Characterizing the spatial ecology of age-0 muskellunge and northern pike

SLRMM

September 2015 - September 2017

Understanding the spatial ecology of wild fish at various scales and temporal periods enables fisheries biologists to identify critical habitat requirements during key life-stages on a species-specific basis. These investigations can identify environmental and biological factors that influence early-life stages of fish. A decline has been observed in self-sustaining populations of esocids - endemic, apex, river predators and recreationally significant sportfish in the Great Lakes-St Lawrence River system. Since the ecology of juvenile esocids is not well understood, our team is investigating post-emigration spatial ecology for applied conservation and habitat conservation purposes. What are residency, movement patterns and habitat use of wild, age-0 muskellunge? What environmental variables may influence their spatial ecology? Using the smallest commercially available transmitters (JSATs – Lotek Wireless), our team will address these difficult questions and use the data to understand the role of hydrologic and spatial features in juvenile fish habitat selection. Although muskellunge are the primary focus of this project, we are also conducting a comparative study on northern pike, adding a valuable ecological food-web component to this work. This State University of New York College of Environmental Sciences and Forestry (SUNY-ESF) - Carleton University partnership highlights a long-term data and management commitment and represents a significant step towards addressing key knowledge gaps to further the conservation of river predators throughout their life history.

• Assess fine-scale spatial ecology (residency, movement patterns and habitat use) of sympatric, wild, young-of-year muskellunge and northern pike
• Determine how exogenous (environmental) and endogenous (innate) factors may influence spatiotemporal distribution patterns observed

• Increased understanding of core ecology of young-of-year muskellunge emigration patterns and overwintering habitat use within the St. Lawrence River
• Applicable to management of other self-sustaining muskellunge populations

• Sarah Walton (Carleton University) - sarah.walton@carleton.ca
• Steven Cooke (Carleton University)
• John Farrell (State University Of New York - College Of Environmental Science And Forestry)
• Austin Gallagher (Carleton University)
• John Paul Leblanc (State University Of New York - College Of Environmental Science And Forestry)

• State University of New York - College of Environmental Science and Forestry
• Carleton University
• United States Fish and Wildlife Service

• US Fish and Wildlife Service Fish Enhancement, Mitigation and Research Fund (FEMRF)
• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)
• Canada Research Chairs