Land cover influences on juvenile Rainbow Trout diet composition and condition in Lake Michigan tributaries

Abstract

Watershed development may alter tributaries in ways that influence the growth and development of juvenile fish. For Rainbow Trout Oncorhynchus mykiss, the extent of land cover influence on the diet composition of stream‐residing juveniles is still an open but important question, particularly given their broad global distribution. Our study evaluated the effect of land cover on diet composition and condition metrics of juvenile Rainbow Trout in Lake Michigan tributaries. Juveniles were collected in the fall of 2014 and 2015 from 18 sampling locations across the Lake Michigan basin and included a wide variety of land cover types. Multivariate statistical procedures were used to quantitatively score sites along axes that maximized variation in land cover and diet composition. Subsequently, Spearman's rank correlations were used to test for significance of correlations between (a) land cover and diet composition, (b) land cover and fish condition, and (c) diet composition and fish condition. Our results indicated that land cover had an influence on the diet compositions of juvenile Rainbow Trout, but neither land cover nor diet composition had a significant influence on Rainbow Trout condition. These findings contrast with previously published work focusing on the growth responses of other fish species and provide insight into the plastic nature of Rainbow Trout. Further, we discuss potential ways in which fish may mitigate the effect of land cover changes as they are transmitted through stream food webs; however, the magnitude of the mitigation likely varies among fish species.

Ecosystem Services Assessment, Trade-Off, and Bundles in the Yellow River Basin, China

“…The HQ of the Yellow River Basin as a whole presents the spatial characteristics of high in the west and low in the east, mainly because the upstream is dominated by woodland and grassland, while the cultivated land is concentrated in the downstream area. This is consistent with the researches in other regions at home and abroad [56][57][58]. At the same time, natural features such as topography, climate, and NDVI are stable endogenous driving factors relatively, which determine the HQ spatial distribution, while social economic activities considered as manageable external driving factors often lead to the degradation of HQ [59].…”

Impacts of Land-Use Change on Habitat Quality during 1985–2015 in the Taihu Lake Basin

“…A great deal of farmland was occupied by construction land, resulting in the loss and fragmentation of habitats, and in turn, leading to HQ reduction in the region. One of the main reasons for the decrease is that farmland has been transferred into construction land, under the background of rapid urban development, which is consistent with previous studies in other areas at home and abroad, such as Beijing city [25], Shule river basin [78], Yellow river delta [79], Northeast China [64], the Po river delta [2], Lake Michigan tributaries [80], and Bharathapuzha river basin [77]. This indicates that HQ decline caused by land-use change is a common phenomenon and has aroused widespread attention.…”

Ecosystem Services Assessment, Trade-Off and Bundles in the Yellow River Basin, China

“…This is consistent with the researches in other regions at home and abroad. (Ma et al, 2019;Brumm et al, 2019;Yang et al, 2017). At the same time, natural features such as topography, climate, and NDVI are stable endogenous driving factors relatively, which determine the HQ spatial distribution, while social economic activities considered as manageable external driving factors often lead to the degradation of HQ (Yan et al, 2018 ).…”