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Using Sediment Core Samples to Examine the Spatial Distribution of Myxobolus cerebralis Actinospore Production in Windy Gap Reservoir, Colorado
Author(s) -
Nehring R. Barry,
Thompson Kevin G.,
Shuler David L.,
James Terence M.
Publication year - 2003
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(2003)023<0376:uscste>2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - hydrology (agriculture) , tubifex tubifex , inlet , environmental science , population , surface runoff , fishery , geology , ecology , oceanography , biology , geotechnical engineering , demography , sociology
Studies of the whirling disease epizootic in the upper Colorado River drainage have suggested that Windy Gap Reservoir is a source of the fish‐infective actinospore of Myxobolus cerebralis . We divided the reservoir into four quadrants (12 zones) and conducted a core‐sampling study to determine the spatial dynamics of actinospore production within the reservoir from late June to early November 1998. Core samples of reservoir substrate containing aquatic oligochaetes were collected, held for 24 h in filtered lake water, and then examined microscopically for actinospore production. Actinospores were produced from core samples taken in every quadrant, but the samples from one quadrant gave the overall highest estimates of actinospore production. This quadrant was in a nearly direct line between the reservoir's inlet and outlet and encompassed parts of the historic river channel. Of the four full months of the study (July–October), average actinospore production tended to be highest in July, but the differences among months were not statistically significant. We hypothesize that M. cerebralis myxospores are carried into the reservoir by runoff events in the Fraser and Colorado River drainages and that once they are in the reservoir they settle out and provide the basis for infection of the abundant Tubifex tubifex population.