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Identifying the source population of fish re-colonizing an arid-land stream following wildfire-induced extirpation using otolith microchemistry

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Abstract

Movement is necessary for re-colonization of habitats following disturbance, but methods to estimate dispersal of small-bodied fishes are limited. We evaluated the efficacy of otolith microchemistry in identifying habitat origin of longfin dace Agosia chrysogaster in the Gila River, NM, USA. Additionally, we used this method to determine the source population of speckled dace Rhinichthys osculus that re-colonized a tributary reach following wildfire-induced extirpation. We determined otolith microchemical analysis was possible after finding elevated ambient water concentrations of Mg, Mn, and Sr in the disturbed tributary both before and after wildfire relative to other source streams. These water chemistry differences allowed us to test if speckled dace were derived from downstream populations, or from those potentially persisting within refugia in the fire-affected tributary. We found that otolith signatures consistently reflected water chemistry patterns for Mn and Sr, allowing us to classify individuals to known capture locations 86% (range = 74–100%) of the time. Otolith microchemistry techniques then revealed that 88% of speckled dace that re-colonized the fire-affected tributary reach were derived from refuge populations within the tributary. Our results indicated that otolith microchemistry could be an important tool for characterizing re-colonization dynamics of fish populations residing in chemically heterogeneous stream networks.

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Acknowledgements

This work was funded by a grant from the US Bureau of Reclamation Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative and by a US Department of Education Graduate Assistance in Areas of National Need PhD Fellowship. We are also grateful to Martha Cooper of the Nature Conservancy, Tim Frey with Bureau of Land Management, and Kirk Pattern and Andrew Monié of the New Mexico Department of Game and Fish for providing logistical support, lodging, and study site access. Access to study sites was also provided by the US Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management. Garrett Hopper, Kevin Kirkbride, Danelle Larson, and Matt Troia assisted with field collections. Valuable technical assistance was provided by Michael Rawitch at the KU Plasma Analytical Lab. We are grateful to Kun Chen for providing R code for performing Box-Cox transformations. Previous versions of this manuscript benefitted from the insightful comments of two anonymous reviewers. Sampling was conducted under US Fish and Wildlife Services permit #TE067729-3, New Mexico Game and Fish Permit #3351, and Kansas State University IACUC protocol #3296.

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  1. James E. Whitney

    Present address: Department of Biology, Pittsburg State University, 223 Heckert-Wells Hall, Pittsburg, KS, 66762, USA

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  1. Division of Biology, Kansas State University, 116 Ackert Hall, Manhattan, KS, 66506, USA

    James E. Whitney, Keith B. Gido & Skyler C. Hedden

  2. Department of Geology, University of Kansas, 120 Lindley Hall, Lawrence, KS, 66045, USA

    G. L. Macpherson

  3. Museum of Southwestern Biology, University of New Mexico, MSC03 2020, Albuquerque, NM, 87131, USA

    Tyler J. Pilger, David L. Propst & Thomas F. Turner

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Whitney, J.E., Gido, K.B., Hedden, S.C. et al. Identifying the source population of fish re-colonizing an arid-land stream following wildfire-induced extirpation using otolith microchemistry. Hydrobiologia 797, 29–45 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-017-3143-1

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