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Janice L. Bryan

Publications and source records attributed to Janice L. Bryan.

4 recordsLinked to original sources

Power to detect trends in Missouri River fish populations within the Habitat Assessment Monitoring Program

As with all large rivers in the United States, the Missouri River has been altered, with approximately one-third of the mainstem length impounded and one-third channelized. These physical alterations to the environment have affected the fish populations, but studies examining the effects of alterations have been localized and for short periods of time, thereby preventing generalization. In response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Biological Opinion, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) initiated monitoring of habitat improvements of the Missouri River in 2005. The goal of the Habitat Assessment Monitoring Program (HAMP) is to provide information on the response of target fish species to the USACE habitat creation on the Lower Missouri River. To determine the statistical power of the HAMP and in cooperation with USACE, a power analysis was conducted using a normal linear mixed model with variance component estimates based on the first complete year of data. At a level of 20/16 (20 bends with 16 subsamples in each bend), at least one species/month/gear model has the power to determine differences between treated and untreated bends. The trammel net in September had the most species models with adequate power at the 20/16 level and overall, the trammel net had the most species/month models with adequate power at the 20/16 level. However, using only one gear or gear/month combination would eliminate other species of interest, such as three chub species (Macrhybopsis meeki, Macrhybopsis aestivalis, and Macrhybopsis gelida), sand shiners (Notropis stramineus), pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus), and juvenile sauger (Sander canadensis). Since gear types are selective in their species efficiency, the strength of the HAMP approach is using multiple gears that have statistical power to differentiate habitat treatment differences in different fish species within the Missouri River. As is often the case with sampling rare species like the pallid sturgeon, the data used to conduct the analyses exhibit some departures from the parametric model assumptions. However, preliminary simulations indicate that the results of this study are appropriate for application to the HAMP study design.

Open-File Report

The power to detect trends in Missouri River fish populations within the Pallid Sturgeon Population Assessment Program

As with all large rivers in the United States, the Missouri River has been altered, with approximately 32.5 percent of the main stem length impounded and 32.5 percent channelized. These physical alterations to the environment have had effects on the fisheries, but studies examining the effects of alterations have been localized and for short periods of time. In response to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service biological opinion, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers initiated monitoring of the fish community of the Missouri River in 2003. The goal of the Pallid Sturgeon Population Assessment Program is to provide information to detect changes in populations and habitat preferences with time for pallid sturgeon (Scaphirhynchus albus) and native target species in the Missouri River Basin. To determine statistical power of the Pallid Sturgeon Population Assessment Program, a power analysis was conducted using a normal linear mixed model with variance component estimates based on the first 3 years of data (2003 to 2005). In cases where 3 years of data were unavailable, estimates were obtained using those data. It was determined that at least 20 years of data, sampling 12 bends with 8 subsamples per bend, would be required to detect a 5 percent annual decline in most of the target fish populations. Power varied between Zones. Zone 1 (upstream from Lake Sakakawea) did not have any species/gear type combinations with adequate power, whereas Zone 3 (downstream from Gavins Point Dam) had 19 species/gear type combinations with adequate power. With a slight increase in the sampling effort to 12 subsamples per bend, the Pallid Sturgeon Population Assessment Program has adequate power to detect declines in shovelnose sturgeon (S. platorynchus) throughout the entire Missouri River because of large catch rates. The lowest level of non-occurrence (in other words, zero catches) at the bend level for pallid sturgeon was 0.58 using otter trawls in Zone 1. Consequently, the power of the pallid sturgeon models was not as high as other species at the current level of sampling, but an increase in the sampling effort to 16 subsamples for each of 24 bends for 20 years would generate adequate power for the pallid sturgeon in all Zones. Since gear types are selective in their species efficiency, the strength of the Pallid Sturgeon Population Assessment Program approach is using multiple gears that have statistical power to detect population trends at the same time in different fish species within the Missouri River. As often is the case with monitoring studies involving endangered species, the data used to conduct the analyses exhibit some departures from the parametric model assumptions; however, preliminary simulations indicate that the results of this study are appropriate.

Open-File Report

Neosho madtom and other ictalurid populations in relation to hydrologic characteristics of an impounded Midwestern warmwater stream: Update

The Neosho madtom, Noturus placidus , is a small (less than 75 millimeters in total length) ictalurid that is native to the main stems of the Neosho and Cottonwood Rivers in Kansas and Oklahoma and the Spring River in Kansas and Missouri. The Neosho madtom was federally listed as threatened by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in May 1990. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been monitoring Neosho madtoms since 1991, and questioned whether or not Neosho madtom densities were affected by other catfish species, reservoirs, and hydrologic characteristics. Using the first 8 years of U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service monitoring data, Wildhaber and others (2000) analyzed whether or not Neosho madtom densities were related to these environmental characteristics. The goal of this report is to update these results with data from 1999 to 2008. The trends of Neosho madtom densities in respect to John Redmond Reservoir and other catfish species remains consistent with the previous report. In both the Neosho and Spring Rivers, Neosho madtoms had a significant positive association with all catfish species. Of those species tested, only in the population of Neosho madtoms were significantly different in density above verses below the John Redmond Reservoir after accounting for the yearly variation. The average density of Neosho madtoms at the streamgage immediately below the reservoir had the second lowest density compared to the other streamgages. The positive associations with Neosho madtoms that remained consistent from the previous report included the 1-, 3-, and 7-day minima discharges and the annual minimum discharge from the previous water year (water year prior to when the fish were sampled) and the 1-, 3-, 7-, and 30-day minima discharges from the current water year (same water year fish were sampled).

Kansas, Missouri, Oklahoma