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<br />short-lived fractional spawners (Gale and Buynak 1982, Gale 1986) and are typically <br />present in high numbers and at appropriate forage sizes in backwaters of the Green River <br />throughout summer and fall (Tyus et al. 1982, Karp and Tyus 1990). Karp and Tyus (1990) <br />suggested that although the abundance of small nonnative prey fishes in the Green River <br />System might benefit growth of young Colorado squawfish, the benefit might be countered <br />by the aggressive nature of some nonnative fishes which could have negative effects on <br />growth and survival of young Colorado squawfish. In their laboratory experiments on <br />behavioral interactions, Karp and Tyus observed that red shiner, fathead minnow, and green <br />sunfish shared activity schedules and space with Colorado squawfish and exhibited <br />antagonistic behaviors toward smaller Colorado squawfish. <br />We could not effectively evaluate competition for food between yay Colorado <br />squawfish and other fishes because study design did not provide for estimation of resource <br />abundance and availability, intraspecific diet selectivity, and the effects of interspecific use <br />of important resources. Direct evidence for interspecific competition should be determined <br />only through experiments which demonstrate that shared use of a limited resource <br />negatively affects one or more of the species (Schoener 1983, Hanson and Leggett 1986, <br />Underwood 1986, Wiens 1992). Additionally, we assume gut contents represented food <br />consumed in the backwaters of capture, but this might not always have been the case. <br />Tyus (1991b) observed that although young Colorado squawfish in the Green River were <br />found mostly from backwaters, some moved to or from other habitats during 24-h periods. <br />We found that diet overlaps for most comparisons with Colorado squawfish were below the <br />level generally considered biologically important (Table 2). Although not conclusive, these <br />comparisons suggest either general resource partitioning or differences in diet preferences. <br /> <br />12 <br />