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Advances in the aquatic sciences
RESEARCH ARTICLE

Expanding freshwater biologger studies to view fish as environmental sensing platforms

Richard T. Kraus https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4494-1841 A E , Helen Bontrager B , Christopher S. Vandergoot C and Matthew D. Faust D
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A US Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Lake Erie Biological Station, 6100 Columbus Avenue, Sandusky, OH 44870, USA.

B Savannah River Ecology Laboratory, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources, University of Georgia, PO Drawer E, Aiken, SC 29802, USA.

C Center for Systems Integration and Sustainability, Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, Michigan State University, 115 Manly Miles Building, 1405 S. Harrison Road, East Lansing, MI 48823, USA.

D Sandusky Fisheries Research Station, Division of Wildlife, Ohio Department of Natural Resources, 305 East Shoreline Drive, Sandusky, OH 44870, USA.

E Corresponding author. Email: rkraus@usgs.gov

Marine and Freshwater Research 73(1) 133-139 https://doi.org/10.1071/MF21046
Submitted: 8 February 2021  Accepted: 9 October 2021   Published: 3 November 2021

Abstract

While recording fish habitat use by electronic sensors, biologgers can also be viewed as autonomous environmental monitoring systems with the organism as a vehicle. This dual perspective has provided novel results from marine ecosystems, but has not been applied to freshwater ecosystems. To understand limitations in fresh water, we evaluated miniature depth and temperature recorders as aquatic monitoring systems in a Laurentian Great Lake: Erie. As part of an acoustic telemetry study, biologgers were opportunistically implanted in a subsample of walleye Sander vitreus. Biologgers recorded temperature and depth at half-hour intervals for up to 1 year. Recaptures provided six biologgers for analysis of seasonal temperature patterns and lake stratification, key variables for understanding dimictic lakes. Depth-resolved temperature patterns showed close correspondence with independent weather buoy measurements. Because the buoy was deployed late in the season, biologger data provided improved estimates of the start of stratification, which had important implications for understanding development of hypoxia in the hypolimnion. Drawbacks to biologger data included imprecise knowledge of fish location and reliance on tag recoveries from the fishery. Optimistically, our results show how biologgers could be part of a monitoring approach that integrates limnological surveys with fisheries science.

Keywords: acoustic telemetry, fish behaviour, Great Lakes, hypoxia, lake stratification.


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