Status of Northern Pearl Dace and Chrosomid
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STATUS OF NORTHERN PEARL DACE AND CHROSOMID DACE IN PRAIRIE STREAMS OF MONTANA by Allison Louise Stringer A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Fish and Wildlife Management MONTANA STATE UNIVERSITY Bozeman, Montana May 2018 ©COPYRIGHT by Allison Louise Stringer 2018 All Rights Reserved ii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS My thesis was completed thanks to my funding sources: the Bureau of Land Management, the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, and NorthWestern Energy. Their generosity has advanced our knowledge of some of our least studied native fish species and has provided critical information to managers. I thank my committee members Drs. Robert G. Bramblett, Alexander V. Zale, and Andrea R. Litt for their unwavering support and patient guidance. Many thanks to my hardworking technicians and volunteers: Morgan Kauth, Jeremy Brooks, Jonathan Hashisaki, Shannon Blackburn, Katy Bonaro, and Ashley Berninghaus. I could not have survived the mud bogs and rattlesnakes without you! I extend my gratitude to the Fort Peck Office of Environmental Protection and the Blackfeet Environmental Office, both of which provided critical logistical support and historical information. Thanks to Andrew Gilham of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, who provided valuable insight into the St. Mary and upper Milk River drainages. I also thank Jim Johnson of Confluence, Inc., who graciously provided guidance and spatial data. Thank you to Steve Dalbey, Cody Nagel, Zach Shattuck, Mike Ruggles, and other hardworking employees of Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks for being champions of native fish, and for giving me hope that my thesis will do more than collect dust on a shelf. My deepest appreciation is extended to the generous landowners willing to let a stranger from Bozeman muck around in their beloved creeks. Finally, I owe my sanity and happiness to my family and friends, especially the other graduate students in the Ecology Department. Thank you for commiserating, helping with R-code nightmares, and filling my graduate school experience with laughter and curiosity. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. STATUS AND DISTRIBUTION OF PEARL DACE, NORTHERN REDBELLY DACE, AND NORTHERN REDBELLY × FINESCALE DACE HYBRIDS IN MONTANA .....................................................................................................................1 Introduction ......................................................................................................................1 Inferred Historical Distributions ......................................................................................5 Data Sources ............................................................................................................5 Pearl Dace ................................................................................................................6 Drainage Delineation ...................................................................................8 Inferred Historical Distribution ....................................................................8 Chrosomid dace .....................................................................................................11 Drainage Delineation .................................................................................11 Inferred Historical Distribution ..................................................................12 Zoogeographical Context .......................................................................................14 Methods..........................................................................................................................15 Site Selection .........................................................................................................15 Sampling ................................................................................................................17 Fish Collection ...........................................................................................17 Habitat ........................................................................................................17 Chrosomid Dace Vouchers ....................................................................................19 Analyses .................................................................................................................23 Influential Non-native Predators ................................................................23 Estimates of Changes in Pearl Dace and Chrosomid Dace Distribution ...23 Habitat Comparison ...................................................................................25 Results ............................................................................................................................26 Current Distributions of Pearl Dace and Chrosomid Dace in Montana .................26 Influential non-native predators .............................................................................28 Changes in Pearl Dace and Chrosomid Dace Distributions ...................................29 Habitat Comparison ...............................................................................................30 Discussion ......................................................................................................................30 Management Implications and Recommendations ................................................36 2. EFFECTS OF INVASIVE NORTHERN PIKE ON MONTANA PRAIRIE FISH ASSEMBLAGES ...........................................................................................................65 Introduction ....................................................................................................................65 Methods..........................................................................................................................67 Study Area .............................................................................................................67 Data Acquisition and Processing ...........................................................................67 Analyses .................................................................................................................68 iv TABLE OF CONTENTS CONTINUED Native Species Richness ............................................................................68 Native Fish Assemblages ...........................................................................69 Results ............................................................................................................................70 Native Species Richness ........................................................................................70 Native Fish Assemblages .......................................................................................70 Discussion ......................................................................................................................71 REFERENCES CITED ......................................................................................................87 APPENDICES .................................................................................................................102 APPENDIX A: All fish data collected 2015-2016 ..............................................103 APPENDIX B: Montana Prairie Fish and Habitat Sampling Protocol ................144 v LIST OF TABLES Table Page 1. Sources of pearl dace collection data used to create the inferred historical distribution in Montana. Collections are listed by source, drainage, and then waterbody. Those collections associated with a voucher specimen are indicated with Yes. Catalog numbers for voucher specimens in museums are included in parenthesis after the source name. Museum abbreviations follow American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists standards (Sabaj 2016) ...........................38 2. Sources of chrosomid dace collection data used to create the inferred historical distribution in Montana. Collections are listed by source, drainage, and waterbody. Those collections associated with a voucher specimen are indicated with Yes. Catalog numbers for voucher specimens in museums are included in parenthesis after the source name. Museum abbreviations follow American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists standards (Sabaj 2016) ................................41 . 3. Variable definitions of four estimation methods used to estimate changes in pearl dace and chrosomid dace distributions ...................................48 4. Co-occurrence of pearl dace and chrosomid dace with two non- native predators at sites in the inferred historical distributions of pearl dace and chrosomid dace, 2015-2017. Non-native trout consisted of Brook Trout, Brown Trout, Rainbow Trout, or a combination of two or all three species. Individual rows represent the number of sites in each 6-digit hydrologic unit code (HUC 6) and the sum of all sites across all drainages. Northern Pike and non-native trout were never collected at the same site ......................................49 5. Estimated percent declines in distribution of pearl dace and chrosomid dace in Montana, using four different methods. The number of historical streams currently occupied by pearl dace or chrosomid dace (c) was inferred following a different set of assumptions for each method. The percent declines were calculated by dividing the number of currently occupied historical streams (c) by h (either the number of historical streams sampled [Npearl = 24, Nchrosomid = 70] or the total number of historical