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Broad-Scale Patterns of Brook Trout Responses to Introduced Brown Trout in New York
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Brook Trout Salvelinus fontinalis and Brown Trout Salmo trutta are valuable sport fish that coexist in many parts of the world due to stocking introductions. Causes for the decline of Brook Trout within their native range are not clear but include competition with Brown Trout, habitat alteration, and repetitive stocking practices. New York State contains a large portion of the Brook Trout’s native range, where both species are maintained by stocking and other management actions.We used artificial neural network models, regression, principal components analysis, and simulation to evaluate the effects of Brown Trout, environmental conditions, and stocking on the distribution of Brook Trout in the center of their native range. We found evidence for the decline of Brook Trout in the presence of Brown Trout across many watersheds; 22% of sampled reaches where both species were expected to occur contained only Brown Trout. However, a model of the direct relationship between Brook Trout and Brown Trout abundance explained less than 1% of data variation. Ordination showed extensive overlap of Brook Trout and Brown Trout habitat conditions, with only small components of the hypervolume (multidimensional space) being distinctive.
Subsequent analysis indicated higher abundances of Brook Trout in highly forested areas, while Brown Trout were more abundant in areas with relatively high proportions of agriculture. Simulation results indicated that direct interactions and habitat conditions were relatively minor factors compared with the effects of repeated stocking of Brown Trout into Brook Trout habitat. Intensive annual stocking of Brown Trout could eliminate resident Brook Trout in less than a decade. Ecological differences, harvest behavior, and other habitat changes can exacerbate Brook Trout losses. Custom stocking scenarios with Brown Trout introductions at relatively low proportions of resident Brook Trout populations may be able to sustain healthy populations of both species within their present range.
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Science and Data
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Brook Trout Related Publications
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Brook Trout Catchment Assessment Summary Report and Appendix Tables
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This folder contains the Brook Trout Catchment Assessment Summary Report and related Appendix Tables.
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Science and Data
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Data and Brook Trout Decision Support Tools
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Brook Trout Conservation in WV
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Close your eyes. You’re in an ancient spruce forest surrounding a stream. You hear the soft trickle of water moving slowly over pebbles and stones. In the stream called Shavers Fork swims mottled, glimmering brook trout.
They are the symbol that water is “the cleanest of clean,” says West Virginia University wildlife and fisheries resources professor Todd Petty.
A team at WVU has been working for years with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources to examine all of the factors that led to warmer temperatures, a wider and shallower stream and other changes that over time threatened the brook trout productivity of this important natural and economic resource.
In this new mini-documentary, you can experience the Shavers Fork story from industrial development to current scientific advances, such as drone technology, that are being used to preserve the brook trout habitat.
-WVU-
CONTACT: University Relations/News
304-293-6997
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The Story of Wild Brook Trout
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Brook Trout Video and Webinar Gallery
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Brook Trout Genetics Research
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Research studies related to Brook Trout genetics.
Located in
Science and Data
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Brook Trout Related Publications
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Brook Trout Movement in Response to Temperature, Flow, and Thermal Refugia within a Complex Appalachian Riverscape
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We quantified movements of brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis and brown trout Salmo trutta in a complex riverscape characterized by a large, open-canopy main stem and a small, closed-canopy tributary in easternWest Virginia, USA. Our objectives were to quantify the overall rate of trout movement and relate movement behaviors to variation in streamflow, water temperature, and access to coldwater refugia. The study area experienced extremely high seasonal, yearly, and among-stream variability in water temperature and flow. The relative mobility of brook trout within the upper Shavers Fork watershed varied significantly depending on whether individuals resided within the larger main stem or the smaller tributary. The movement rate of trout inhabiting the main stem during summer months (50 m/d) was an order of magnitude higher than that of tributary fish (2 m/d). Movement rates of main-stem-resident brook trout during summer were correlated with the maximum water temperature experienced by the fish and with the fish’s initial distance from a known coldwater source. For main-stem trout, use of microhabitats closer to cover was higher during extremely warm periods than during cooler periods; use of microhabitats closer to cover during warm periods was also greater for main-stem trout than for tributary inhabitants. Main-stem-resident trout were never observed in water exceeding 19.5◦C. Our study provides some of the first data on brook trout movements in a large Appalachian river system and underscores the importance of managing trout fisheries in a riverscape context. Brook
trout conservation in this region will depend on restoration and protection of coldwater refugia in larger river main stems as well as removal of barriers to trout movement near tributary and main-stem confluences.
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Science and Data
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Brook Trout Related Publications
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Brook Trout Outcome Management Strategy 2015–2025, v.1
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This document describes the management strategies that will implemented to achieve the Brook Trout Outcome contained within the 2014 Chesapeake Bay Watershed Agreement.
Located in
Science and Data
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Chesapeake Bay Program
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Brook Trout Related Research Projects
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This document summarizes the current suite of research projects that will provide benefits to Brook Trout conservation in the eastern portion of the U.S.
Located in
Library
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Brook Trout Related Research Projects
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A summary of ongoing research projects that will benefit Brook Trout conservation in the eastern portion of the U.S.
Located in
Library
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Brook Trout Related Research Projects
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Brook Trout Thermal Habitat Forecasts Catoctin Mountain Park, Maryland & Shenandoah Valley, Virginia
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Users can zoom-in to an area of interest and then compare current conditions against various future scenarios (3 levels of air temperature change x 3 levels of GW sensitivity to air temperature change). The interpretation is simple: red sites are too warm (MWAT > 23 C) and blue sites have suitable temperatures.
Located in
Science and Data
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Data and Brook Trout Decision Support Tools
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Brook Trout: The Scourge and the Saint. Applying Lessons Learned from Both Eradication and Reintroduction Efforts across the West and East to Better Manage this Char
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Proceedings from a symposium that was held during the 2019 American Fisheries Society/The Wildlife Society Joint Annual Meeting in Reno, Nevada.
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News & Events
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News Inbox