Category Archives: aquatic ecosystems

Fish + Fire = Comeback

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We won’t blame you if you think that the combination of fish plus fire equals dinner. But a recent study in the Intermountain West confirms earlier findings that native fish, particularly native salmonids, thrive in the decades after a forest fire.

The study was published in the Transactions of the American Fisheries Society. To read the paper, go to this US Forest Service summary page, then click on the PDF link.

A US Forest Service fisheries biologists has continued the study, and is giving talks on the results. Read the article about his talks in the Ravalli Republic.

As for fish and fire: sure, the first few years after a forest fire are tough for the fish. But the introduction of trees into the stream is such a habitat boost that after a few years, native fish populations start to grow. Shrubs and other low plants growing streamside also provide food and shelter for native fish.

This Bitterroot Mountain study confirms the findings of studies done after the 1988 Yellowstone fires, that also found that native fish populations rebounded after the fire.

You can read an article on the talk, here.

Photo: Brook trout, like this one, don’t fare well after fires in the Intermountain West, because they are not native and therefore not adapted to the region’s fire-fueled ecology. Photo by , courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife ServiceEric Engbretson

DNA Helps Find Rare Aquatic Species

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You may be able to hang up your snorkel and flippers. Dutch researchers have found that even rare and endangered animals leave enough DNA in their freshwater ecosystems to be detected in even small amounts of water from that ecosystem. (As little as 15 milliliters, or about a tablespoon.)

This makes DNA analysis much quicker and more thorough than electrofishing, or the ever-popular snorkel survey.

The study tested six different species, including both vertebrates and invertebrates. The team found that an animal’s DNA only persisted in the environment for about two weeks, so when the animal was removed, the DNA was soon gone too.

The catch: high-throughput DNA sequencing techniques are required.

The paper will be published in the journal Molecular Ecology. The entire article is available with a subscription, or for a fee, here.

Or you can read the ScienceDaily report on the paper, here.

Coincidentally, a French team seems to have come to a similar conclusion. Their paper is in PLoS ONE and is open access. Read it here.

Photo: Federally endangered clubshell mussel, photo by Craig Stihler, courtesy of US Fish and Wildlife Service

Alaska and RI Ban Felt Waders

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On January 1, 2012, Alaska and Rhode Island became the third and fourth states to ban the use of felt-soled waders in an effort to reduce the spread of the invasive algae, Didymo, and other invasive and noxious aquatic species. (The first two states are Maryland and and Vermont.)

A Missouri rule banning the waders in the state’s trout parks goes into effect March 1, 2012

Read about the Alaska ban in the Alaska Native News, here.
Read about the Rhode Island ban in the Rhode Island Striped Bass blog. (This regulation was passed so stealthily that I haven’t been able to find a brick-and-mortar news organization that covered it.)

Read an older round-up of felt-soled wader news in USA Today, here.

Keep track of the news on felt-soled wader bans on a state-by-state basis at the Center for Aquatic Nuisance Species website, here. (And bookmark the site for future felt-soled wader ban questions.) 

Our previous coverage on the subject is here.

Photo: What’s on your waders? A biologist conducts a fisheries survey in Wyoming. Courtesy US Fish and Wildlife Service

SeaBC: Counting Sea Birds

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The Audubon Christmas Bird Count has been going on for over 100 years. During the CBC, participants drive, hike, climb and even wade to get to the best birding sites to add to their totals. But they never leave land.

This year, the “SeaBC” Sea Bird Count (not affiliated with Audubon) plans to fix that. Avid birders and boaters will take to their watercraft during the month of December, tally the species they see, and enter their data on eBird, the citizen science bird database run by Audubon and the Cornell Laboratory of Ornithology. If it catches on, it could add a valuable new source of citizen science data on sea-faring birds.

The program is organized by Diana Doyle, author of Managing the Waterway, a cruising guide and electronic charting series. She already rallies the troops at Birding Aboard, a Facebook page dedicated to bird watching during long-distance voyages.


Learn more about the SeaBC at Birding Aboard, or jump straight to the SeaBC resources page where you can download a tally sheet.

Read more about the project on the Vermont Center for Ecostudies blog. (Keep scrolling down. It’s in the middle of a bunch of birding news.)

Photos: Wilson’s Storm-petrel. Photo by Diana Doyle. 
Some cruisers taking the dinghy for some birding in Venezuela. Photo by Devi Sharp
Both photos courtesy of SeaBC and Birding Aboard.

Dead Lamprey Juice May Be The Answer

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Sea lampreys are the source of much angst among wildlife biologists. Are they native to this body of water? How long have they been here and where did they come from? In many locations, including the Great Lakes, sea lampreys are a huge problem that must be dealt with.

Lampricide, in theory at least, kills larval lamprey but doesn’t harm other stream residents. However some other species are sensitive, and there are always those native, non-trouble-making lamprey to worry about. Dams — temporary and permanent — across breeding streams have been tried, too.

The latest weapon in the war against invasive sea lamprey may be the odor of the decaying lampreys themselves.

Research at Michigan State University showed that the “stink” was easily extracted from rotting lampreys in the lab. Lampreys in tanks and swimming in raceways avoided areas that were treated with the dead lamprey extract.

The dead lamprey juice’s most likely use will be to deter lamprey from certain sensitive breeding streams. Or, it may be used to concentrate lamprey into a few streams so that lampricide applications can be more effective.

Field tests will be conducted this summer.

Read the open-access paper in the Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences, here.

Read the Michigan State press release here.

Read an article in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel here. 

Photo by Kurt Stepnitz, courtesy of Michigan State University

Gold: A New Threat to U.S. Streams

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With gold at $1,600 an ounce, recreational gold panners are getting serious — serious enough to have an impact on stream environments. That’s the case in North Carolina, where a local land trust closed its property to gold prospectors recently, and the Uwharrie National Forest banned suction dredging several years ago.

Read the story in the Charlotte Observer, here. (Oh, and you’ll have to forgive the headline, which refers to “marine life.” Clearly, the article is referring to aquatic life in central North Carolina, far from the ocean.)

Think that no one is panning for gold in your state? Think again. Placer gold, the kind found in stream sediments, has been found in just about every state. Panning for gold is sometimes unregulated, and where it is regulated, misconceptions and plain old ignorance abound. The real damage comes from mechanized panning, such as suction dredging.

Is the critical habitat for your sensitive aquatic species safe from gold panning?

Missouri to Ban Porous-Bottomed Waders

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On March 1, 2012 a Missouri Conservation Commission rule banning the use of — not just felt-soled waders, but all porous-soled waders and footwear will take effect.In a press release, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) defines the ban as including “waders or footwear incorporating or having attached a porous sole of felted, matted, or woven fibrous material.”

The rule is stll subject to a public comment period through that state’s Secretary of State’s office.

“Porous-soled waders and wading boots, worn by many trout anglers, appear to be a likely pathway for the spread of didymo,” MDC Fisheries Biologist Mark VanPatten explains in the release. Didymo is an invasive algae that, in some rivers, grows so thick that fish must move elsewhere, and the small creatures they feed on suffocate. Swimming and boating become unpleasant, if not impossible.

“The soles hold moisture for days and can harbor cells of this alga,” VanPatten is quoted as saying in the release. “Individual cells cannot be seen with the naked eye and only a single cell is needed to establish a stream-killing colony. Anglers who visit waters with didymo can, unknowingly, transfer these cells to the next stream they visit.”

Read the release from the Missouri Department of Conservation here.

This article from the Springfield News-Leader merely condenses the press release.

Photo: This is didymo, but it’s not in Missouri, which so far remains didymo-free. It’s been used to illustrate didymo stories for years, but this time it’s courtesy of the Missouri Department of Conservation.

Missouri to Ban Porous-Bottomed Waders

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On March 1, 2012 a Missouri Conservation Commission rule banning the use of — not just felt-soled waders, but all porous-soled waders and footwear will take effect.In a press release, the Missouri Department of Conservation (MDC) defines the ban as including “waders or footwear incorporating or having attached a porous sole of felted, matted, or woven fibrous material.”

The rule is stll subject to a public comment period through that state’s Secretary of State’s office.

“Porous-soled waders and wading boots, worn by many trout anglers, appear to be a likely pathway for the spread of didymo,” MDC Fisheries Biologist Mark VanPatten explains in the release. Didymo is an invasive algae that, in some rivers, grows so thick that fish must move elsewhere, and the small creatures they feed on suffocate. Swimming and boating become unpleasant, if not impossible.

“The soles hold moisture for days and can harbor cells of this alga,” VanPatten is quoted as saying in the release. “Individual cells cannot be seen with the naked eye and only a single cell is needed to establish a stream-killing colony. Anglers who visit waters with didymo can, unknowingly, transfer these cells to the next stream they visit.”

Read the release from the Missouri Department of Conservation here.

This article from the Springfield News-Leader merely condenses the press release.

Photo: This is didymo, but it’s not in Missouri, which so far remains didymo-free. It’s been used to illustrate didymo stories for years, but this time it’s courtesy of the Missouri Department of Conservation.