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At least 55 records · Page 3Linked to original sources
USGS1997

Effects of bottom fishing on the benthic megafauna of Georges Bank

This study addresses ongoing concerns ever the effects of mobile fishing gear on benthic communities. Using side-scan sonar, bottom photographs and fishing records, we identified a set of disturbed and undisturbed sites on the gravel pavement area of northern Georges Bank in the northwest Atlantic. Replicate samples of the megofauna were collected with a 1 m Naturalists' dredge on 2 cruises in 1994. Compared with the disturbed sites, the undisturbed sites had higher numbers of organisms, biomass, species richness and species diversity; evenness was higher at the disturbed sites. Undisturbed sites were characterized by an abundance of bushy epifaunal taxa (bryozoans, hydroids, worm tubes) that provide a complex habitat for shrimps, polychaetes, brittle stars, mussels and small fish. Disturbed sites were dominated by larger, hard-shelled molluscs, and scavenging crabs and echinoderms. Many of the megafaunal species in our samples have also been identified in stomach contents of demersal fish on Georges Bank; the abundances of at feast some of these species were reduced at the disturbed sites.

Marine Ecology Progress Series↗
USGS2008

Seasonal habitat use of brook trout and juvenile Atlantic Salmon in a Tributary of Lake Ontario

The seasonal habitat use of Salvelinus fontinalis (Brook Trout) and sub-yearling Salmo salar (Atlantic Salmon) was examined in Hart Brook, a tributary of Lake Ontario. Fish habitat use and available habitat were examined during summer and autumn. Interspecific differences in habitat use occurred as well as intraspecific seasonal differences. Overyearling Brook Trout were more selective in their habitat preferences than subyearling Brook Trout or juvenile Atlantic Salmon. Depth and the amount of cover were significantly different among the three fish groups. Salmon occupied faster and shallower water than either age group of trout. Atlantic Salmon were also associated with larger-sized substrate materials than either trout age group, and salmon occurred in habitats with less cover than trout. Overyearling Brook Trout occupied deeper water with more cover than subyearling trout. All three salmonid groups occupied areas with more cover in autumn compared to summer. In autumn, subyearling Brook Trout used deeper areas than they had in the summer. In Hart Brook, the habitat of subyearling Atlantic Salmon can be generally characterized as riffles, the habitat of overyearling Brook Trout was deep pools with extensive cover (35%), and that of subyearling trout was any area with moderate flow and at least 20% cover. As efforts proceed to reintroduce Atlantic Salmon in Lake Ontario, further research is needed to ensure the conservation of Brook Trout populations.

New York↗
USGS2013

Spring migratory pathways and migration chronology of Canada geese ( Branta canadensis interior ) wintering at the Santee National Wildlife Refuge, South Carolina

We assessed the migratory pathways, migration chronology, and breeding ground affiliation of Canada Geese ( Branta canadensis interior ) that winter in and adjacent to the Santee National Wildlife Refuge in Summerton, South Carolina, United States. Satellite transmitters were fitted to eight Canada Geese at Santee National Wildlife Refuge during the winter of 2009–2010. Canada Geese departed Santee National Wildlife Refuge between 5 and 7 March 2010. Six Canada Geese followed a route that included stopovers in northeastern North Carolina and western New York, with three of those birds completing spring migration to breeding grounds associated with the Atlantic Population (AP). The mean distance between stopover sites along this route was 417 km, the mean total migration distance was 2838 km, and the Canada Geese arrived on AP breeding grounds on the eastern shore of Hudson Bay between 20 and 24 May 2010. Two Canada Geese followed a different route from that described above, with stopovers in northeastern Ohio, prior to arriving on the breeding grounds on 9 June 2010. Mean distance between stopover sites was 402 and 365 km for these two birds, and total migration distance was 4020 and 3650 km. These data represent the first efforts to track migratory Canada Geese from the southernmost extent of their current wintering range in the Atlantic Flyway. We did not track any Canada Geese to breeding grounds associated with the Southern James Bay Population. Caution should be used in the interpretation of this finding, however, because of the small sample size. We demonstrated that migratory Canada Geese wintering in South Carolina use at least two migratory pathways and that an affiliation with the Atlantic Population breeding ground exists.

Santee National Wildlife Refuge↗
USGS2004

Sustaining salmonid populations: A caring understanding of naturalness of taxa

Species of the family of Salmonidae occur naturally in Northern Hemisphere waters that remain clear and cool to cold in summer. For purposes of reproduction, salmonids generally behaviorally respond to the currents of streams and lakes in recently glaciated areas. For feeding and maturation, many larger species migrate into existing systems of large lakes, seas, and oceans. The subfamilies include Salmoninae, Coregoninae, and Thymallinae. In many locales and regions of the hemisphere, numerous species of these subfamilies evolved and self-organized into species flocks or taxocenes of bewildering complexity. For example, any individual species may play different or unique ecological roles in different taxocenes. The northern Pacific and Atlantic Ocean ecosystems, with their seas and tributaries, each contained a metacomplex of such taxocenes that, in their natural state some centuries ago, resembled each other but differed in many ways. Humans have valued all species of this family for subsistence, ceremonial, naturalist, gustatory, angling, and commercial reasons for centuries. Modern progressive humans (MPHs), whose industrial and commercial enterprises have gradually spread over this hemisphere in recent time, now affect aquatic ecosystems at all scales from local to global. These human effects mingle in complex ways that together induce uniquely natural salmonid taxocenes to disintegrate with the loss of species, including those groups least tolerant to human manipulations, but extending more recently to those taxa more adapted to anthropogenic change. As we leave the modern era, dominated by MPHs, will we find ways to live sustainably with salmonid taxocenes that still exhibit self-organizational integrity, or will only individual, isolated populations of salmonid species, derived from those most tolerant of MPHs, survive? To achieve future sustainability of salmonids, we suggest implementation of a search for intuitive knowledge based on faith in the wisdom of nature and a caring-sharing, behavioral structure based on "survival of the wisest" for both humans and salmonids.

Conference Paper↗