Upper Missouri River Basin Aquatic GAP Fish Distribution Model Accuracy Assessment and White Sucker, Catostomus commersonii, Population Characteristics in the Upper Missouri River Basin

• Main Author: Sylvester, Ryan M.
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange 2004
• Subjects: missouri river basin; fish distribution; white sucker; population; Natural Resources and Conservation; Grass River; Minnows; Rock Creek; Beaver Creek
• Online Access: https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/etd/428; https://openprairie.sdstate.edu/context/etd/article/1428/viewcontent/SylvesterRyan2004.pdf

Fish species surveys were done at 61 sites in 6 drainages throughout the upper Missouri River Basin. A total of 21,204 fish were collected, representing 42 species and 11 families. Minnows (family Cyprinidae) dominated the catch (77.9%), followed by suckers (family Catostomidae, 6.5%), and catfishes (Ictaluridae, 5.7%). Of the 21,204 fish collected, fathead minnow Pimephales promelas (40.9%), unidentified Hybognathus spp. (9.8%), and longnose dace Rhinichthys cataractae (7.8%) were the dominant species. Important findings include: the first record of the plains minnow, Hybognathus placitus, in Canadian waters, specifically the Rock Creek drainage; and the first fish survey in the Sweet Grass River drainage, in Montana. Data provided to state and provincial agencies will be useful for future fish management and monitoring efforts as well as possibly stimulating further scientific investigations. The accuracy of fish distribution models used in the Gap Analysis Program of the United States Geological Survey was assessed by comparing observed fish assemblages in the six drainages to predicted fish assemblages. A number of accuracy metrics were calculated for each site, valley segment, species, and drainage and included: the number of true presences, true absences, omission errors, commission errors, and Kappa (K), which is the proportion of specific agreement between two classifiers after accounting for chance agreement. Models performed better than chance in each of the six drainages (i.e., positive mean K), although the mean valley segment K in each drainage was variable. The mean valley segment K (± SE) in each drainage was: Nowood River 0.3131 ± 0.0481; Beaver Creek 0.4200 ± 0.0945; Elm River 0.2167 ± 0.0684; Rock Creek 0.6367 ± 0.1197; Frenchman River 0.4282 ± 0.0319; and Sweet Grass River 0.2171 ± 0.0567. Site K values ranged from –0.04 in the Sweet Grass River to 0.86 in the Rock Creek drainage. Species K values ranged from -0.80 for northern redbelly dace (poor agreement) in the Rock Creek drainage to 1.00 ...