Geology topics

Matthew Faust

Publications and source records attributed to Matthew Faust.

6 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2025

Linking bathythermal habitat selection to management of a migratory freshwater fish

Background For migratory fishes, habitat selection in dimensions of temperature and depth may be jointly used to define the bathythermal niche. Seasonal and long-term changes in the availability of bathythermal habitat can cause behavioral responses that have consequences for managing interjurisdictional fisheries that target migratory fishes. Management of such fisheries typically relies on standardized surveys to provide knowledge of stock status, yet changes in fish behavior may complicate interpretation of survey results. For example, changes in bathythermal habitat selection could uncouple fish availability from surveys designed to intercept migrating fish in predefined bathythermal habitats. Methods We applied electronic tagging methods to Lake Erie walleye ( Sander vitreus ) to address spatial management and stock assessment questions regarding bathythermal habitat. Specifically, we sought to determine if bathythermal habitat use varied in relation to body size, season, and time of day, with a particular focus on how these may influence availability to fisheries-independent surveys conducted during September-November. Results As predicted, bathythermal habitat distribution fluctuated substantially throughout the year, was most limited during spawning months, and most expansive during fall migration. During the summer stratified months, walleye primarily selected epilimnetic habitats, despite the prevailing notion that colder hypolimnetic waters would be preferred during this time. Conclusions While our results did not support a previous hypothesis that smaller fish were more available to assessment survey gears, our results did support previous assertions that walleye were more active and available to suspended gill nets during late crepuscular periods in fall. Considering uncertainties in water quality and long-term warming trends, our case study could improve decisions regarding spatial management of this species in the context of independent water quality management objectives.

Detroit River, Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair↗

USGS2025

First-year survival of Lake Sturgeon reintroduced to the Maumee River

Objective Lake Sturgeon Acipenser fulvescens have experienced large population declines due to overfishing, habitat degradation, and pollution. Due to these factors, Lake Sturgeon were extirpated from the Maumee River watershed (Ohio, United States). In 2018, a 20-year reintroduction program began that aims to establish a self-sustaining population in the Maumee River. To understand the potential success of the reintroduction program, our objectives were to estimate poststocking survival of reintroduced Lake Sturgeon from age 0 to age 1. We also wanted to understand whether survival differed between age-0 Lake Sturgeon reared in a streamside facility and those reared in a traditional hatchery. Methods Lake Sturgeon from the two facilities were surgically implanted with acoustic transmitters; tagged fish ( n = 40 per year) were released into the Maumee River in 2018, 2019, and 2021, and their movements were monitored by the Great Lakes Acoustic Telemetry Observation System. Results Approximately 75% of Lake Sturgeon were detected at 100 d after release and 50% were detected at 200 d after release. We found no differences in tag attrition between the two rearing strategies. Monthly survival estimates for Lake Sturgeon were 0.87 (95% CI = 0.81–0.92) in 2018, 0.97 (95% CI = 0.89–0.99) in 2019, and 0.95 (95% CI = 0.90–0.97) in 2021. No differences in survival between rearing strategies within release years existed. Annual survival estimates ranged from 0.19 to 0.71 among the three release years. Conclusions Our results, along with known survival rates for adult Lake Sturgeon, suggest that achieving the goal of 1,500 naturally reproducing individuals in the Maumee River is possible if reintroduced fish return to the Maumee River to spawn as adults.

Ohio↗

USGS2024

Is sexual size dimorphism in walleye, Sander vitreus, a driver of seasonal movements in Lake Erie?

Walleye ( Sander vitreus ) are a sexually dimorphic species in which females are larger than males in adulthood. Walleye can also exhibit sex- and population-based differences in migration behavior. In Lake Erie, we used acoustic telemetry to test the prediction that female walleye exhibit larger broad-scale movements than males during the summer and autumn. This prediction was based on the hypothesis that greater foraging in females would be needed to satisfy their higher energy requirements. We quantified movements of males and females from distinct spawning populations from Lake Erie's west and east basins using a lake-wide grid of acoustic receivers in 2017 and 2018. We found no differences between male and female home range sizes, core range sizes, or distances travelled in either population. Fish length-at-tagging was unrelated to the size of a fish's home range or to its distance travelled, contrary to previous predictions about body size as a driver of migration distance in the Lake Erie population. We found that west basin walleye occupied large and indiscrete portions of the lake, but the core range of females extended into the central basin, whereas males were concentrated in the west basin. Walleye originating from the east basin confined their movements primarily to the east basin and showed stronger home range overlap among members of their population than did walleye from the west basin population. Within either population, walleye had more home range overlap with members of the same sex, which likely reflects differences in the migratory tendencies of males and females.

Lake Erie↗

USGS2024

Risk of capture is modified by hypoxia and interjurisdictional migration of Lake Whitefish (Coregonus clupeaformis)

Interjurisdictional migrations lead to seasonally changing patterns of exploitation risk, emphasizing the importance of spatially explicit approaches to fishery management. Understanding how risk changes along a migration route supports time-area based fishery management, but quantifying risk can be complicated when multiple fishing methods are geographically segregated and when bycatch species are considered. Further, habitat selection in dynamic environments can influence migration behavior, interacting with other management objectives such as water quality and habitat restoration. As a case study, we examined a novel acoustic telemetry data set for Lake Whitefish in Lake Erie, where they migrate through multiple spatial management units that are variably affected by seasonal hypoxia and host a variety of fisheries. Combining telemetry results with fishery catch and water quality monitoring, we demonstrate three exploitation risk scenarios: i) high risk due to high residency and high catch, ii) high risk due to high residency in time-areas with moderate catch, and iii) low risk due to residency in time-areas with low catch. Interestingly, occupation of low risk refugia was increased by the development of hypoxia in adjacent areas. Consequently, fishery management goals to sustainably manage other target species may be directly and indirectly linked to water quality management goals through Lake Whitefish.

Lake Erie↗

USGS2024

On the survival and habitat use of hatchery-reared cisco (Coregonus artedi) in Lake Erie

Cisco ( Coregonus artedi ) have been extirpated from Lake Erie in North America since the 1960s, but they once supported one of the largest Laurentian Great Lakes fisheries. Numerous potential impediments to rehabilitation have been identified, including summer habitat refugia and predation. We used acoustic telemetry to investigate the thermal habitat use and survival of hatchery-reared adult cisco in Lake Erie. Fish were experimentally released (n = 50 per site) offshore at Dunkirk, New York, in the eastern basin and Huron, Ohio, in the central basin. Cisco in both basins found suitable summer oxythermal habitat in the metalimnion, suggesting that coldwater habitat availability is likely not an impediment for reestablishment. However, track end dates or predation dates were distributed across only four months with the last detection at 155 days. Predation sensors combined with temperature values during digestion indicated different potential predators: lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ) for the Dunkirk group and walleye ( Sander vitreus ) for the Huron group. Additionally, digestion temperatures of two tags indicated bird predation was also important, likely underestimated and suggested substantial use of the epilimnion by tagged fish. The results highlight the need for additional studies to address stocking optimization questions in support of future reintroduction experiments and related cisco conservation efforts.

Lake Erie↗

USGS2021

Expanding freshwater biologger studies to view fish as environmental sensing platforms

While recording fish habitat use by electronic sensors, biologgers can also be viewed as autonomous environmental monitoring systems with the organism as a vehicle. This dual perspective has provided novel results from marine ecosystems, but has not been applied to freshwater ecosystems. To understand limitations in fresh water, we evaluated miniature depth and temperature recorders as aquatic monitoring systems in a Laurentian Great Lake: Erie. As part of an acoustic telemetry study, biologgers were opportunistically implanted in a subsample of walleye Sander vitreus . Biologgers recorded temperature and depth at half-hour intervals for up to 1 year. Recaptures provided six biologgers for analysis of seasonal temperature patterns and lake stratification, key variables for understanding dimictic lakes. Depth-resolved temperature patterns showed close correspondence with independent weather buoy measurements. Because the buoy was deployed late in the season, biologger data provided improved estimates of the start of stratification, which had important implications for understanding development of hypoxia in the hypolimnion. Drawbacks to biologger data included imprecise knowledge of fish location and reliance on tag recoveries from the fishery. Optimistically, our results show how biologgers could be part of a monitoring approach that integrates limnological surveys with fisheries science.

Marine and Freshwater Research↗