Performance of temperature and dissolved oxygen criteria to predict habitat use by lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)

J.M. Plumb; P.J. Blanchfield

doi:10.1139/f09-129

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Performance of temperature and dissolved oxygen criteria to predict habitat use by lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)

J.M. Plumb·P.J. Blanchfield

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Abstract

We compared theoretical habitat volumes, determined from traditional combinations of temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration (DO) boundaries, with in situ habitat use by acoustically tagged lake trout ( Salvelinus namaycush ). The widely used criteria of 8–12 °C underestimated lake trout habitat use by 68%–80%. Instead, combined temperature (<12 or 15 °C) and DO (>4 or 6 mg·L –1 ) criteria most closely matched lake trout habitat use, had a similar seasonal trend as the tagged fish, suggested modest reductions (5% of total lake volume) in habitat during a warmer year, and performed best when the constraints of temperature and DO were most limiting. All data were collected in a small boreal shield lake (27 ha, z max = 21 m) at the Experimental Lakes Area in northwestern Ontario, Canada, during two contrasting periods of thermal stratification (2003: warmer and longer; 2004: cooler and shorter), providing an assessment of observed and theoretical habitat volumes over current environmental extremes.

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Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences Article

Source-reported bounding extent: 47.53647767348366° to 50.251409577362494° latitude; -94.27310466371186° to -87.59341716371155° longitude. This indicates report coverage, not an exact sampling location. View area on OpenStreetMap.

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BibTeX RIS

J.M. Plumb, P.J. Blanchfield. 2009. Performance of temperature and dissolved oxygen criteria to predict habitat use by lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush). https://doi.org/10.1139/f09-129

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