Author(s): Anuelle Chretien; Steven J. Cooke; Daniel Boisclair
Linked Author(s):
Keywords: No Keywords
Abstract: To effectively mitigate threats to freshwater systems and the fish populations they support, there is a need for a better understanding of the relationships between species and their environment and the development of reliable tools to predict habitat quality. Habitat models link metrics assumed to represent habitat quality for fish in a series of habitat patches to environmental conditions observed in these patches. These models are usually built using day-time observations only. However, documented diel variations in fish distribution, habitat use and behaviors suggest habitat models should account for night-time selection to identify critical habitats for conservation. In this study, our goal was to develop and validate a day-time and a night-time habitat model based on smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomieu) tracking data in a river reach, and to assess the predictive power of each model to the alternate condition (day or night). Movements of 25 smallmouth bass have been recorded in July and August 2017 in a reach of Kiamika river (Laurentians, Quebec) also surveyed by a scientific echosounder for aquatic habitat mapping. This project will contribute to identify environmental correlates of smallmouth bass habitat selection and to test the transferability of day-time and night-time models to the alternate condition.
Year: 2018