CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by eGrove (Univ. of Mississippi) University of Mississippi eGrove Electronic Theses and Dissertations Graduate School 2018 Leaping Behavior In Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys Molitrix): Analysis Of Burst Swimming Speeds, Angle Of Escape, Height, And Distance Of Leaps Ehlana Stell University of Mississippi Follow this and additional works at: https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Stell, Ehlana, "Leaping Behavior In Silver Carp (Hypophthalmichthys Molitrix): Analysis Of Burst Swimming Speeds, Angle Of Escape, Height, And Distance Of Leaps" (2018). Electronic Theses and Dissertations. 374. https://egrove.olemiss.edu/etd/374 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at eGrove. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of eGrove. For more information, please contact [email protected]. LEAPING BEHAVIOR IN SILVER CARP (HYPOPHTHALMICHTHYS MOLITRIX): ANALYSIS OF BURST SWIMMING SPEEDS, ANGLE OF ESCAPE, HEIGHT, AND DISTANCE OF LEAPS A Thesis presented in partial fulfillment of requirements for the degree of Master of Science in the Department of Biology The University of Mississippi By EHLANA G. STELL May 2018 Copyright Ehlana G. Stell ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ABSTRACT Silver Carp have rapidly expanded their range exploiting vulnerable habitats, disrupting fisheries, and inflicting unknown ecological damage. These fish have continued to spread into the Middle Mississippi River and the Tennessee River Valley and great effort is being expended to prevent Silver Carp from entering the Great Lakes and expanding further into the Ohio, Illinois, Missouri, and Tennessee Rivers. Using boat-mounted cameras, we recorded in situ video of invasive Silver Carp, Hypopthalmichthys molitrix leaps to measure their horizontal distance, height, and angle of escape as well as their burst speed. Video tapes of fish leaps were obtained from populations of carp in Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois. Additionally, morphometric and environmental data were measured at each site. Carp reached mean leap heights of 124 cm with a maximum of 276.08 cm in Ramsey Creek, Missouri. Maximum horizontal distance reached was 482.34 cm with a mean distance of 207.02 cm. Burst speeds varied across the three study sites with significantly higher speeds in Missouri (628.4 + 99.9 cm/s (n=10)) compared to Mississippi (471.2 + 77.2 cm/s (n=42)) and Illinois (551.7 + 95.7 cm/s (n=35)). Total lengths of Silver Carp increased with decreasing latitude; 73.09 + 11.05 cm (n=113) from Mississippi, 60.86 + 4.1 cm (n=30) from Missouri, and 54.79 + 9.3 cm (n=161) from Illinois. Our results documented the burst speed of Silver Carp across a range of sizes and areas, revealed that the leaping abilities of Silver Carp are greater than previously estimated, and demonstrated differences in leap characteristics across populations of carp. ii DEDICATION I would like to dedicate this thesis to my parents and other family for their constant support and encouragement even as I pursued a degree they did not expect. I love you and could not have done this without all of y’all! iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS There are several people who have helped me to accomplish this project, but first and foremost I must thank Dr. Glenn Parsons for his taking a chance on me. I got to know you while working on Bryan’s project and as a result you gave me many opportunities as an undergraduate to experience research and start thinking beyond just topics covered in class. Your teaching and guidance has helped me find a field where I am passionate about the work and truly enjoy my job! You took a chance with me not having the highest GPA (but still good!) as an undergrad by fully accepting me into your lab. If not for you, I don’t know where my life would have gone beyond graduation. Thank you for all the support, reviews, and conversations over the last 5 years. Along with Dr. Parsons, Dr. Jan Hoover also deserves much thanks! You were the first to question me about what I wanted to do after graduation on a very cold winter day on Moon Lake and pushed me to consider graduate school. Throughout my own research you have been very present answering my many questions, coauthoring papers and being patient through my first attempt at the whole publishing experience. Without your help, I am not sure this project would have happened (quite literally in the funding department). With Jan came a host of others at ERDC that have provided me help over the years: Alan Katzenmeyer, Jay Collins, Jack Killgore, and Bill Lancaster (a better fisherman than I will ever be!). Between helping construct my net to providing field assistance in Havana, IL, I can never express how grateful I am for your help and express how highly I think of each of you. iv Dr. Buchholz, beyond being on my committee, you have dealt with me through every course you teach and have influenced the way I approach questions in a way like no other. Behavior is something I see left out of many projects in my field and I hope in the future I can further incorporate what you have taught me to improve that area of fisheries and fish biology. Behavior influences everything and thanks to you I now know how to recognize and study it. A huge thanks goes to all those who volunteered to help me collect samples and be bombarded by leaping fish, deal with boat breakdowns (thanks to said leaping fish!) and have survived all the adventures associated with working in rural areas! A special thanks to Lauren Fuller who was literally a target for these fish my first summer and who has aided me countless times in writing, preparing presentations, and being a general soundboard for ideas. Bryan Cage, I must thank you because without you and your project, I would never have had the opportunity to begin doing research and would not have learned all the lessons about field work I did from you! To all my friends both in Shoemaker (Amy Hribar, Tim Colston, Lance Sullivan, Matt Ward, Lauren Fuller (again), and Alan Katzenmeyer) and out (Riley Mitchell, April Steen, Casey Caveness, George Humphry, Brian Taylor, Kristie Newland, and Trey Friend) who have kept me sane and entertained throughout the years, thank you. You all have had to listen to my journey for years now (and hopefully years to come!) and have provided much needed support and often times distractions from all the hectic schedules and work. v Finally, I want to thank my family. You all thought I was going to go into the medical field but instead decided to play with fish as you say. Thanks for not calling me too crazy and always being there when I needed you from moral support, to financial support, to taking care of my pets when I had to run out of town for a week at a time! Mom, Dad, Rhiannon, and Amber, I can never express how grateful I am to have all of you in my life and thank you for putting up with my student career. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT………………………………………………………………………………………ii DEDICATION……………………………………………………………………………………iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS………………………………………………………………………iv LIST OF FIGURES………………………………………………………………………………ix CHAPTER 1: 1.1 GENERAL BACKGROUND..………………………………………………..1 1.2 MEASURING SPEED AND RESEARCH JUSTIFICATION……………………………….8 CHAPTER 2: MATERIALS AND METHODS..……………………………………………….12 2.1 STUDY ORGANISM: SILVER CARP HYPOPHTHALMICHTHYS MOLITRIX….12 2.2 NET CONSTRUCTION AND DESIGN…………………………………………….15 2.3 STUDY SITES.…..…………………………………………………………….……17 2.4 FIELD AND POST FIELD ANALYSIS………………….…………………………19 2.5 STATISTICAL ANALYSIS…………..………………………………………….…21 CHAPTER 3: ANALYZING LEAP CHARACTERISTICS AND BURST SPEEDS OF SILVER CARP (HYPOPHTHALMICHTHYS MOLITRIX) USING IN-SITU VIDEO ANALYSIS……...22 vii 3.1 INTRODUCTION……….…………………………………………………………..22 3.2 RESULTS……………..……………………………………………………………..24 3.3 DISCUSSION……….….……………………………………………………………36 3.3.1 BURST SPEED……..………………………….………………………….36 3.3.2 LEAPING ABILITIES AND CHARACTERISTICS…………………….40 3.3.3. GEOGRAPHIC VARITION……………………………………………...44 CHAPTER 4: CONCLUSIONS/RECOMMENDATIONS…..…………………………………46 BIBLIOGRAPHY………………………………………………………………………………..48 VITA……………………………………………………………………………………………..58 viii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Original surface level net for Silver Carp Sampling…………………………………..16 Figure 2. Elevated carp catching net design…………………………………………………….16 Figure 3. Sample locations for 2016-2017……………………………………………………….19 Figure 4. Total length (black) and weight (grey) of Silver Carp captured from each location. Means and standard errors are shown………………………………………...………...………..25 Figure 5. Comparison of upper and lower caudal lobe lengths. Means and standard errors are shown. …………………………………………………………………………………………...26 Figure 6. Bar graphs of leap distance (a) (n=81) and leap height (b) by total length (n=81). 95% CI are shown……………………………………………………………………………………..27 Figure 7. Regressions of burst speed on total length for each study site.………………….….…28 Figure 8. Scatterplot of total length (cm) and relative speed (body lengths*s-1).…………..…....29 Figure 9. Leap distance (a) (n=84) and leap height (b) (n=84) against burst speed for Silver Carp from each study site. Scatterplot (c) of burst speed and height shows the significant correlation found for Mississippi fish. Means and 95% confidence intervals are shown. Bars without confidence intervals only had one sample…………………………………………………….…30 Figure 10. Leap distance, leap height, and burst swimming speed for all study sites. Means and standard errors shown…………………………………………………………………..………..31 ix Figure 11. Average leap distances displayed against angle of escapes shows no differences. Means and 95% confidence intervals are shown. Bars without confidence intervals only had one sample……………………….…………………………………………………………………...32 Figure 12. Frequency distribution of leap angle for silver carp .………………………………...33 Figure 13. Plot of burst speed (cm/s) against leap distance (cm) with interaction of angle (degrees)………………………………………………………………………………………….34 Figure 14. Path analysis for distance (cm) showing correlation values………………………….34 Figure 15.