Session B5 - Modeling brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) passage success through road culverts: from theory to reality

Under specific hydraulic conditions, culverts may constitute velocity barriers impeding fish upstream movements. The main objective of this project is to develop a predictive model of brook trout passage success as a function of fish size, culvert dimensions and hydraulic conditions, and water temperature. Fixed Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT-tag) antenna systems are used to determine the passage success of brook trout through culverts under natural variable field conditions and to compare these results with passage success predictions made from swimming capacity data obtained in laboratory studies. The experimental design allows the determination of passage attempts and success of individual fish marked with 23 mm PIT-tag as well as their swimming speed throughout the culvert. The experiments were conducted in circular culverts made of smooth concrete or corrugated metal. 950 brook trout (fork length 90 to 270 mm) were tested under variable water temperature (1.4 to 19 ˚C) and mean culvert flow velocity (0.39 to 1.99 m s-1) conditions. Fish swimming speeds, maximal ascent distances and passage success observed in the experiments are compared with predictions obtained using the theoretical approach of Castro-Santos (2005). The results indicate that most fish adopted a distance-maximising strategy by swimming at speeds very close to the predicted optimum. However, the results also indicate a tendency for the theoretical approach to underestimate the passage success of smaller fish (\u3c 120 mm) and to overestimate the one of larger fish (\u3e 150 mm). Potential explanations of these results are discussed and other components of the project are briefly presented

Brook trout passage performance through culverts

Culverts can restrict access to habitat for stream-dwelling fishes. We used PIT telemetry to quantify passage performance of > 1000 wild brook trout attempting to pass 13 culverts of Quebec under a range of hydraulic and environmental conditions. Several variables influenced passage success, including complex interactions between physiology and behavior, hydraulics, and structural characteristics. The probability of successful passage was greater through corrugated metal culverts than through smooth ones, particularly among smaller fish. Trout were also more likely to pass at warmer temperatures, but this effect diminished above 15°C. Passage was impeded at higher flows, through culverts with steep slopes and those with deep downstream pools. This study provides insight on factors influencing brook trout capacity to pass culverts as well as a model to estimate passage success under various conditions, with an improved resolution and accuracy over existing approaches. It also presents methods that could be used to investigate passage success of other species, with implications for connectivity of the riverscape.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Goerigetal_BodyShapeCulvertPassage

This data package allows reproducing all analysis and figures included in the article. The package comprises R scripts and .csv files

Tide gates form physical and ecological obstacles to river herring (Alosa spp.) spawning migrations

River herring (Alosa spp.) are anadromous fish that enter North American Atlantic coastal rivers and lakes each spring to spawn. Anthropogenic structures such as dams and tide gates serve as physical obstacles that limit river herring access to spawning habitat. This study examined the physical and ecological components affecting herring passage through a tide gate by applying a time-to-event analysis framework to multiple movement behaviors derived from telemetry data. Herring had higher passage success early in the season (78%) than later on (16%). Key behaviors that govern passage varied with diel period, tide, and flow direction through the gates. Furthermore, these behaviors shifted as the season progressed, consistent with the hypothesis that predator avoidance may be driving passage failure late in the spawning season.The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author

Convergence of undulatory swimming kinematics across a diversity of fishes

Fishes exhibit an astounding diversity of locomotor behaviors from classic swimming with their body and fins to jumping, flying, walking, and burrowing. Fishes that use their body and caudal fin (BCF) during undulatory swimming have been traditionally divided into modes based on the length of the propulsive body wave and the ratio of head:tail oscillation amplitude: anguilliform, subcarangiform, carangiform, and thunniform. This classification was first proposed based on key morphological traits, such as body stiffness and elongation, to group fishes based on their expected swimming mechanics. Here, we present a comparative study of 44 diverse species quantifying the kinematics and morphology of BCF-swimming fishes. Our results reveal that most species we studied share similar oscillation amplitude during steady locomotion that can be modeled using a second-degree order polynomial. The length of the propulsive body wave was shorter for species classified as anguilliform and longer for those classified as thunniform, although substantial variability existed both within and among species. Moreover, there was no decrease in head:tail amplitude from the anguilliform to thunniform mode of locomotion as we expected from the traditional classification. While the expected swimming modes correlated with morphological traits, they did not accurately represent the kinematics of BCF locomotion. These results indicate that even fish species differing as substantially in morphology as tuna and eel exhibit statistically similar two-dimensional midline kinematics and point toward unifying locomotor hydrodynamic mechanisms that can serve as the basis for understanding aquatic locomotion and controlling biomimetic aquatic robots