Biologgers reveal post‐release behavioural impairments of freshwater turtles following interactions with fishing nets

Gutowsky, Lee F.G.; Stoot, Lauren J.; Cairns, Nicholas A.; Thiem, Jason D.; Brownscombe, Jacob W.; Danylchuk, Andy J.; Blouin‐Demers, Gabriel; Cooke, Steven J.

doi:10.1111/acv.12323

Cited by 10 publications

(7 citation statements)

References 45 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…These expectations are particularly well suited to testing in the wild with acceleration telemetry (e.g., Cooke et al., ; Cruz‐Font, Shuter, & Blanchfield, ), and our objective in this study was to carry out such a test by: (a) generating extended (~20 days), temporally fine scale (~10 min) direct measures (i.e., the frequency of resting periods and the intensity of activity during active periods) of the feeding activity of an apex visual predator during a critical period in its annual growing season; (b) comparing those measures across populations that differ greatly in both the size and accessibility of available prey. Acceleration telemetry has been used in much recent work to assess the short‐term impact on fish behaviour of various anthropogenic manipulations (e.g., fisheries capture—Gutowsky et al., ; light pollution—Foster, Algera, Brownscombe, Zolderdo, & Cooke, ). Our study is one of only a few so far reported (e.g., Brownscombe, Cooke, & Danylchuk, ) that uses acceleration telemetry to generate cross‐population comparative data designed to address a question of fundamental ecological interest.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life at the top: Lake ecotype influences the foraging pattern, metabolic costs and life history of an apex fish predator

Cruz‐Font

Shuter

Blanchfield

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We used acoustic telemetry and acceleration sensors to compare population‐specific measures of the metabolic costs of an apex fish predator living in four separate lakes. We chose our study species and populations to provide a strong test of recent theoretical predictions that optimal foraging by an apex fish predator in a typical aquatic environment would be consistent with feeding to satiation rather than continuous feeding. We chose four populations where the primary prey type differed along a body size gradient (from small invertebrates to large planktivorous fish) and along a thermal accessibility gradient (from easily accessible cold‐water pelagic prey to less accessible warm‐water epilimnetic and littoral prey). We expected that these gradients in prey type would evoke distinctly different activity gradients depending on whether predators fed to satiation (e.g., less frequent “rest” detections where primary prey are smaller/less accessible) or fed continuously (e.g., fixed level of “rest” detections under all prey conditions). Our study organism was a fall spawning, cold‐water visual apex predator (lake trout). Therefore, we focused our study on diel (early night, dawn, day, dusk, late night) changes in metabolic costs associated with summer feeding behaviour. The duration (~20 days) and fine temporal scale (~30 min) of our behavioural data provided a uniquely detailed picture of intra‐ and inter‐population differences in activity patterns over a critical period in the annual growing season. In all populations, diel shifts in activity were qualitatively consistent with that expected of a visual predator (e.g., resting state detections were most frequent at night). Between‐lake differences in daytime thermal experience were qualitatively consistent with between‐lake differences in the location of primary prey (e.g., excursions to warm habitats were common in lakes with epilimnetic/littoral fish as primary prey and relatively rare in lakes with pelagic cold‐water invertebrates/fish as primary prey). Daytime activity patterns were more consistent with the feeding pattern expected from feeding to satiation rather than continuous feeding: (a) individuals in all four populations exhibited clearly delineated bouts of resting behaviour and active behaviour; (b) the frequency of resting bouts and the resultant overall cost of daily activity were strongly associated with the size and accessibility of prey—in lakes with smaller and/or less accessible prey, predators rested less frequently, exhibited marginally higher costs when active and had higher overall daytime activity costs. Within each lake, similar changes in activity occurred concurrently with diel changes in prey accessibility/relative density.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life at the top: Lake ecotype influences the foraging pattern, metabolic costs and life history of an apex fish predator

Cruz‐Font

Shuter

Blanchfield

et al. 2019

Journal of Animal Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Aside from sub‐lethal impairment, post‐release mortality and altered behaviour may potentially be an issue with turtles after being submerged in nets. Gutowsky et al (2017) assessed post‐release behaviour and survival using biologgers with painted and eastern musk turtles from two treatment groups (entrapment for 4 hours and a control). No post‐release mortality was observed.…”

Section: Body Of Researchmentioning

confidence: 99%

Freshwater turtle bycatch research supports science‐based fisheries management

Larocque

Lake

Midwood

et al. 2020

Aquatic Conservation

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Although it is sometimes difficult for researchers to ensure that their work is used by resource managers to make informed decisions, an example where this knowledge–action gap has been breached is in research published in Aquatic Conservation: Marine and Freshwater Ecosystems (AQC) – among other journals – that has assisted fisheries managers in identifying strategies for reducing freshwater turtle bycatch in commercial hoop net fisheries in Ontario, Canada. Research published in AQC has provided evidence towards a simple and effective method for preventing turtle bycatch mortality in hoop nets, which could be adopted by the fishers. Other research published in AQC evaluated the effect of bycatch mortality on the probability of persistence of turtle populations with population viability analyses, and outlined the need to minimize bycatch mortality to prevent local extirpation. Nine other papers have been published on freshwater turtle bycatch in Ontario, furthering our knowledge on this issue including seasonality and temperature effects on catches, other net modifications, post‐release effects and assisted recovery, and the perspectives of fishers. The research results were presented to local resource managers with further discussions involving industry and stakeholders to minimize turtle bycatch mortality. Over several years, researchers have provided information to resource managers; however, when an incident of high turtle mortality caught the public eye, the research was readily available and changes in regulations were quick to occur. Reasonably good communication among researchers, resource managers, industry, stakeholders, and the broader public allowed the rapid implementation of regulations to mitigate freshwater turtle bycatch mortality and bridged the knowledge–action gap between researchers and resource managers. Both articles published in AQC had practical conservation impacts and were influential in providing local resource managers with feasible solutions, and the impetus to change regulations. These impacts extended to other jurisdictions and their monitoring programmes, where methods to reduce turtle bycatch mortality were also implemented.

show abstract

“…Most commonly, biotelemeters have been used to link field metabolic rates with movement patterns, and sometimes with feeding behaviours ( Cooke et al , 2004 ; Homyack, 2010 ). However, contributors to ‘Conservation Physiology’ have begun, in an array of taxa, much more subtle applications that are capable of assessing the impact of capture on physiological stress and survivorship of individuals and their movement patterns ( French et al , 2015 ; Gutowsky et al , 2017 ). Critically, this approach takes existing technology and applies it so that physiological traits can be measured—sometimes for the first time—and results can be used to advise management of threatened species.…”

Section: Technological Boundariesmentioning

confidence: 99%