Modeling the occupancy of an endangered minnow to inform monitoring programs and habitat restoration

Session: Imperiled Species in the Great Lakes Basin: Identifying Threats and Restoring Populations (3)

Rowshyra Castaneda, University of Toronto Scarborough, [email protected]
Olaf Weyl, South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity, [email protected]
Nicholas Mandrak, Biological Sciences, University of Toronto Scarborough, [email protected]

Abstract

Redside Dace (Clinostomus elongatus) is a stream-dwelling minnow assessed as Endangered in 2007 by COSEWIC and SARA listed only in 2017. Despite the lack of federal listing, Redside Dace has been protected under the Ontario’s Endangered Species Act since 2009, where provincial protection has been guided by the recovery strategy. Short-term goals of the recovery strategy are to establish a long-term monitoring program and to rehabilitate degraded habitats. Long-term monitoring of Redside Dace has been restricted due to the potential stress to the population and mortality when sampling using conventional methods, such as backpack electrofishers and seines. Therefore, novel non-invasive sampling methods, such as underwater cameras, need to be developed. In this study, we use occupancy models to estimate the detection probability of underwater cameras as an alternative to the conventional sampling methods and to understand the habitat preferences of Redside Dace. To do so, we sampled 69 historical Redside Dace sites using all three methods. We found that, on average, using underwater cameras is as effective at detecting Redside Dace as conventional sampling methods (seining, electrofishing), while causing no harm. We also found that the probability of occupancy is driven by sediment size, helping to inform future restoration projects.

Twitter handle of presenter
@Rowshyra