Invasive Silver Carp movement patterns in the predominantly free-flowing Wabash River (Indiana, USA)

• Published in: Biological invasions Vol. 18; no. 2; pp. 471 - 485
• Main Authors: Coulter, Alison A, Bailey, Elizabeth J, Keller, Doug, Goforth, Reuben R
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cham Springer International Publishing 01.02.2016; Springer Nature B.V
• Subjects: Acoustic telemetry; acoustics; autumn; Backwaters; Biomedical and Life Sciences; Carp; colonizing ability; Developmental Biology; Dispersal; ecological invasion; Ecology; ecosystems; fish; Food availability; Freshwater & Marine Ecology; habitats; Hypophthalmichthys molitrix; Invasive fish; invasive species; Life history; Life Sciences; Nonnative species; Original Paper; Plant Sciences; Rivers; Seasons; Spawning; Spawning migrations; Spring; Summer; Tagging; Telemetry; Tributaries; Indiana; Mississippi River; Great Lakes; Wabash River; USA, Indiana, Wabash R; USA, Indiana; North America, Great Lakes; North America, Mississippi R; Asian carp; Movement; Aquatic invasive; Seasonal movement; Acoustic telemetry
• ISSN: 1387-3547; 1573-1464
• DOI: 10.1007/s10530-015-1020-2

Many organisms must move among habitats to fulfill life history requirements. Fish movements have been widely studied and tend to be either fine-scale (i.e., routine) and governed by factors such as food availability and cover, or broad-scale and associated with spawning migrations. However, movements of invasive fishes in non-native ecosystems are comparatively poorly understood despite the often critical importance of fish movement and dispersal for invasion success. We examined invasive Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) movements using acoustic telemetry to monitor the timing, distance, and direction of fish movements and assessed movements in relation to seasonal, annual, environmental, and individual factors in the Wabash River (Indiana, USA), a largely unregulated Midwestern river. Silver Carp exhibited highly variable movements that could be rapid and large in magnitude; however, tagged individuals remained stationary most of the time. Despite high variability, several trends emerged, indicating the importance of backwater habitats, avoidance of small tributaries, and tendencies of tagged fish to exhibit directed spring and fall broad-scale movements. Summer movements were smaller in magnitude, characterized by lower movement rates, and evenly split between upstream and downstream directions, although tagged Silver Carp moved more frequently during summer months. Our results indicate that specific seasons (i.e., spring and early fall) and locations (i.e., backwaters) are likely targets for Silver Carp control in the Wabash River and should also be useful targets for early detection and control in other largely unconstrained rivers over a broad geographic range (e.g., Great Lakes tributaries and upper Mississippi River mainstem and tributaries).