Laserfiche WebLink
LIFE HIBTORY <br />Habitat <br />Razorback suckers occupy a wide variety of habitats. <br />Mainstream portions of moderate-to-large streams and rivers, and <br />associated low-velocity habitats (backwaters, sloughs, oxbow <br />lakes), were integral elements of the historic riverine habitat <br />occupied by most life stages of the razorback sucker (Holden and <br />Stalnaker 1975a, Minckley 1983, Lanigan and Tyus 1989, Tyus and <br />Karp 1989, Minckley et al. in press, Osmundson and Kaeding in <br />review). Other habitats which were used by razorback suckers <br />included nearshore runs and shallow to deep channels adjacent to, <br />or over, mid-stream sandbars (Holden and Stalnaker 1975a, Tyus <br />1987, Tyus and Karp 1989). Prior to construction or mainstream <br />dams, dampening of high springtime flows, and channelization, off- <br />channel habitat was more commonly available than now (Beland 1953, <br />Tyus and Karp 1989, Osmundson and Kaeding in review); absence of <br />seasonally flooded shorelines and bottomlands may be a factor <br />limiting recruitment of young razorback suckers (Tyus and Karp <br />1989, Osmundson and Kaeding in review). Springtime congregations <br />of razorback suckers found in off-channel impoundments and <br />"tributaries (McAda and Wydoski 1980, Valdez et al. 1982a, Tyus <br />1987, Tyus and Karp 1989, Tyus and Karp in press, Osmundson and <br />Kaeding in review) demonstrate the importance of these habitats. <br />Thermal regimes of streams and rivers throughout the <br />extensive geographic and altitudinal range of the razorback sucker <br />26 <br />