An Investigation of the Habitat Use of Juvenile Astacopsis Gouldi in the Emu River, Tasmania

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An Investigation of the Habitat Use of Juvenile Astacopsis Gouldi in the Emu River, Tasmania An investigation of the habitat use of juvenile Astacopsis gouldi in the Emu River, Tasmania. Water Assessment Branch Water Resources Division, DPIW 13 St Johns Avenue, New Town, TAS 7008 Report Series; WA 06/01 December 2006 Author: Christopher Bobbi Copyright Notice: Material contained in the report provided is subject to Australian copyright law. Other than in accordance with the Copyright Act 1968 of the Commonwealth Parliament, no part of this report may, in any form or by any means, be reproduced, transmitted or used. This report cannot be redistributed for any commercial purpose whatsoever, or distributed to a third party for such purpose, without prior written permission being sought from the Department of Primary Industries and Water, on behalf of the Crown in Right of the State of Tasmania. Disclaimer: Whilst DPIW has made every attempt to ensure the accuracy and reliability of the information and data provided, it is the responsibility of the data user to make their own decisions about the accuracy, currency, reliability and correctness of information provided. The Department of Primary Industries and Water, its employees and agents, and the Crown in the Right of the State of Tasmania do not accept any liability for any damage caused by, or economic loss arising from, reliance on this information. Preferred Citation: DPIW (2006) An investigation of the habitat use of juvenile Astacopsis gouldi in the Emu River, Tasmania . Water Assessment Branch, Department of Primary Industries and Water, Hobart. Technical Report WAP 06/01 ISSN: 1449-5996 Cover Photo: Radio-tagged juvenile Astacopsis franklinii (CPL 45mm) being released into New Town Rivulet, southern Tasmania. The Department of Primary Industries and Water The Department of Primary Industries and Water provides leadership in the sustainable management and development of Tasmania’s resources. The Mission of the Department is to advance Tasmania’s prosperity through the sustainable development of our natural resources and the conservation of our natural and cultural heritage for the future. The Water Resources Division provides a focus for water management and water development in Tasmania through a diverse range of functions including the design of policy and regulatory frameworks to ensure sustainable use of the surface water and groundwater resources; monitoring, assessment and reporting on the condition of the State’s freshwater resources; facilitation of infrastructure development projects to ensure the efficient and sustainable supply of water; and implementation of the Water Management Act 1999 , related legislation and the State Water Development Plan. ii Executive Summary The Giant Freshwater Lobster ( Astacopsis gouldi - Parastacida e) is a long-lived freshwater crayfish species that is endemic to many of the rivers draining the north coast Tasmania. In the past, this species was subject to significant recreational fishing pressure and together with a number of other factors, the species is now listed as ‘vulnerable’ under Tasmanian and Commonwealth species protection legislation. Adults of the species are known to prefer still or slow-flowing habitat in rivers, where there is an abundance of decaying wood, plenty of riparian shade and undercut river banks. Less has been documented about the habitat preference of juvenile crayfish, although recent work in smaller, more elevated streams has shown that they favour habitat with higher levels of boulder and logs as substrate and low levels of silt (Davies 2004). In larger rivers juveniles are often mentioned as occurring mostly in shallow riffle zones. To date no environmental flows studies undertaken for water management planning have specifically examined the habitat needs of A. gouldi , and this was identified as a knowledge gap during the development of the Great Forester Catchment Water Management Plan (DPIWE 2003). Through the use of radio telemetry this study aimed to better understand habitat use of juvenile crayfish in larger river systems. During initial reconnaissance, the study found that because of excessive sedimentation in the middle and lower Great Forester River, little suitable riffle habitat remains for juvenile crayfish. As a result, the study was undertaken in the lower reaches of the Emu River at Burnie in northwest Tasmania. Through a combination of manual sampling and surveillance of juveniles fitted with radio transmitters, it was found that juvenile crayfish preferred riffle habitat dominated by larger substrate elements (boulder and cobbles) where finer sediments (gravel, sand and silt) were absent. Juvenile crayfish were also found to prefer habitat with shallow water depth (0.1-0.25 m) and low to moderate water velocity (0.1-0.7 m.s -1 ), depending on the nature of the substrate. Radio-tracking showed that while the majority of juvenile crayfish movement was restricted to small-scale ‘foraging’ behaviour within the riffle in which they were initially captured and then released, they are also capable of traversing distances in excess of 300 m in a 24-hour period. In doing this, individuals crossed deep pool habitat inhabited by large adult crayfish as well as adult brown trout and platypus, known predators of juvenile crayfish. The stimuli for this larger-scale ‘nomadic’ behaviour is unknown, though it may be a response either to disturbance or tagging of individuals that were already in the process of relocating to new habitat. Natural and artificial changes to flow conditions were not found to prompt a marked response from juveniles, in particular the abandonment of riffle habitat for deeper pools. It appears more likely that reduction in flow and seasonal elevation in water temperature will elicit a response whereby juveniles burrow into the substrate, where environmental conditions are less harsh. The study has gathered valuable data regarding the use of riffle habitat by juvenile A. gouldi , and this will assist with the future development of appropriate environmental flow allocations for rivers where this species occurs. iii Acknowledgments I would like to thank members of the Water Assessment Branch of DPIW for their efforts in supporting this study; Dave Horner, Justine Latton and Martin Read for valuable assistance with field work, and Donald Hine, Mic Yemm and Danielle Warfe for her help and advice on technical issues and data analysis. I would also like to thank Todd Walsh for help with site selection and sampling of crayfish for the study. A number of other people were helpful in the initial design and in some cases providing equipment for the study; Peter Davies, Sarah Munks, Jean Jackson, Matt Webb and Alistair Richardson. This study was undertaken entirely with funds from the Water Assessment Branch budget and formed part of its commitment to gathering more information to support the Water Management Planning process in the Great Forester River and elsewhere in the Tasmania. iv Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY III 1. INTRODUCTION 1 2. STUDY AIM 2 2.1 Feasibility issues 2 3. MATERIALS AND METHODS 4 3.1 Study location 4 3.2 Specimen collection and radio-tagging 6 3.3 Tracking and other monitoring 7 3.4 Habitat mapping 8 3.5 Water level manipulation 9 3.6 Data Analysis 9 4. RESULTS 10 4.1 Crayfish tagging and site of capture data 10 4.2 Environmental monitoring 11 4.3 Crayfish movement 11 4.4 Habitat use 15 4.5 Changes in habitat availability with flow 20 5. DISCUSSION 23 6. REFERENCES 26 APPENDIX A: Environmental condition monitoring 28 APPENDIX B: Accuracy of spatial locations 31 APPENDIX C: Habitat use data for juvenile A. gouldi 33 v 1. Introduction During the formulation of the Great Forester Catchment Water Management Plan (DPIWE 2003), a number of information gaps were identified and studies were recognised as being required to fill these gaps prior to any future review of the plan. A commitment was made by DPIWE (now DPIW) to report back to the catchment Consultative Group on work to fill some of these information gaps, one of which is to examine the habitat requirements of the Giant Freshwater Lobster ( Astacopsis gouldi ) in the Great Forester River. During earlier studies to derive an ‘environmental flow’ for the river (McKenny 1999), the requirements of this species was not included, despite it being a listed species under State and Commonwealth threatened species legislation. Astacopsis gouldi is a long-lived species that is thought to reach ages in excess of 30 years (Hamr 1990) and can grow up to one metre long and weigh as much as 6.5 kg (recently captured individual). The species is generally found in still or slow- flowing rivers and streams along Tasmania’s north coast, at elevations up to about 400 m above sea level (Horwitz 1994). Most research to date has focussed on adults of the species, which are known to inhabit deeper pool habitat within rivers, preferring sites with an abundance of decaying timber and with plenty of riparian shade and undercut riverbanks (Lynch 1997; Lyall 2000; Webb 2001). Juvenile crayfish have been found to occur in higher densities in shallow, faster-flowing water where boulders are present (Forteath 1987). In a study focussing on headwater streams, Davies and Cook (2004) found that densities of juvenile crayfish were significantly higher in larger rivers (third order and above), being replaced by larger crayfish in smaller fourth order streams. In smaller streams, juveniles have been found to favour habitat with low levels of silt, moderate to high percentage substrate as boulders and logs, and with bed slope less than 15% (Davies 2004). In larger rivers, this habitat is utilised by adult crayfish, and juveniles are restricted to shallower riffle habitat containing larger substrate (Inland Fisheries Service pers. comm.). However it is not known whether riffles in larger rivers are the habitat of choice for juvenile A. gouldi , or a consequence of competitive or predator-prey interactions with adults, which are known to be cannibalistic.
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