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Recruitment Variation of Crappies in Response to Hydrology of Tennessee Reservoirs
Author(s) -
Sammons Steve M.,
Bettoli Phillip W.,
Isermann Daniel A.,
Churchill Timothy N.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
north american journal of fisheries management
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.587
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1548-8675
pISSN - 0275-5947
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8675(2002)022<1393:rvocir>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - tributary , hydrology (agriculture) , main stem , environmental science , watershed , geography , biology , geology , cartography , agronomy , geotechnical engineering , machine learning , computer science
Black crappies Pomoxis nigromaculatus and white crappies P. annularis were sampled to index recruitment in seven Tennessee reservoirs (four main‐stem and three tributary storage impoundments). Crappie recruitment in tributary storage impoundments appeared to be consistently higher in years of high discharge during the prespawn period (1 January–31 March). A similar relation was found in one main‐stem impoundment; however, crappie recruitment in two main‐stem impoundments was inversely related to discharge during the spawning period (1 April–30 May), and little recruitment variation was found in the fourth main‐stem impoundment. In general, reservoir hydrology appeared to have a stronger effect on crappie recruitment in tributary storage impoundments than in main‐stem impoundments, possibly because recruitment was more variable in tributary systems. Thus, it is likely that crappie populations will rarely have strong year‐classes simultaneously over a wide geographic area or even within a single watershed.