University of New Hampshire University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository Master's Theses and Capstones Student Scholarship Winter 2012 Distribution of Mysis diluviana in nearshore Lake Ontario Sean J. Maxwell University of New Hampshire, Durham Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.unh.edu/thesis Recommended Citation Maxwell, Sean J., "Distribution of Mysis diluviana in nearshore Lake Ontario" (2012). Master's Theses and Capstones. 763. https://scholars.unh.edu/thesis/763 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Student Scholarship at University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Master's Theses and Capstones by an authorized administrator of University of New Hampshire Scholars' Repository. For more information, please contact [email protected]. DISTRIBUTION OF MYSIS DILUVIANA IN NEARSHORE LAKE ONTARIO BY SEAN J. MAXWELL B.S., University of New Hampshire, 2003 THESIS Submitted to the University of New Hampshire In Partial Fulfillment of The Requirements for the Degree of Master of Science In Zoology December, 2012 UMI Number: 1522319 All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion. ttswwioft FtoMsh«i UMI 1522319 Published by ProQuest LLC 2013. Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code. ProQuest LLC 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 This thesis has been examined and approved. Thesis Director, Dr. W. Hiintting Howell, Professor of Biological Sciences Dr. JamesTianey, Professor .of Biologiaal Sciences Dr. Christopher^W.D. Gurshin, Fisheries Scientist, Normandeau Associates Matthew P. Balge, Fisheries Scientist, Normandeau Associates Date TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS..............................................................................................iv LIST OF TABLES............................................................................................................. vi LIST OF FIGURES.........................................................................................................viii ABSTRACT........................................................................................................................x CHAPTER PAGE INTRODUCTION........................................................................................................................ 1 I. NEARSHORE DISTRIBUTION OF MY SIS D1LUVIANA IN LAKE ONTARIO: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN DEPTH AND ABUNDANCE.........................................5 Introduction.......................................................................................................................... 5; Methods............................................................................................................................... 7 Results ................................................................................................................................. 11 Discussion...........................................................................................................................18 II. QUANTIFICATION OF MYSIS DILUVIANA WITH HYDRO ACOUSTICS IN NEARSHORE LAKE ONTARIO ..................................................................................... 25 Introduction........................................................................................................................25 M ethods............................................................................................................................. 27 Results and Discussion .....................................................................................................36 LITERATURE CITED.............................................................................................................. 47 APPENDICES............................................................................................................................ 52 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS My supportive wife, Danielle, has made many sacrifices along the way with me, in order to complete this lifetime goal. I thank her for patience and teamwork while reminding me of what is important in life. I would like to acknowledge my committee members for their support through this process. Dr. Hunt Howell was an excellent sounding board for ideas and has helped me navigate through academia while allowing me the room to learn. Dr. Jim Haney has encouraged me to look out at the greater picture of the implications of this study. Matthew Balge encouraged me to move on and showed me that the first steps to analysis do not need to be so overwhelmingly technical to be pertinent. Dr. Chris Gurshin has helped me see the complexities while exploring the data in attainable ways. His help in compiling the statistical groundwork for this paper has been invaluable. The data used for this thesis were collected by the staff from Normandeau Associates, Inc., who was contracted by Enercon to conduct biological studies in Lake Ontario to comply with requirements in the State Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (SPDES) permit that allowed Entergy Nuclear FitzPatrick, LLC to operate the James A. Fitzpatrick Nuclear Power Plant. My gratitude is given to Entergy for allowing me to use their data for academic research purposes in partial fulfillment of a Master of Science degree. iv Much of my data came from the efforts of the Normandeau staff who have been helpful and encouraging every step of the way. My supervisors Rick Simmons and Dr. Drew Trested have been flexible and supportive throughout the Master of Science program. Dr. Mark Mattson facilitated the relationship to allow me to use the data for this thesis. Scott Schanke and the entire Oswego field staff worked many long nights on the water for three years to obtain some of the data for this study. The laboratory staff in Bedford, NH especially Alan Bullock spent many hours accurately sorting, counting, and weighing samples. I thank the data processing department who was responsible for data entry. I am appreciative to the company as a whole for allowing me to advance my education while under their employment. v LIST OF TABLES Table 1-1. Number of night Tucker trawl tows at each Mysis sampling location, along with the total for each contour.................................................................................. 8 Table 1-2. Areal density (A/m2) and volumetric density (A/m3) of Mysis diluviana in the nearshore area of Lake Ontario near Lycoming, NY. Data is from nighttime Tucker trawl tows during the sampling seasons of 2009-2011. CVmean does not include uncertainty from the net sampling technique .....................................................11 Table 1-3. Mean densities (A/1000m3) and percent of each life stage of Mysis diluviana from the nearshore area near Lycoming, NY of Lake Ontario from 2009 to 2011. Individuals were sampled with a 0.5 mm mesh Tucker trawl from April through November. Results are shown annually and in an overall average............... 14 Table 2-1. Total number of nighttime horizontal tows performed with associated 70 and 200-kHz hydroacoustics. Mysis were sampled at depths throughout each contour by lxl m Tucker trawl. Number of tows performed at each sampling location from 2009 through 2011 is shown along with the total for each contour. ...29 Table 2-2. Percent (%) of Mysis detection by hydroacoustics (H) (A=649) and percent ofMysis detection by nighttime Tucker trawl samples (T) (A=1310) at each sampling station and contour in the nearshore area of Lake Ontario near Lycoming, NY from April through November during 2009 to 2011...............................................41 Table 2-3. Mean densities (A/1000 m3) and percent of each life stage and discernible sex of Mysis diluviana in the nearshore area of Lake Ontario near Lycoming, NY from 2009 to 2011. Results are shown annually and in an overall average................................................................................................................................. 42 Appendix Table 1. Number of valid Tucker trawl samples, and simultaneously acquired hydroacoustic data files (weather permitting), collected from April through November 2009 during the day (D) and night (N), in a nearshore area of Lake Ontario near Lycoming, NY..............................................................................................53 Appendix Table 2. Number of valid Tucker trawl samples, and simultaneously acquired hydroacoustic data files (weather permitting), collected from April through November 2010 during the day (D) and night (N), in a nearshore area of Lake Ontario near Lycoming, NY..............................................................................................54 vi Appendix Table 3. Number of valid Tucker trawl samples, and simultaneously acquired hydroacoustic data files (weather permitting), collected from April through December 2011 during the day (D) and night (N), in a nearshore area of Lake Ontario near Lycoming, NY..............................................................................................55 Appendix Table 4. The mean volumetric density (N/1000m3) distribution of Mysis in a nearshore area of