You are here:
Three-spined stickleback seasonal size and length-at-age distribution in an intermittent/perennial stream system
Citation:
Spencer, D., M. Scanlan, J. Falke, AND J. L. EBERSOLE. Three-spined stickleback seasonal size and length-at-age distribution in an intermittent/perennial stream system. Presented at Joint Campus Conference, Corvallis, OR, May 06 - June 06, 2011.
Impact/Purpose:
We examined the early life history of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) to better understand fish habitat patterns in an intermittent stream.
Description:
We examined the early life history of three-spined stickleback (Gasterosteus aculeatus) to better understand fish habitat patterns in an intermittent stream. We collected three-spined stickleback and other fishes using dipnets, seines and minnow traps during the summer 2010 low-flow period. Fish were sampled across an array of sites ranging from perennial to intermittent, in a single tributary of Oak Creek near Corvallis, OR. Three-spined stickleback were the most widely detected species within the tributary, occurring in isolated headwater pools, free-flowing perennial reaches, and beaver ponds. Three-spined stickleback were measured for standard length, and a sub-sample of fish were retained for otolith increment analysis to assess length-at-age and relative growth rates. Size distributions of three-spined stickleback indicate the possibility of multiple broods over the summer period. A relatively mild winter thermal and flow regime within this tributary may augment survival of late-hatching fry, expanding the spatial and temporal extent of suitable reproductive habitat for three-spined stickleback in this system. We are currently examining patterns in relative growth of larvae to test this hypothesis.