Do brown trout (Salmo trutta L.) move streambed substrate?-Implications for durability and maintenance of artificial spawning habitat

Abstract

Artificial spawning habitat has been used to mitigate for lost habitat and to increase the abundance of salmonids, but the endurance and potential need of maintenance of these habitat improvements have not been well studied. We studied the movement of gravel, attributed to spawning activity of brown trout in a third-order stream in northern Sweden by deploying PIT-tagged grains of gravel on artificially constructed gravel patches. The results suggest that gravel movement was substantial and most prevalent at the central parts of the patches. As 76% of the tagged gravel was mobilized during a single spawning season, maintenance of this habitat improvement may be necessary in order to guarantee its functionality over time. This study provides a first step in guiding managers tasked with identifying factors degrading restored spawning habitat and maintenance needed.

Keywords

bed load; erosion; gravel; PIT tag; reproduction; restoration; salmonid; sediment

Published in

River Research and Applications
2021, volume: 37, number: 9, pages: 1357-1361
Publisher: WILEY

SLU Authors

• Palm, Daniel

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Holmgren, Annika

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

• Losee, James

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    
  • Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife

• Hellström, Gustav

  • Department of Wildlife, Fish and Environmental Studies, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences
    

UKÄ Subject classification

Environmental Sciences
Fish and Aquacultural Science

Publication identifier

• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1002/rra.3841

Permanent link to this page (URI)

https://res.slu.se/id/publ/113220