Seasonal movements and tributary-specific fidelity of blue sucker Cycleptus elongatus in a Southern Plains riverscape

Journal of Fish Biology
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Abstract

This study used acoustic telemetry and a multistate Cormack–Jolly–Seber model to determine the seasonal movement patterns of blue sucker Cycleptus elongatus from 2015 to 2017. Several hypotheses were ranked using AICc, and it was determined that the movement patterns of blue suckers in a mainstem reach below a hydropower dam (i.e., tailwater) differed from those of blue suckers tagged in the major tributaries (perennial with stream order >3). This study estimated a low probability (≤0.13) blue suckers would leave the tailwater reach at any time during the study. Conversely, blue suckers tagged in the major tributaries had a high probability (≥0.88) of leaving after the spawning season (February–May). Blue suckers tagged in the major tributaries displayed a high probability (0.83) of returning to the tributaries in the spawning season of 2016 when discharges were high. Blue suckers also had a higher probability of fidelity to the tributary where they were tagged (0.65) rather than straying to different tributaries (0.18). The majority of tagged blue suckers that strayed selected the only undammed tributary in the study area. In 2017, spring discharges were low, and the probability of blue suckers returning to any major tributary was low (0.19), with little difference in the probability of displaying site fidelity (0.10) vs. straying (0.09).

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Publication type Article
Publication Subtype Journal Article
Title Seasonal movements and tributary-specific fidelity of blue sucker Cycleptus elongatus in a Southern Plains riverscape
Series title Journal of Fish Biology
DOI 10.1111/jfb.14374
Volume 97
Issue 1
Year Published 2020
Language English
Publisher Wiley
Contributing office(s) Coop Res Unit Atlanta
Description 14 p.
First page 279
Last page 292
Country United States
State Oklahoma
Other Geospatial lower Red River
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