Catchment-wide interactive effects of anthropogenic structures and river levels on fish spawning migrations
Jubb, W.M.; Noble, R.A.A.; Dodd, J.R.; Nunn, A.D.; Schirrmacher, P.; Lothian, A.J.; Albright, A.J.; Bubb, D.H.; Lucas, M.C.; Bolland, J.D. (2023). Catchment-wide interactive effects of anthropogenic structures and river levels on fish spawning migrations. Anthropocene 43: 100400. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ancene.2023.100400
In: Anthropocene. Elsevier: Amsterdam. ISSN 2213-3054; e-ISSN 2213-3054, more
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| Keywords |
Earth sciences > Geology > Hydrology
Measurement > Telemetry
Migration
Lampetra Bonnaterre, 1788 [WoRMS]; Lampetra fluviatilis (Linnaeus, 1758) [WoRMS]
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| Author keywords |
Habitat fragmentation; River barriers |
| Authors | | Top | Dataset |
- Jubb, W.M.
- Noble, R.A.A.
- Dodd, J.R.
- Nunn, A.D.
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- Schirrmacher, P.
- Lothian, A.J.
- Albright, A.J.
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- Bubb, D.H.
- Lucas, M.C.
- Bolland, J.D.
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| Abstract |
Worldwide, rivers are extensively fragmented by anthropogenic structures, reducing longitudinal connectivity, inhibiting migration and leading to severe declines in many fish populations, especially for diadromous species. However, few studies have determined the effects of annual differences in hydrology on catchment penetration past barriers to spawning habitats. We investigated the upstream spawning migration of 120 (n = 61 & 59) acoustic tagged river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) across two contrasting (dry and wet) years in the River Yorkshire Ouse, England. Overall, significantly more lamprey reached spawning habitat (76% vs 39%) and penetrated significantly further upstream (median [km] from release, 53.9 vs 16.8) in the wet year than the dry year. Passage at weirs was almost exclusively during elevated river levels, which directly and collectively influenced catchment-wide distribution, especially in the dry year. Indeed, higher proportions entered two upper tributaries in the wet year (9.8% vs 27.1% and 9.8% vs 30.5%), due to increased passage efficiencies at the two main river weirs (60.5–87.5% and 54.5–83.8%), and reached assumed spawning locations 66.5% and 10.9% quicker. By contrast, there was no difference in numbers of lamprey entering, or time taken to arrive at assumed spawning location, in the two lower river tributaries between years. Our study supports the landscape-scale paradigm for ecosystem restoration because of the observed catchment-level effects of hydrology and barrier distribution on fish migration. Connectivity restoration for migratory fish should be implemented at a catchment scale, with planning incorporating spatial information regarding accessibility to key habitats to reap the largest gains. |
| Dataset |
- LamYorOus18-20: Hull International Fisheries Institute (HIFI), University of Hull: United Kingdom; (2023): Upstream spawning migration of river lamprey (Lampetra fluviatilis) in the River Yorkshire Ouse, 2018-2020. Marine Data Archive., more
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