Managed spring runoff to improve nursery floodplain habitat for endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow

Valdez, Richard A.; Haggerty, Grace M.; Richard, Kenneth L.; Klobucar, Deanna

doi:10.1002/eco.2134

Cited by 17 publications

(43 citation statements)

References 37 publications

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“…Peak spawning in restored sites of the Angostura Reach occurred about the same time (10 May) but was over 2 weeks later (26 May) in the mainstem. Estimated spawn dates for 2016 (Valdez et al, 2019) are provided on Table 4 for comparison and are discussed later in this paper.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Numbers do not match Table 3 because accurate lengths were not available for all specimens. Estimated hatch dates were derived from a laboratory‐based temperature model (Platania & Dudley, 2003; Valdez et al, 2019) for 2016 and from an otolith‐based model (Zipper et al, 2020) for 2017. No significant difference was found for 2016 data recomputed with otolith‐based model (two‐tailed Kolmogorov–Smirnov statistic = 0.41, p < 0.001).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Gonzales et al (2014) in spring 2008–2009 reported 15 species of fish in natural and restored floodplains, with RGSM as 80% of overall fyke net catch and red shiner only 16%. In May–June 2016, Valdez et al (2019) caught 10 species in fyke nets that consisted primarily of red shiner (75%) and RGSM (18%), with 1% common carp and white sucker. In May–June 2017, we caught 14 species with fyke nets in four restored floodplain sites, with common carp as the most abundant species (41%), followed by red shiner (32%), RGSM (16%) and white sucker (9%).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 2008, the New Mexico Interstate Stream Commission (NMISC) began a series of studies of the restored floodplain sites, describing daily trends in abundance of spawning RGSM (Gonzales, Haggerty, & Lundahl, 2012) and the use of constructed floodplain habitats by MRG fishes (Gonzales, Tave, & Haggerty, 2014). In 2016, the NMISC began the first systematic studies of larval fish in restored sites, reporting that the majority of larvae in floodplains were RGSM (Valdez, Haggerty, Richard, & Klobucar, 2019). The study described in this paper is a follow‐up to the 2016 study.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Use of restored floodplains by fishes of the Middle Rio Grande, New Mexico, USA

et al. 2020

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Nearly 1600 ha of habitat have been restored at 300 floodplain sites of the Middle Rio Grande (MRG), New Mexico, USA, as part of a cooperative effort of the Middle Rio Grande Endangered Species Collaborative Program to conserve the endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow (RGSM). These riverside sites are designed to inundate during spring run‐off and create ephemeral habitats for other aquatic and riparian species. This study of four restored floodplain sites in May–June 2017 found that of 14 fish species captured with fyke nets, common carp (41%), red shiner (32%), RGSM (16%) and white sucker (9%) dominated total numbers. Adult RGSM included 42% gravid females, 36% ripe males and 22% spent females, suggesting that this endangered species was spawning in and near these floodplains. Larval sampling also showed that restored sites and adjacent mainstem banklines were being used as nursery habitats, where RGSM larvae dominated six and nine species with 80% and 74% of total numbers, respectively. System‐wide proportions of RGSM larvae by phase suggest that larvae leave the floodplains and move to mainstem banklines beginning as late mesolarvae and metalarvae (14–22 days post‐hatch), and most depart by the juvenile stage. Altogether, 15 fish species were encountered in restored floodplain sites in 2017, compared to 16 species reported in concurrent annual mainstem monitoring. This study and others show that most fish species of the MRG move onto restored and natural floodplains equally in spring, and many use these habitats for spawning and as larval nurseries.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Use of restored floodplains by fishes of the Middle Rio Grande, New Mexico, USA

et al. 2020

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“…Rio Grande silvery minnow spawn non-adhesive, neutrally buoyant ova directly into the water column [35], a mode of reproduction found in several other cyprinid species in the Great Plains of the western United States [36]. For Rio Grande silvery minnow, annual reproductive success is highly variable and is tied to high flows in spring [18,33,37], likely through creation of nursery habitats for larvae and juveniles [38,39]. Rio Grande silvery minnow were listed as endangered in 1994.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Fish Rescue during Streamflow Intermittency May Not Be Effective for Conservation of Rio Grande Silvery Minnow

Archdeacon

Diver

Reale

2020

Water

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Streamflow intermittency can reshape fish assemblages and present challenges to recovery of imperiled species. During streamflow intermittency, fish can be subjected to a variety of stressors, including exposure to crowding, high water temperatures, and low dissolved oxygen, resulting in sublethal effects or mortality. Rescue of fishes is often used as a conservation tool to mitigate the negative impacts of streamflow intermittency. The effectiveness of such actions is rarely evaluated. Here, we use multi-year water quality data collected from isolated pools during rescue of Rio Grande silvery minnow Hybognathus amarus, an endangered minnow. We examined seasonal and diel water quality patterns to determine if fishes are exposed to sublethal and critical water temperatures or dissolved oxygen concentrations during streamflow intermittency. Further, we determined survival of rescued Rio Grande silvery minnow for 3–5 weeks post-rescue. We found that isolated pool temperatures were much warmer (>40 °C in some pools) compared to upstream perennial flows, and had larger diel fluctuations, >10 °C compared to ~5 °C, and many pools had critically low dissolved oxygen concentrations. Survival of fish rescued from isolated pools during warmer months was <10%. Reactive conservation actions such as fish rescue are often costly, and in the case of Rio Grande silvery minnow, likely ineffective. Effective conservation of fishes threatened by streamflow intermittency should focus on restoring natural flow regimes that restore the natural processes under which fishes evolved.

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Hydraulic analysis for assessing environmental flow selection and ecological model formulation

Harris,

Porter,

McKay

et al. 2024

Ecohydrology

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Ecosystem management depends on transforming qualitative observations (e.g., slow‐moving shallow conditions provide nursery refugia for silvery minnow larvae) into management actions to increase habitat quantity or improve habitat quality. To be effective, decision metrics that are developed for management objectives should be validated with field observations. Model assumptions, precision and parameter importance can be refined by comparing the fidelity of selected parameters computed as habitat quality metrics and the correlation of these metrics to real‐world observations. Validated environmental metrics are more credible for management and can be compatible with ecosystem monitoring and project design processes. In this study, streamflow monitoring data and hydraulic modelling are used to quantify fish habitat extent for 15 years of spring runoff. The spring runoff event coincides with larval maturation to a free‐swimming juvenile phase for the silvery minnow, a critical period in Rio Grande habitat management. Different methods to estimate habitat availability (i.e., hydrology statistics, inundation extents based on hydraulic modelling and areal habitat availability based on different formulations of a habitat suitability index curve) were used to test the efficacy of different metrics relative to species population monitoring. This analysis finds that flow–ecology relationships based on hydraulic modelling or hydrology statistics are both effective and highly correlated to larval production. The investigation shows how seasonal hydrologic characterization and hydraulic discretization have varying levels of correlation with seasonal fish production. This study demonstrates how hydraulic modelling data and hydrologic characterization of riverine environments can be used to validate or develop conceptual ecological models.

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Managed spring runoff to improve nursery floodplain habitat for endangered Rio Grande silvery minnow

Cited by 17 publications

References 37 publications

Use of restored floodplains by fishes of the Middle Rio Grande, New Mexico, USA

Use of restored floodplains by fishes of the Middle Rio Grande, New Mexico, USA

Fish Rescue during Streamflow Intermittency May Not Be Effective for Conservation of Rio Grande Silvery Minnow

Hydraulic analysis for assessing environmental flow selection and ecological model formulation

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