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- Title
Identifying links between Fluvial Geomorphic Response Units (FGRUs) and fish species in the Assiniboine River, Manitoba.
- Authors
Carr, Meghan K.; Watkinson, Douglas A.; Lindenschmidt, Karl‐Erich
- Abstract
The Assiniboine River, located in east central Saskatchewan and southwestern Manitoba, provides recreational opportunities, irrigation, and industrial and municipal water resources to Manitoba residents while supporting a diverse fish fauna. Improving our understanding of patterns in the spatial distribution of different fish species in relation to physical habitat features can aid management of this important water resource. The Fluvial Geomorphic Response Unit (FGRU) method is a geospatial modelling technique that allows the classification of large-scale river reaches that exhibit similar geomorphic structure and provide a link between the hydrological regime and physical riverine habitats. Historical electrofishing data provide catch per unit effort data for various fish species and allow an investigation of fish distribution among different FGRUs. This study has identified significant differences (Kruskal-Wallis test, p < 0·05) in the catch per unit effort between three FGRUs for ten fish species in the Assiniboine River. These findings have the potential to increase our understanding of habitat complexity, availability, and connectivity in prairie rivers, a valuable tool for resource managers. This model can contribute to the development of sampling programmes by allowing efficient a priori site selection, ensuring sampling of diverse unit types and thus a greater representation of the range of physical habitats present within a river system. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
- Subjects
ASSINIBOINE River (Sask. &; Man.); FLUVIAL geomorphology; FISH speciation; SPATIAL behavior in animals; GEOGRAPHICAL distribution of fishes
- Publication
Ecohydrology, 2016, Vol 9, Issue 7, p1154
- ISSN
1936-0584
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1002/eco.1714