HR: 09:15h
AN: NB41D-04 INVITED     [Abstracts]
TI: Metapopulation Models of Unionid Fish Hosts: Landscape Ecology Theory Applied in the Upper Mississippi River
AU: * Woolnough, D A
EM: daelyn@iastate.edu
AF: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Bessey Hall, Ames, IA 50011 United States
AU: Downing, J A
EM: downing@iastate.edu
AF: Department of Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology, Iowa State University, Bessey Hall, Ames, IA 50011 United States
AU: Newton, T J
EM: teresa_newton@usgs.gov
AF: U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, 2630 Fanta Reed Road, La Crosse, WI 54603 United States
AB: Explanations for patterns observed in local assemblages of unionids are frequently sought with reference to interactions between fish host species. We compared the ability of a neutral model to reproduce the fish-mediated movement of larval unionids and examine fish host data from the Upper Mississippi River in comparison with this neutral model. The models focus on the condition of mussel beds (species richness, species abundance, mussel bed size, and size classes) and four measures of fish host connectivity. We considered the non-host fish community (n=57 species) within our neutral model and examined the variation in spatial patterns of fish hosts (n=31 species) and differences in connectivity of the models among mussel beds. We found greater connectivity in main channel and side channel border areas among mussel beds. Using Ripley's K-function we determined that the distribution of host fish species indicate spatial clustering at multiple scales which reflects the spatial clustering of mussel beds in the Upper Mississippi River. This spatial clustering lends itself to metapopulation analysis with host fish providing the connection between populations of unionids; we present a metapopulation equation for unionids and suggest reasons why unionid populations are predisposed to metapopulation analysis.
DE: 9810 New fields (not classifiable under other headings)
DE: 9902 NABS Student Award Applied Research
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly