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Connecting Coastal Marshes Using Movements of Resident and Migratory Fishes

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Abstract

In the Laurentian Great Lakes, diurnal migration of fishes into and out of coastal wetlands is well documented, but movement among wetlands is more poorly understood despite important conservation implications. We assessed movements of typically resident species using mark-recapture. For seven species, only 9 (6.2 %) individuals were recaptured in a wetland different from where they were tagged. Conversely, based on radio-tracking, typically migratory Northern Pike (Esox lucius) moved among wetlands that were 1.4 km apart, although some moved as far as 3.9 km. Results suggest that while the majority of fishes remain in a single wetland throughout the year, a large top predator requires multiple wetlands over comparatively larger areas. Currently, coastal wetlands in Ontario are evaluated for protection if greater than 2 ha, but smaller proximate marshes (within 750 m) can be grouped into complexes. Our results demonstrate that while this distance likely protects fish habitat for most resident fishes, it fails to cover the observed movement patterns of Northern Pike. A modification to this grouping rule for coastal wetlands would delineate more ecologically appropriate complexes by incorporating movement among wetlands by top predators. Delineating larger wetland complexes would protect critical fish habitat and populations in the Great Lakes.

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Acknowledgments

Funding for this research was provided through grants from Georgian Bay Forever, Sierra Club Canada Foundation and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources through the Canada-Ontario Agreement. JDM was supported through the Ontario Graduate Scholarship program. Mary Muter, Mark Trudeau, and Denny Hare provided invaluable support in accessing the study locations. Robert Lennox and Maja Cvetkovic provided comments on early drafts of this manuscript and MC also provided extensive field assistance during the summer of 2010. Bob Christensen, Chris Biberhofer, John Paul Leblanc, and Dale Midwood also provided invaluable help in the field. Finally, we thank two anonymous reviewers who provided very helpful comments that improved the current manuscript considerably.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology and Institute of Environmental Science, Carleton University, CTTC 4635 1125 Colonel by Dr., Ottawa, ON, K1S 5B6, Canada

    Jonathan D. Midwood

  2. Department of Biology, McMaster University, 1280 Main St. West, Hamilton, ON, L8S 4 K1, Canada

    Patricia Chow-Fraser

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  1. Jonathan D. Midwood
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  2. Patricia Chow-Fraser
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Correspondence to Jonathan D. Midwood.

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Midwood, J.D., Chow-Fraser, P. Connecting Coastal Marshes Using Movements of Resident and Migratory Fishes. Wetlands 35, 69–79 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-014-0593-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s13157-014-0593-3

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