Demography of Juvenile and Adult Brown Trout in Streams of Southeastern Minnesota

Abstract

We assessed recruitment, survival, emigration, and immigration of brown trout Salmo trutta in six interconnected stream reaches to quantitatively estimate how much immigrants contributed to population size in reaches in southeastern Minnesota. We also examined the influence of reach and season on estimates of survival and emigration via mark and recapture of individual trout representing three groups (age-0 juveniles, age-1 and age-2 adults, and age-3+ large adults). Immigration was calculated as 1 minus emigration. Recruitment varied among the six reaches and 3 years of this study (range, 0–1,292 fish/km). Survival of the age-0 group and that comprising ages 1 and 2 varied by season but not reach. Survival was highest in winter for both groups but lowest in spring for age-0 trout and in fall for age-1 and age -2 trout. Emigration varied by season for age-0 trout but by reach for trout of ages 1 and 2. For age-3+ trout, survival and emigration only varied by reach. Survival was highest and emigration was lowest in reaches with the most cover, including deep pools. From these demographic characteristics we estimated the proportions of the population that consisted of brown trout that had survived within a reach, recruited into it, or immigrated into it from some other reach. Immigration was predicted to contribute the most for the youngest age-group (35% or more of the predicted abundance of age-0 trout in most reaches) and is probably important for genetic purposes or to bolster population units in adjacent reaches. Our results for adult brown trout suggest that within-reach recruitment and survival contribute a larger proportion of trout to population units in many reaches than do immigrants. This confirms the appropriateness of current management approaches and suggests that maintenance of the exceptional recreational brown trout fishery in southeastern Minnesota is at least solidly dependent on factors promoting recruitment and survival within most managed stream reaches.

Received November 20, 2010; accepted June 9, 2011

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We especially thank R. Bearbower, A. Carlson, D. Casper, T. Cross, M. Drake, S. Erickson, D. Isermann, S. Klotz, M. Konsti, B. Lee, D. Logsdon, M. McInerny, J. Melander, D. Pereira, J. Roloff, D. Schultz, J. Schulz, S. Shroyer, V. Snook, and others for assistance with fish collection and tagging. J. Weiss helped with riverscape selection, fish collection and tagging, and geomorphological and instream habitat measurements. D. Staples helped with statistical analyses and fish collections. Previous drafts of this manuscript were reviewed by C. Anderson, P. Budy, P. Jacobson, and D. Pereria and five anonymous reviewers. Partial funding was provided by the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Program (Project F-26-R, studies 674 and 675).