Individual variation in the habitat selection of upstream migrating fish near a barrier.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Migration is a vital element of the life cycle of many freshwater fish species but is increasingly hampered globally by riverine barriers. Fish passes are a common approach to enable migration past barriers but are often ineffective. More knowledge is required on fish behaviour as they approach barriers such as habitat preferences.

Methods

We evaluate the habitat selection of two upstream migrating fish species, barbel Barbus barbus and grayling Thymallus thymallus, at a hydropower plant in southern Germany, considering individual variation and population trends. Fish were tracked via fine-scale 2D acoustic telemetry in 2018 during their spawning migration. Step selection functions were used to evaluate selection of hydraulic parameters by the fish for a time step

SUBMITTER: Mawer R 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10405436 | biostudies-literature | 2023 Aug

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature