixon D (2002) Can we study sturgeons to extinction? What we do and don’t know about the conservation of North American sturgeons. Am Fish Soc Symp 28:3–10

    Google Scholar 

  • White GC, Burnham KP (1999) Program MARK: survival estimation from populations of marked animals. Bird Study 46(suppl):120–139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Winemiller KO, Rose KA (1992) Patterns of life-history diversification in North American fishes: implications for population regulation. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 49:2196–2218

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank J. Lorenz, N. Barton, S. Tyszko, R. Turner, R. Elliott, and M. Donofrio for their assistance with field collections and project logistics. A. Rosenberger and J. Margraf provided constructive comments on a draft of this manuscript. Support for this project was provided by the Great Lakes Fishery Trust, Purdue University, and University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Author information

Author notes

  1. David C. Caroffino

    Present address: Michigan Department of Natural Resources, 96 Grant St., Charlevoix, MI, 49720, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, 905 Koyokuk Drive, 245 O’Neill Building, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    David C. Caroffino & Trent M. Sutton

  2. Department of Biology and Wildlife and, Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Mark S. Lindberg

Authors
  1. David C. Caroffino
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Trent M. Sutton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Mark S. Lindberg
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to David C. Caroffino.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Caroffino, D.C., Sutton, T.M. & Lindberg, M.S. Abundance and movement patterns of age-0 juvenile lake sturgeon in the Peshtigo River, Wisconsin. Environ Biol Fish 86, 411–422 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-009-9540-1

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-009-9540-1

Keywords

Search

Navigation