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Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Montana, 2008. / Title from author supplied metadata. Description based on contents viewed on June 22, 2009. ETD number: etd-12182008-103630. Includes bibliographical references.

Dredged rivers remain from when lumber was floated downriver for processing and shipping purposes. This has left parts of some rivers in Sweden with shallow rocky beaches and deep central furrows. Restoration efforts of dredged unregulated rivers has shown positive results for fish populations. This report compares, by use of CFD two regulated parts of Luleälven, one dredged and one natural. The report looks at habitats where the Riverine Grayling prefers to lay its eggs and evaluates whether velocity and depth conditions could give an explanation for the lower population of the Riverine Grayling in the dredged river. For the water levels tested, usable areas exist for all cases, but the dredged river has substantially smaller areas suitable as a habitat. The river geometry seems to be the large issue for Mattisudden as its shallow wide riverbanks are not conducive to habitats for the Riverine Grayling. Surprisingly the "lower" test case for the dredged river showed a larger usable area than for the "higher" water level, for the same river and higher usable area than the natural river. For this case the water level is now so low that the shallow wide riverbanks are above the water level and only the central furrow is filled with water. This shows two avenues that can be used to improve the habitats for the Riverine Grayling, lower the water level, or raise the riverbanks.

Det finns många studier på hur främmande arter påverkar en arts återinförsel, men det finns fåsom har gjorts om infödda arters påverkan. Atlantlax (Salmo salar) kunde en gång i tidenmigrera från Vänern i Sverige till Klarälven på den norska sidan. Det kan den inte idag, menidag talas det om att återinföra laxen till Klarälven i Norge så att den kan utföra hela sinmigrationsrutt igen. I den älven har laxen en gång i tiden koexisterat med sina konkurrenterharr (Thymallus thymallus), och öring (Salmo trutta) men idag är frågan hur denkonkurrensen mellan dessa tre arter kan komma att påverka återinförseln av lax. För att få enbättre bild av hur utgången för en potentiell återintroduktion kan se ut, så var syftet meddenna undersökning att ta reda på mot vilken art dessa tre arter främst riktade sinaaggressionsbeteenden mot. I akvarieförsök med juvenila individer av dessa tre arter harundersökningarna tagit plats och aggressiva beteenden filmades när arterna var i olikakombinationer. Resultatet visade att harr var den mest aktiva av de tre arterna och lax denminst aktiva, samt att lax blev dominerad utav både harr och öring. Resultatet i denna studietyder på att en återintroduktion av lax kan innehålla svårigheter, men i naturen är ett habitatmer komplext än i ett akvarium vilket kan ge ett annat resultat som kanske gör enåterintroduktion mer framgångsrik. / There are many studies about how the effects from exotic species could affect a reintroductionof a species, but there are only a few that have been made about the effects from nativespecies. The Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) could historically speaking, migrate from lakeVänern in Sweden to the River Klarälven in Norway. Today it cannot do this, but there is anongoing discussion about reintroducing the salmon to the Norwegian side of River Klarälven,so it once again can swim along its entire migration route. In that river, the salmon used tocoexist with its competitors, grayling (Thymallus thymallus) and trout (Salmo trutta), buttoday the question is how competition between these three species could affect thereintroduction of salmon. To get a better understanding of the outcome of a possiblereintroduction, the purpose of this study was to ascertain which species these three speciesmainly directed their agonistic behavior towards. The study took place in aquariums withjuvenile individuals of the three species. Agonistic behavior was filmed when the specieswere together in different combinations. The results show that grayling is the most active ofthe three species, while salmon is the least active, and salmon was dominated by both graylingand trout. The results from this study indicates that a reintroduction of salmon might befraught with problems, but in nature a habitat is more complex than in an aquarium, whichmeans that in nature the results could be different, which might make a reintroduction moresuccessful.

Intensity and types of land use have changed rapidly in the last century and in north-western Alberta this has coincided with the decline of Wapiti River watershed Arctic Grayling (<italic>Thymallus arcticus</italic>) populations. Data on diurnal dissolved oxygen (DO), chemical and physical stream habitat data were collected in nine sub-watersheds of the Wapiti River with historically abundant Arctic Grayling populations. Levels and fluctuations of DO and temperature were related to the status of populations; five of the nine streams had higher temperatures and lower DO during summer, anoxic conditions during winter and extirpated populations. Amount of disturbed land and road density within sub-watersheds were inversely related to DO levels and population status. Cumulative effects modelling suggests a possible mechanism for these relationships is increased phosphorous runoff, leading to impaired habitat. These relationships and thresholds may be used as a management tool to maintain or restore Arctic Grayling and other stream fishes.

The aim of the work will be based on the diet composition monitoring of the introduced rainbow trout and wild brown trout and grayling in defined time intervals, and assessing the degree of the food competition among the monitored species. The experiment was held in the second half of September 2010 in the river Blanice in the protected fish areas close to the village Těšovice, where several dozens of rainbow trout were stocked. In a predefined several - day interval of were caught 30 pieces of the rainbow trout (SL = 266 ? 14 mm, m = 347 ? 54 g), 33 brown trout (SL = 244 ? 19 mm, m = 219 ? 51 g), 14 graylings (SL = 256 ? 27 mm, m = 240 ? 91 g) and 12 resident rainbow trout (SL = 255 ? 13 mm, m = 280 ? 47 g) originated from the last plant. Within these groups a fish stomach content and consequently food selectivity was examined by using of the Ivlev's selectivity index (1961), a food competition was examined by using of the Schoener's index food overlap (1970) and the importance of various food components was examined by using of the index of preponderance according to Natarajan (1961). Rainbow trout began to ingest food immediately after the stocking into the stream and its occurrence was seen in all fish crop caught during the period. The insect (Insecta) was given as a preferential food of the rainbow trout and according to the index of preponderance (IP), it formed 54%, Trichoptera (IP) 24% and Ephemeroptera (IP) 19% orders belonged to the most preferable kinds of the food. According to the index of preponderance, gastropod (Gastropoda) formed (IP) 25% of a secondary food. The rainbow trout was accepting the same dietary components as well as the original sorts of salmonoid fish within the river. According to the index of a food overlap (S), the food competition between rainbow trout and brown trout was equal to the value of (S = 0.566) during the whole monitored period and the grayling was equal to (S = 0.520). Even though both of these values are slightly below the significant food overlap (S = 0.6), we can still say that the food competition is relatively high among these kinds.

The aim of this study was to model if hydraulically suitable habitats for juvenile and spawning grayling could be created by morphological restoration alone in the Bjurfors Övre hydropower outlet channel in the Ume River Basin. The study was done by 2D modelling with HEC-RAS using hourly water flow and level data collected during the period 20160521-20161029. Suitable water depth and velocity values for larvae and spawning grayling were collected from literature. Environmental measures for the Bjurfors Övre outlet channel were designed based on the morphology in outlet channels with documented reproducing grayling populations and large habitat diversities. The outlet channel at present morphology and after morphological modifications were modelled at different flow scenarios (0-369m3/s) and areas of suitable water velocities and depths before and after proposed measures were compared. Results show that suitable velocity areas would increase with a factor of between 1,03-1,81 and the suitable depth areas with a factor of 2,34-19,09 and that suitable depths may be the major limiting factor in current conditions. Results also show that zero-flow events at Bjurfors Övre hydropower plant create unsuitable velocities for larvae and spawning grayling and that the frequency and duration of such events could be more limiting than the mere occurrence of such events. The study indicates that the morphological restoration in hydropeaking outlet channels could improve the availability of habitats with suitability water depth and velocity not only for larvae and spawning grayling, but for other lotic organisms. The study also showed that HEC-RAS modelling is a potential resource effective way to assess to what extent certain proposed environmental measures may create suitable water depths and velocities in hydropeaking outlet channels.

Sammanfattning Användningen av korttidsreglering av vattenkraftverk kommer troligen öka då det är kostnadseffektivt och efterfrågan av förnybar energi är hög. Jag undersökte effekten av habitatkomplexitet och flödesändringar på simaktiviteten hos harr (Thymallus thymallus) i experimentella vattenrännor. Två olika habitat användes, ett beståendes av bara en grusbotten och en med större stenar placerade på grusbotten. I experimentet användes en behandling där flödet var stabilt och en där flödet varierade. Det fanns en signifikant interaktionseffekt mellan en ändring i flödet och habitat, som visade att simaktivitet ökade i samband med flödesändring, men endast i habitatet utan större stenar. I jämförelse av två konstanta flöden visade också studien att simaktivitet minskade med högre vattenhastighet. Effekter som dessa bör uppmärksammas för att bättre förstå påverkan korttidsreglering kan ha på fiskar i rinnande vatten. / Abstract The use of hydropeaking by hydropower plants will probably increase due to it being cost-effective and the demand for renewable energy being high. I examined the effect of habitat complexity and changes in flow on the swimming behaviour of graylings (Thymallus thymallus) in experimental flumes. Two types of habitats were used, one consisting only of a bed of gravel and the other with large stones added to the gravel bottom. In the experiment, one treatment with stable flow and one with variable flow were used. There was a significant interaction effect between change of the flow and type of habitat, indicating that swimming activity increased in changing flow, but only in the habitat without large stones. When comparing two constant flows the study also showed that swimming activity decreased with increased water velocity. Effects such as these should be considered when trying to understand how hydropeaking affects riverine fishes.

Winter conditions are believed to play an important role in the population dynamics of northern temperate stream fish, challenging the ability of fish to physiologically and behaviourally adapt. Climate change is predicted to increase both mean temperature and temperature fluctuations, especially during winter, leading to dynamic environmental conditions in terms of river ice production and flow. Therefore, knowledge about the winter ecology of stream fish is important for predicting and mitigating anthropogenic impacts on fish production in boreal streams. Stream salmonids are relatively active throughout winter, and behavioural responses to different winter conditions may be critical for survival. Yet, relatively little is known about overwintering behaviour of salmonids, particularly in streams with ice. In this doctoral thesis, I report the results from experimental field and laboratory studies on the behavioural ecology of juvenile salmonids under winter conditions. My results from the field show that salmonids grow more and use a broader range of habitats in the presence of surface ice than in its absence. Results from the laboratory experiments show that the presence of surface ice increases food intake rates, reduces stress and affects social interactions. These laboratory results may explain the positive effects of ice cover on growth that was found in the field experiment. Moreover, I show that drift-feeding ability is reduced at low temperatures, and that nocturnal drift foraging under winter conditions has a low efficiency. / Vinterförhållanden kan spela en avgörande roll för förekomsten av fisk i våra vattendrag. Laxfiskar, som till exempel lax, öring och harr, är vinteraktiva och måste därför anpassa sin fysiologi och sitt beteende till en miljö som karakteriseras av låga och föränderliga vattenflöden, liten tillgång på föda, kallt vatten, is och mörker. Trots att dessa anpassningar är avgörande för chansen att överleva vintern, vet man relativt lite om laxfiskars vinterbeteende, speciellt i vattendrag som täcks av is. I denna avhandling presenterar jag resultat från fält- och laboratoriestudier av laxfiskars beteende under vinterförhållanden och resultaten visar att närvaron av yttäckande is ökar tillväxt och födointag, minskar stress samt påverkar var fiskar uppehåller sig och hur fiskarna interagerar med varandra. Jag har också undersökt hur laxfiskars beteende i rinnande vatten påverkas av ljusintensitet och vattentemperatur i samband med födointag. Resultaten visar att den minskade dagaktiviteten som laxfiskar uppvisar på vintern medför en kostnad i form av försämrad förmåga att fånga byten. / Winter conditions are believed to play an important role in the population dynamics of northern temperate stream fish, challenging the ability of fish to physiologically and behaviourally adapt. Climate change is predicted to increase both mean temperature and temperature fluctuations, especially during winter, leading to dynamic environmental conditions in terms of river ice production and flow. Therefore, knowledge about the winter ecology of stream fish is important for predicting and mitigating anthropogenic impacts on fish production in boreal streams. Stream salmonids are active throughout winter, and behavioural responses to different winter conditions may be critical for survival. Yet, relatively little is known about overwintering behaviour of salmonids, particularly in streams with ice. This doctoral thesis focuses on the behavioural ecology of salmonids under winter conditions, and results from field and laboratory experiments show that the presence of surface ice increases food intake rates, reduces stress and affects social interactions, with effects on growth and habitat use. Moreover, drift-feeding ability is reduced at low temperatures, and nocturnal drift foraging under winter conditions has a low efficiency. / <p>Artikel 1 i avhandlingen som manuskript. Nu publicerad.</p>

The Arctic has long been considered to be a pristine environment, far from population centers and pollution sources. The detection of synthetic organochlorine compounds in various elements of the Arctic food web has confirmed the global dispersion of pollutants, particularly of persistent compounds such as organochlorines and heavy metals. Levels of heavy metals, although elevated, appear to be naturally so throughout much of the Arctic. Arctic pollution is both a humanitarian and ecological concern. Many arctic coastal communities depend heavily on marine mammal fat for sustenance, and are therefore potentially exposed to high levels of organochlorines and some metals. From an ecological perspective, the structure of arctic food webs, the importance of lipid mobilization for winter survival, and the adaptive physiologies of arctic organisms may result in an enhanced response to contaminant exposure. This thesis assesses the exposure and effect of organochlorine and heavy metal exposure in inland freshwater ecosystems of Arctic Alaska, and evaluates the physiological response of arctic grayling to experimental polychlorinated biphenyl (PCB) exposure. / Graduation date: 1995