Paradigm versus paradox on the prairie: testing competing stream fish movement frameworks using an imperiled Great Plains minnow.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Movement information can improve conservation of imperiled species, yet movement is not quantified for many organisms in need of conservation. Prairie chub (Macrhybopsis australis) is a regionally endemic freshwater fish with unquantified movement ecology and currently considered for listing under the Endangered Species Act. The purpose of this study was to test competing ecological theories for prairie chub movement, including the colonization cycle hypothesis (CCH) that posits adults must make upstream movements to compensate for downstream drift at early life stages, and the restricted movement paradigm (RMP) that describes populations as heterogeneous mixes of mostly stationary and few mobile fish.

Methods

We tagged prairie chub with visible implant elastomer

SUBMITTER: Steffensmeier ZD 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8864925 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature