Trout Movement and Habitat Use in the Upper Shavers Fork of the Cheat River, West Virginia
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Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports 2005 Trout movement and habitat use in the upper Shavers Fork of the Cheat River, West Virginia Jeff Lee Hansbarger West Virginia University Follow this and additional works at: https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd Recommended Citation Hansbarger, Jeff Lee, "Trout movement and habitat use in the upper Shavers Fork of the Cheat River, West Virginia" (2005). Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports. 2196. https://researchrepository.wvu.edu/etd/2196 This Thesis is protected by copyright and/or related rights. It has been brought to you by the The Research Repository @ WVU with permission from the rights-holder(s). You are free to use this Thesis in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you must obtain permission from the rights-holder(s) directly, unless additional rights are indicated by a Creative Commons license in the record and/ or on the work itself. This Thesis has been accepted for inclusion in WVU Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports collection by an authorized administrator of The Research Repository @ WVU. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Trout Movement and Habitat Use in the Upper Shavers Fork of the Cheat River, West Virginia Jeff Lee Hansbarger Thesis submitted to the Davis College of Agriculture, Forestry, and Consumer Sciences at West Virginia University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Wildlife and Fisheries Resources J. Todd Petty, Ph.D., Co-Chair Patricia Mazik, Ph.D., Co-Chair Robert Q. Hanham, Ph.D. Kyle Hartman, Ph.D. Mike Shingleton, M.S. Wildlife and Fisheries program in the Division of Forestry Morgantown, West Virginia 2005 Keywords: Brook trout, Brown trout, Habitat use, Movement, Restoration ABSTRACT Trout Movement and Habitat Use in the Upper Shavers Fork of the Cheat River, West Virginia By Jeff Lee Hansbarger I quantified brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) and brown trout (Salmo trutta) movement and habitat use in a central Appalachian watershed, the upper Shavers Fork of the Cheat River over three seasons (spring/summer 2000-01, fall 2000) with telemetry. The objectives of my study were to: 1) quantify trout habitat use among seasons, and between the mainstem and Rocky Run (a major tributary), 2) quantify the effect of temperature extremes on habitat use by brook trout, 3) quantify trout movement among seasons and between the mainstem and Rocky Run, and 4) relate movement to variations in stream flow, water temperature, and access to cold water sources (CWSs). Habitat use analysis indicated that trout use a subset of available habitats in both the mainstem and Rocky Run. Specifically trout tended to occupy deeper and higher velocity habitats than expected by chance alone. Trout also tended to remain close to cover and in close proximity to extremely high velocity microhabitats. Finally, I consistently recorded colder trout focal point temperatures in the mainstem than near-by instream temperature loggers especially when instream levels were above 20º C indicating the use of mainstem CWSs (visible surface and lateral subsurface inputs through the valley alluvium, and hyporheic upwelling). Analysis of movement data indicated significant differences (p < 0.05) in movement rates between mainstem and Rocky Run trout with mainstem movement rates among some of the highest documented for native brook trout in an Appalachian watershed (ranging up to 6.5 kms and up to 62 m/day during the spring/summer study period). Movement was strongly related to temperature and somewhat to distance to CWSs. However, mainstem trout exhibited high movement rates even when instream temperature levels were optimal suggesting other reason(s) for increased ranging. Future restoration efforts in the upper watershed should first address the overriding thermal and acid precipitation problems. The modification and/or complete replacement of all compromised culverts would be an important first step in improving water quality and habitat suitability for the highly mobile trout population in the watershed. This is a vital first step along with the continuation and possible expansion of the current WVDNR headwater liming program. Keywords: Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Habitat use, Movement, Restoration DEDICATION I dedicate this thesis to my parents and family who supported me in many ways throughout this endeavor. iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I wish to thank all committee members for their constructive comments, guidance, patience, and overall assistance in completing my thesis. A special thanks is warranted for a number of unnamed students, friends, secretaries (including Becky Nestor), and field personnel with the West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR) who helped or aided the completion of this thesis, and anyone else I neglected to mention. I am indebted also to Kathy Fletcher and Rebecca Camper with WVU Office of Information Technology for their help with formatting, and the electronic submission of my thesis. The West Virginia Division of Natural Resources (WVDNR), United States Forest Service (USFS), United States Geological Service (USGS), Trout Unlimited (TU), and the West Virginia University Cooperative Fish & Wildlife Research Unit all contributed to this study either financially or in some form of support. I greatly appreciate their assistance. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT........................................................................................................... ii DEDICATION....................................................................................................... iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .................................................................................... iv TABLE OF CONTENTS........................................................................................v LIST OF TABLES................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES ............................................................................................. vii LIST OF APPENDICES ....................................................................................... xi INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................1 Objectives .......................................................................................................10 METHODS..........................................................................................................12 Study Area ......................................................................................................12 Site Selection and Mapping.............................................................................18 Stream Flow and Temperature Monitoring ......................................................19 Habitat Availability...........................................................................................20 Trout Capture, Transmitter Implantation, and Tracking ...................................21 Trout Habitat Use and Movement....................................................................26 Identification and Mapping of Coldwater Sources (CWSs)..............................27 Statistical Analyses of Stream Flow and Water Temperature .........................27 Statistical Analyses of Habitat Use..................................................................28 Statistical Analyses of Trout Movement ..........................................................29 RESULTS ...........................................................................................................32 General ...........................................................................................................32 Trout HCU Use and Availability.......................................................................34 Trout Microhabitat Use and Availability ...........................................................38 Trout Microhabitat Use and Water Temperature .............................................39 Trout Movement ..............................................................................................41 DISCUSSION .....................................................................................................46 General ...........................................................................................................46 Trout Habitat Use ............................................................................................48 Trout Movement ..............................................................................................59 CONCLUSIONS AND MANAGEMENT IMPLICATIONS ....................................67 Classifying Warm and Coldwater Systems......................................................67 Need for Watershed Rather than Reach Scale Management Plans................71 Specific Recommendations for the Upper Shavers Fork Watershed...............72 BIBLIOGRAPHY .................................................................................................80 v LIST OF TABLES Table 1. General summary statistics for the mainstem of the Shavers Fork and the circumneutral focus tributary, Rocky Run .....................................................92 Table 2. Temperature group divisions (1-6) applied to mainstem trout observations (spring/summer 2000-01). Divisions based on recorded ambient stream temperatures, differences between ambient and focal point