ASSEMBLAGE STRUCTURE AND SHALLOW-WATER HABITAT USE BY SMALL-BODIED FISHES AT LOWER MISSOURI RIVER SANDBARS A thesis presented to the Faculty of the Graduate School University of Missouri-Columbia In partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science by CLAYTON RIDENOUR Dr. David Galat, Thesis Supervisor AUGUST 2007 The undersigned, appointed by the dean of the Graduate School, have examined the thesis entitled ASSEMBLAGE STRUCTURE AND SHALLOW-WATER HABITAT USE BY SMALL-BODIED FISHES AT LOWER MISSOURI RIVER SANDBARS presented by Clayton Ridenour, a candidate for the degree of Master of Science, and hereby certify that, in their opinion, it is worthy of acceptance. Dr. David L. Galat Dr. Charles Rabeni Dr. Mark Ellersieck Dr. Vince Travnichek ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The Missouri Department of Conservation provided funding and much of the equipment to support this project, including a large boat, motor and trailer. In addition, the University of Missouri Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, the U.S.G.S. Columbia Environmental Research Center, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Fisheries Resource Office Region 3 offered equipment and expertise as needed. The J. Louis Crum Cooperation in Columbia, Missouri, and Russ DeVenney, Jr., deserves special acknowledgement for donating several hundred dollars of copper pipe; Russ’s networking skills were invaluable for locating additional pipe at a discount price. I would like to thank my major advisor, Dr. David L. Galat, for his encouragement, support, and criticism during this research and my education. David’s expertise and eye for detail have fine tuned my scientific and creative thinking skills and improved my technical writing skills. My academic committee Drs. Charlie Rabeni, Mark Ellersieck, and Vince Travnichek provided much need professional expertise to improve this research and final product. Several field and lab technicians devoted much hard work to assure successful completion of field and lab work for this project. Andrew Avis and Benedict Nagy, Brent (Parker) Fadler, and Tim and Scott Altnether proved to be skilled electrofishers and field biologists. A special thanks to Kerry Reeves, Kevin O’Donnell, Matt Mullins and Aaron Atkins for helping to collect data when they could. Heather Calkins and Dustin Martin were invaluably proficient processing fish in the lab. Finally, I am grateful to numerous friends, family, and fellow students for their support and encouragement throughout my graduate education and work on this project. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS................................................................................................ ii LIST OF TABLES.............................................................................................................. v LIST OF FIGURES ........................................................................................................... ix ABSTRACT.....................................................................................................................xiii CHAPTER I ...................................................................................................................... 1 Native Fish Ecology and the Effects of Large-river Ecosystem Degradation ............. 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................... 1 Small-bodied fishes .................................................................................................... 2 Fluvial fishes ............................................................................................................. 3 Missouri River ............................................................................................................ 7 Thesis objectives ....................................................................................................... 13 Literature Cited .......................................................................................................... 15 CHAPTER II ................................................................................................................... 26 Patterns of Distribution and Abundance by Small-bodied Fishes at Lower Missouri River Sandbars: The Importance of Body Length ...................................................... 26 Introduction ................................................................................................................. 26 Study Area ................................................................................................................... 31 Methods ........................................................................................................................ 32 Sample Design .......................................................................................................... 32 Fish collection and handling ................................................................................... 39 Habitat data collection ............................................................................................. 43 Data processing ........................................................................................................ 46 Analyses .................................................................................................................... 48 Results .......................................................................................................................... 54 Distribution, abundance, and environment ............................................................ 54 Small-bodied fish assemblage structure .................................................................. 95 Discussion ................................................................................................................... 103 Use of sandbar ATTZ by small-bodied fishes ....................................................... 105 Diel patterns of fishes at sandbar ATTZ ............................................................... 108 Depth-velocity profile of small-bodied fishes at sandbar ATTZ .......................... 111 Summary and conclusion ...................................................................................... 112 iii Literature Cited ........................................................................................................ 115 CHAPTER III ............................................................................................................... 127 Effect of Spatiotemporal and Environmental Factors on Small-bodied Fish Assemblage Composition at Sandbar ATTZ on Lower Missouri River .................. 127 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 127 Study Area ................................................................................................................. 131 Methods ...................................................................................................................... 132 Dataset Selection .................................................................................................... 133 Data Processing ...................................................................................................... 134 Analyses .................................................................................................................. 135 Interpreting multivariate analysis bi-plots ............................................................ 137 Results ........................................................................................................................ 138 Species .................................................................................................................... 139 Body length ............................................................................................................. 140 Discussion ................................................................................................................... 148 Body size and habitat use ....................................................................................... 152 Conclusion .............................................................................................................. 155 Literature Cited ........................................................................................................ 157 Summary, Conclusions and Implications ................................................................... 166 Appendix A .................................................................................................................... 169 Small and submerged sandbar sample design .......................................................... 169 Appendix B .................................................................................................................... 170 SAS codes used for data analyses .............................................................................. 170 Metadata for SAS code input classes : ....................................................................... 171 Appendix C .................................................................................................................... 172 September substrates .................................................................................................. 172 Literature Cited ........................................................................................................ 172 Appendix D ...................................................................................................................