Features of Successful Spawning Site Development for Brook Trout in Wisconsin Ponds

Publisher Website
Google Scholar
Abstract
Lack of spawning areas limits standing crops of brook trout (Salvelinus fontinalis) in many small, spring‐fed ponds in northern Wisconsin. A new method for developing spawning areas includes measurements along pond shorelines of hydrostatic head (an index of upwelling groundwater) and particle size of mineral soils to screen potential development sites. Organic overburdens were excavated from sites with appropriate groundwater characteristics and coarse mineral soils. Brook trout constructed redds in both natural and developed sites where seepage velocities ranged from 11.5 to 45.0 cm/hour and about 45% of the substrate, by weight, averaged less than 2 mm in diameter. Because the hydrostatic head in excavated and natural spawning areas was similar, seepage velocities, hence locations of redds, were determined by substrate permeability. Spawning‐site development contributed to increased recruitment of juvenile brook trout in two of three study ponds.

This publication has 3 references indexed in Scilit: