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The influence of littoral zone coarse woody habitat on home range size, spatial distribution, and feeding ecology of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides)

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Abstract

Coarse woody habitat (CWH) may be a critical feature of lakes that influences fish distributions, movement patterns, and feeding habits. We used radio telemetry to examine the role of CWH in determining the movements of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides Lacepede) in the context of two whole-lake experiments that provided a gradient of four lake basins varying in natural and manipulated CWH. We also conducted diet studies on largemouth bass in these lakes to test for correlates among consumption rate and prey selectivity with bass behavior. Our results indicated that largemouth bass in basins with lower CWH abundances had larger home ranges, spent more time in deep water, were more selective predators, and showed lower consumption rates. Largemouth bass in basins with higher CWH abundances showed the opposite patterns. Low CWH abundances were correlated with a shift in largemouth bass foraging behavior from sit-and-wait to actively searching. This increased activity, coupled with the potential decline of prey fish species in the absence of CWH, may decrease largemouth bass growth potential regardless of the prey type consumed. Our results suggest that lakeshore residential development and associated removals of CWH from lakes may influence fish behavior, while CWH augmentation may reverse some of those changes.

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Acknowledgments

Jim Kitchell, Norman Mercado-Silva, and anonymous reviewers deserve thanks for providing comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. Special thanks go to Justin Fox and Matt Guarascio for field assistance. Housing and financial support for this research was provided by the Center for Limnology, Trout Lake Station and the Illinois Natural History Survey. The Tug Juday family was particularly gracious in providing monetary summer support. Additional funding was provided by an NSF Biocomplexity grant to Steve Carpenter (DEB-0083545) and a University of Wisconsin-Madison, Department of Zoology research grant awarded to Tyler Ahrenstorff.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biology, University of Minnesota-Duluth, 207 Swenson Science Building, 1035 Kirby Drive, Duluth, MN, 55812, USA

    Tyler D. Ahrenstorff

  2. Illinois River Biological Station, Illinois Natural History Survey, 704 N. Schrader, Havana, IL, 62644, USA

    Greg G. Sass

  3. Department of Zoology, University of Wisconsin-Madison, 430 Lincoln Drive, Madison, WI, 53706, USA

    Matthew R. Helmus

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  1. Tyler D. Ahrenstorff
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  2. Greg G. Sass
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Correspondence to Greg G. Sass.

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Ahrenstorff, T.D., Sass, G.G. & Helmus, M.R. The influence of littoral zone coarse woody habitat on home range size, spatial distribution, and feeding ecology of largemouth bass (Micropterus salmoides) . Hydrobiologia 623, 223–233 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9660-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-008-9660-1

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