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<br />within 20 to 30 d following hatching and zooplankton densities needed to maintain razorback <br />sucker survival have not been reported in main channel habitats. Thus, if restricted to the main <br />channel environment after flows recede below 447 m3/s, young larvae face potential starvation <br />and older larvae could be nutritionally stressed. <br /> <br />Fish composition and habitat use in Old Charley Wash <br />Despite the success of catching juvenile and adult razorback sucker, the composition of <br />fish in Old Charley Wash was dominated by nonnative fishes. The wetland attracted and <br />maintained floodplain and lentic oriented fishes from the river. The same fishes in relative <br />abundance were attracted annually either by temperature (Bulkley and Pimenta11983), food <br />(Tyus and Karp 1990), odors, or some combination of gradients. Whatever the attraction, it is <br />clear that large numbers of adult fish from the river sought and remained in Old Charley Wash. <br />Longitudinal and lateral migrations into the floodplain is a regular feature of riverine fishes for <br />reproduction and feeding (Welcomme 1985). Razorback sucker undergo both longitudinal <br />migrations (Tyus and Karp 1990, Modde and Irving accepted) associated with spawning and <br />postspawning movements and lateral migrations on the floodplain following spawning (Tyus and <br />Karp 1990, and this study) into favorable thermal ranges with higher prey densities. At the same <br />time, many nonnative species have become established in the Middle Green River which are <br />primarily lentic habitat species (Tyus et al. 1982) and exist in a marginal capacity in the riverine <br />environment. Because floodplain wetlands are warmer and have greater prey densities than the <br />main channel at the time they become isolated, many lentic-oriented fish such as green sunfish, <br />black crappie, black bullhead, and carp tend to remain in floodplain wetlands. Conversely, many <br />riverine fishes leave floodplain wetlands as water recedes (Welcomme 1985). Adult fishes have <br />been observed to leave floodplain habitats before age-O fishes (Idaho et al. 1970 and Williams <br />1971, in Welcomme 1985). Similarly, age response to draining was observed during fish <br />collections at Old Charley Wash in 1996 and probably occurred in the spring as natural flows <br />declined. <br />The dominance of nonnative fishes in Old Charley Wash was greater than that observed <br />in the main channel reaches ofthe Green River (McAda et al. 1994) and other Middle Green <br />River tributaries in the Green River subbasin such as the Yampa (Modde and Smith 1995), and <br />White (Irving and Modde 1994) rivers. The composition of nonnative fish in Walter Walker <br />Wildlife Area Gravel Pit (18 ha shallow gravel pit in the Grand Valley, Colorado) was dominated <br />by nonnative fishes (96.1 %) when the gravel pit was isolated, yet, when connected to the <br />Colorado River, the pit consisted of 41 % native fishes (Valdez and Wick 1983). When isolated, <br />lentic-oriented species, i.e. black bullhead, green sunfish and carp, represented a higher percent <br />composition than when the gravel pit was connected to the river. The composition of nonnative <br />fishes in Old Charley Wash included many species or life stages not abundant in the main <br />channel. With the exception of fathead minnows and red shiners, age-O fishes collected in Old <br />Charley Wash are not commonly found in the main channel (McAda et al. 1994). Based on <br />biomass, the fishes that benefited reproductively in Old Charley Wash included green sunfish, <br />black crappie, black bullhead, fathead minnow, carp, and razorback sucker. The former three <br />species exist in riverine habitats, but have been reported only as rare in riverine habitats of the <br />Middle Green River by Tyus et al. (1982). Thus, with the exception of carp and fathead <br />minnows, many of the nonnative species that benefit reproductively from floodplain depressions <br />are not those that are abundant in the main channel. <br /> <br />42 <br />