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II <br />more accurately represented field conditions in which an array of potential prey items <br />would be available to fathead minnows. While resulting predation rates on sucker larvae <br />were lower than in previous trials, fathead minnows continued to consume sucker larvae <br />despite the presence of readily accessible alternate prey items. This result suggests that <br />fathead minnows m the wild may consume sucker larvae despite the availability of <br />alternate prey. <br />Management Implications <br />Larval Lost River and shortnose suckers enter shoreline nursery habitats in the <br />lower Williamson River and Upper Klamath Lake during May and June soon after <br />swimup and emigration from spawning areas (Buettner and Scoppettone 1990). <br />Historically, these nursery habitats were structure-rich Aerial photographs taken in 1941 <br />show 9.7 km of lower Williamson River channel meandering through 1,930 ha of <br />emergent marsh, with dense growths of willows Salix sp. and cottonwoods Populus sp. <br />lining the riverbanks. Shorelines in Upper Klamath Lake for many kilometers on both <br />sides of the river mouth were uninterrupted edges of emergent marsh before conversion <br />of the entire marsh to agricultural use. Both river and lake shorelines of the Williamson <br />River delta are now dikes constructed with materials dredged from the river and lake <br />bottoms. These dikes provide shoreline habitats ranging from narrow strips of emergent <br />macrophytes (Scirpus, Sparganium, or 7ypha), to bare expanses of sand or riprap. In <br />addition to the vegetative changes resulting from dredging and diking, 4.5 km of the <br />lower Williamson River were lost through channelization. The net result of human <br />activity has been to greatly reduce the quality and quantity of available nursery habitat <br />for larval suckers in the lower Williamson River and Upper Klamath Lake. <br />Availability of any existing emergent cover to larval suckers in Upper Klamath <br />Lake is determined by fluctuations in lake surface elevations, which are regulated by a <br />dam constructed at the outlet in 1921. As water is removed from the lake for irrigation <br />throughout the summer, emergent vegetation along much of the lake shoreline can be left <br />above the waterline during the period when sucker larvae are entering and using <br />shoreline nursery areas. Measurements taken at the mouth of the Williamson River (from <br />a single location) indicate that when water elevations decrease to about 0.48 m below <br />maximum water elevation, emergent vegetation will no longer be in the water. During <br />the previous two decades (1970-1990) water elevations dropped 0.48 m below full pool <br />before mid-July in 9 out of 20 years. While resulting impacts on interactions between <br />larval suckers and their predators have not been measured in the field, my results indicate