Information Reports Number 2011-02
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INFORMATION REPORTS NUMBER 2011-02 FISH DIVISION Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Status, Distribution, and Life History Investigations of Warner Suckers, 2006- 2010 Status, Distribution, and Life History Investigations of Warner Suckers, 2006-2010 Sunset on Hart Lake looking southwest with the Warner Mountains in the background. Photo credit: S. Starcevich Paul Scheerer1, Steven Jacobs1, Mark Terwilliger2, Stephanie Miller1, Stephanie Gunckel1, Shannon Richardson1, and Michael Heck3 1Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Native Fish Investigations Project 28655 Highways 34, Corvallis, Oregon 97333 2Oregon State University Department of Fisheries and Wildlife Nash Hall, Corvallis, Oregon 97330 3U.S. Geological Service Forest and Rangeland Ecosystem Science Center 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Corvallis, Oregon 97331 This project was financed with funding from the U.S. Bureau of Land Management (task orders 134206M093, HLP073006, HLP083003), U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (task orders 134206M086, 134207M085, and 134208J814 and contracts E-2-46 and E-2-50), U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (task orders W66QKZ8094612 and W66QKZ90227848) and Oregon Conservation Strategy (contract T-17-1). CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION .......................................................................................................................... 1 METHODS .................................................................................................................................... 3 Distribution and Abundance of Suckers in the Warner Lakes ......................................... 3 Distribution and Abundance of Suckers in the Warner Tributaries ................................. 5 Comprehensive Mark-Recapture Abundance Estimate ....................................... 9 Habitat Associations ............................................................................................ 9 Statistical Analyses ....................................................................................................... 11 Seasonal Movement of Warner Suckers ...................................................................... 11 PIT and FLOY® Tagging .................................................................................... 11 Radio Tagging .................................................................................................... 12 Downstream Migrant Trapping ........................................................................... 12 Upstream Trapping at the Dyke Diversion Fish Ladder ..................................... 13 Sampling Larval Drift .......................................................................................... 13 Comparison of Ageing Techniques ............................................................................... 13 Lapillar Otoliths .................................................................................................. 13 Pectoral and Pelvic Fin Rays ............................................................................. 14 Opercles ............................................................................................................. 14 Scales ................................................................................................................ 14 RESULTS ................................................................................................................................... 15 Distribution and Abundance of Warner Suckers in the Warner Lakes ............................ 15 Length Frequencies and Length-Weight Relationships of Suckers in the Warner Lakes ............................................................................................................................... 16 Fish Assemblages in the Warner Lakes .......................................................................... 16 Sex Ratios and Sexual Maturation of Suckers in the Warner Lakes ............................... 22 Condition of Crump Lake Suckers .................................................................................. 22 Distribution and Abundance of Suckers in the Warner Tributaries.................................. 25 Length Frequencies and Length-Weight Relationships of Suckers in the Warner Tributaries ....................................................................................................................... 32 Sex Ratios and Sexual Maturation of Suckers in the Twentymile Subbasin ................... 32 Habitat Associations ........................................................................................................ 35 Condition of Suckers in the Twentymile Creek Subbasin................................................ 35 Growth of PIT-tagged Warner Suckers ........................................................................... 37 Seasonal Movements of Warner Suckers ....................................................................... 37 Downstream Migrant Trapping ............................................................................ 37 Upstream Migrant Trapping ................................................................................. 40 i Movements of PIT-tagged Warner Suckers .................................................................... 40 Movements of Radio-tagged Warner Suckers ................................................................ 44 Movements of Larval Suckers ......................................................................................... 58 Avian Predation on Warner Suckers ............................................................................... 60 Comparison of Ageing Techniques ................................................................................. 61 Warner Sucker Abundance Estimate at the Summer Lake WMA ................................... 61 DISCUSSION .............................................................................................................................. 63 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ........................................................................................................... 69 REFERENCES ........................................................................................................................... 69 ii LIST OF TABLES Page Table 1. Warner sucker CPUE for trap nets fished in Hart and Crump Lakes, 1990-2010 ........ 15 Table 2. Mean length of Warner suckers captured in 2006, 2008, and 2010 from Crump and Hart Lakes ................................................................................................................................... 18 Table 3. Numbers and percentages of fish captured in trap nets in Hart and Crump Lakes in 2006, 2008, and 2010, by species .............................................................................................. 23 Table 4. Length of the sampling frame (potential sucker distribution), length of stream sampled, and numbers of sites by outcome category (sites sampled, sites where suckers were collected, sites with dry channels, and sites where access was denied) .................................................... 25 Table 5. Estimates of Warner sucker population abundance (fish >60 mm FL), with associated confidence limits, and sucker densities in streams in the Warner basin, summer 2007 ............. 28 Table 6. Details of the 2009 mark-recapture estimate for Warner suckers in the Twentymile Creek drainage, listed by stream stratum ................................................................................... 28 Table 7. Warner suckers density estimates in the Twentymile Creek drainage in 2009, listed by stream stratum ............................................................................................................................ 32 Table 8. Numbers and capture locations of Warner suckers implanted with PIT tags and radio tags, 2006-2010 .......................................................................................................................... 40 Table 9. Numbers of Warner suckers radio-tagged, their mean length, the mean number of observations (detections), and the mean and range of cumulative distance traveled in April-June 2008 ............................................................................................................................................ 44 Table 10. Stream locations of radio-tagged Warner suckers detected in the Twentymile Creek drainage in 2010, showing the furthest downstream (minimum) and upstream (maximum) location and range of river kilometers for each fish, the number of detections, and the minimum movement distance ..................................................................................................................... 55 Table 11. Numbers and percentages of Warner suckers tagged in the Warner basin that we documented were consumed by avian predators, 2006-2010 .................................................... 60 Table 12. Percent agreement among three reads for each structure aged in the study ............ 61 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Map of the study area in the Warner basin, Oregon ..................................................... 2 Figure 2. Hydrographs for Twentymile Creek, 2006-2010. Data is from the gaging station located near Adel, Oregon ............................................................................................................ 4 Figure 3. Sample frame and corresponding sample points for estimating Warner sucker abundance in the three major subbasins of the Warner Basin, 2007 ........................................... 6 Figure 4. Study area for 2009