Bull Trout Spawning Migrations in the Duncan River: Insights Columbia Basin from Telemetry and Dna Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
BULL TROUT SPAWNING MIGRATIONS IN THE DUNCAN RIVER: INSIGHTS COLUMBIA BASIN FROM TELEMETRY AND DNA FISH & WILDLIFE COMPENSATION PROGRAM PREPARED BY David Sean O’Brien FOR Columbia Basin Fish & Wildlife Compensation Program April 2001 www.cbfishwildlife.org BULL TROUT (SALVELINUS CONFLUENTUS) SPAWNING MIGRATIONS IN THE DUNCAN RIVER: INSIGHTS FROM TELEMETRY AND DNA. David Sean O’Brien BSc, University of British Columbia, 1992 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF SCIENCE in THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES (DEPARTMENT OF ZOOLOGY) We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ University of British Columbia April 2001 © David Sean O’Brien, 2001 Abstract Radio telemetry and microsatellite DNA analyses were used to describe spawning migrations and the spatial scale of genetic differentiation among populations of bull trout (Salvelinus confluentus) in the Duncan River system, southeastern British Columbia. Over two years, 66 radio-tagged bull trout were tracked to destinations in the upper Duncan River. The distribution of bull trout by destination in the upper Duncan River and migration timing among all destinations did not vary between the two study years. One third of bull trout tracked for two spawning migrations switched spawning stream from one year to the next. There was also a trend for increasing size of radio-tagged bull trout with spawning stream size. This suggests that bull trout in the upper Duncan River do not have fidelity at the scale of individual spawning stream. Microsatellite DNA analysis of juvenile bull trout from two spawning streams in the upper Duncan River indicate that there is little between stream variation. Exact tests of population differentiation over allele frequencies of six polymorphic microsatellite loci suggest no significant genetic differentiation between the two spawning streams. An analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) partitioned a small (< 1%) but significant amount of genetic variance to the between spawning stream variance partition. The estimate of between spawning stream FST was 0.01. These estimates of low genetic variation between spawning streams, especially when combined with direct evidence from telemetry, suggest that bull trout in the upper Duncan River do not home at the scale of individual spawning streams. ii Table of Contents Abstract......................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents .........................................................................................................................iii Table of Tables...............................................................................................................................v Table of Figures........................................................................................................................... vi Acknowledgements ..................................................................................................................... viii CHAPTER 1 - GENERAL INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................... 1 CHAPTER 2 - BULL TROUT (SALVELINUS CONFLUENTUS) RADIO TELEMETRY IN THE DUNCAN RIVER: MIGRATORY TIMING AND INSIGHT INTO THE MECHANISM OF SPAWNING STREAM SELECTION.............................................................................................. 6 2.1 INTRODUCTION .............................................................................................................................. 6 Study Site ...................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 METHODS.................................................................................................................................... 11 Capture and tagging.................................................................................................................... 11 Tracking...................................................................................................................................... 14 Data analysis .............................................................................................................................. 15 2.3 RESULTS...................................................................................................................................... 19 Capture and tagging.................................................................................................................... 19 Destinations in the upper Duncan River...................................................................................... 20 Migratory timing comparisons..................................................................................................... 23 Multi-year migrations.................................................................................................................. 28 Houston Creek fish trap............................................................................................................... 29 2.4 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................. 30 Bull trout migrations in the upper Duncan River......................................................................... 31 Spawning stream switching.......................................................................................................... 33 Houston Creek fish trap............................................................................................................... 34 Conservation implications........................................................................................................... 34 2.5 APPENDIX.................................................................................................................................... 36 CHAPTER 3 - AN EVALUATION OF GENETIC DIFFERENTIATION BETWEEN TWO BULL TROUT (SALVELINUS CONFLUENTUS) SPAWNING STREAMS IN THE UPPER DUNCAN RIVER USING MICROSATELLITES.......................................................................................... 38 3.1 INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................ 38 3.2 METHODS.................................................................................................................................... 42 Tissue collection.......................................................................................................................... 42 iii Microsatellite amplification ........................................................................................................ 47 Data analysis .............................................................................................................................. 47 3.3 RESULTS...................................................................................................................................... 49 Microsatellite loci ....................................................................................................................... 49 Genetic population structure ....................................................................................................... 53 3.4 DISCUSSION ................................................................................................................................. 55 Number of migrants..................................................................................................................... 59 Comparison to previous bull trout studies ................................................................................... 61 Conservation implications........................................................................................................... 63 3.5 APPENDIX.................................................................................................................................... 64 CHAPTER 4 – GENERAL CONCLUSIONS........................................................................................ 71 Migratory timing and spawning locations in the upper Duncan River.......................................... 71 Spawning stream selection........................................................................................................... 71 Population structure and geneflow .............................................................................................. 72 Comparison between methods...................................................................................................... 73 Conservation and management implications................................................................................ 74 LITERATURE CITED ........................................................................................................................ 76 iv Table of Tables Table 2-1. Characteristics of radio tags employed in the study....................................... 11 Table 2-2. Migratory destinations and ANOVA groups of radio-tagged bull trout in the upper Duncan River. Destination 3, mainstem upper Duncan River, is broken into five sub-categories (3.a. – 3.e., italics) which are separated by tributary confluences (Fig. 2-6). ....................................................................................