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Characterizing the movements and habitat use of two fish species of concern in a regulated ecosystem

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Abstract

In freshwater ecosystems in the northwest United States, the distribution and movements of fish between their essential habitats are particularly impacted by the presence of hydroelectric dams. Bull Trout Salvelinus confluentus and Westslope Cutthroat Trout Oncorhynchus clarkii var. lewisi are two fish species of concern inhabiting the Pend Oreille River between Idaho and Washington states. The purpose of this study was to identify the behavior and habitat use of Bull Trout and Westslope Cutthroat Trout in the restricted area of the Pend Oreille River, downstream of Albeni Falls Dam (AFD), using a long-term radio-telemetry dataset. Between 2015 and 2018, 24 Bull Trout and 24 Westslope Cutthroat Trout were captured, tagged, and released downstream AFD. Among the fish tagged, 79% (n = 19 of 24) of Bull Trout and 67% (n = 16 of 24) of Westslope Cutthroat Trout were detected during the study period. Our results revealed movements of fish towards tributary confluences mostly in May, June, and July for both species with Bull Trout traveling longer distances than Westslope Cutthroat Trout. Although the sample size was limited, Bull Trout individual movements towards the dam suggested attempts to re-ascend the river, indicating the importance of restoring upstream connectivity.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

We thank Erin McCann and Brandon Boehnke for their assistance throughout the redaction of the manuscript, Chris Vernon for technical support, and Stephanie Liss for helpful comments on the manuscript. We are grateful to the anonymous reviewers whose constructive comments significantly improved the quality of the manuscript.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Seattle, WA, USA

    Lysel Garavelli

  2. Montana Fish Wildlife & Parks, Billings, MT, USA

    Shannon E. Blackburn

  3. Department of Biology, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA, USA

    Allan T. Scholz & Mark C. Paluch

  4. Kalispel Tribe of Indians, Usk, WA, USA

    Jason M. Connor & Jason A. Olson

  5. Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, Richland, WA, USA

    Brian J. Bellgraph

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  1. Lysel Garavelli
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  2. Shannon E. Blackburn
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  3. Allan T. Scholz
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Correspondence to Lysel Garavelli.

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Garavelli, L., Blackburn, S.E., Scholz, A.T. et al. Characterizing the movements and habitat use of two fish species of concern in a regulated ecosystem. Hydrobiologia 848, 4059–4074 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-021-04625-7

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