scholarly journals Natal environments of age‐0 paddlefish in the middle Mississippi River inferred from dentary microchemistry

2019 ◽  
Vol 35 (9) ◽  
pp. 1554-1562
Author(s):  
Neil P. Rude ◽  
Gregory W. Whitledge
Keyword(s):  
Mississippi River ◽  
Middle Mississippi River

Middle Mississippi River decision support system: user's manual

10.3133/tm6c1 ◽  
2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jason J. Rohweder ◽  
Steven J. Zigler ◽  
Timothy J. Fox ◽  
Steven N. Hulse
Keyword(s):  
Decision Support ◽  
Decision Support System ◽  
Support System ◽  
Mississippi River ◽  
Middle Mississippi River

Fishery Resources, Environment, and Conservation in the Mississippi and Yangtze (Changjiang) River Basins

2016 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Mississippi River ◽  
River Restoration ◽  
River Flow ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Form And Function ◽  
Action Team ◽  
The World ◽  
Middle Mississippi River ◽  
Private Citizens ◽  
Sustainability Program

<em>Abstract</em>.—Ecosystem restoration of the Mississippi River main stem has been ongoing since the early 1970s. After the passage of environmental laws in the late 1960s to the early 1970s, private citizens and state and federal natural resource agency managers began to seek programs and funding for restoration and conservation that eventually resulted in mitigation measures of adverse impacts. Environmental-type actions that include the Great River Environmental Action Team, the Avoid and Minimize program, the middle Mississippi River biological opinion, and the lower Mississippi River conservation plan and biological opinion originated from laws or legal action. The Upper Mississippi River Restoration, Navigation and Ecosystem Sustainability Program, Restoring America’s Greatest River, and Operation and Maintenance activities, which support system ecological restoration measures, are, to a large extent, done in a cooperative setting to improve the river for multiple benefits. This coalition of agencies and professions has resulted in the application of hundreds of different types of measures to restore form and function to the third largest river in the world. Over the years, dredging and disposal practices have improved in an effort to minimize the impacts from these activities. Lost floodplain islands have been replaced, backwater lakes and channel depths have been recovered, active river flow has been reintroduced to backwaters, and microhabitats for special concern species have been restored, all to recreate broad functional floodplain habitat. Wing-dike and side-channel closure structures have been shortened, notched, or removed to recover flow along the main-channel border and side channels, increasing hydraulic residence time and recovering valuable habitat along with restoring nutrient and sediment assimilation processes the floodplain provides. Field monitoring has shown positive responses from endangered and threatened species, migratory and resident aquatic and wildlife species, abiotic conditions like water quality, and increased use by humans enjoying the benefit of a restored river system. Collectively, this work is some of the most extensive large river restoration in the world, but it only represents a small contribution to what is necessary to maintain a diverse and resilient Mississippi River. The information provided in this chapter provides a basis for continuing restoration efforts that should become a routine part of Mississippi River management.

Identifying river of origin for age-0 Scaphirhynchus sturgeons in the Missouri and Mississippi rivers using fin ray microchemistry

2012 ◽  
Vol 69 (5) ◽  
pp. 930-941 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quinton E. Phelps ◽  
Gregory W. Whitledge ◽  
Sara J. Tripp ◽  
Kurt T. Smith ◽  
James E. Garvey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Mississippi River ◽  
Missouri River ◽  
Relative Importance ◽  
Ambient Water ◽  
Short Term ◽  
Fin Ray ◽  
Middle Mississippi River ◽  
Nursery Habitats ◽  
Fin Ray Microchemistry ◽  
The Relationship

Understanding linkages between natal and nursery habitats is critical for conservation of riverine fishes. Scaphirhynchus sturgeons inhabiting the middle Mississippi River may originate from the Missouri or Mississippi rivers, although relative importance of these recruitment sources is unknown. We characterized the relationship between water and sturgeon fin ray Sr:Ca, verified shifts in water Sr:Ca are recorded in age-0 sturgeon fin rays, and determined whether age-0 sturgeons from the Mississippi and Missouri rivers exhibited distinct fin ray Sr:Ca signatures. Fin ray Sr:Ca of laboratory-reared fish reflected transfer from water with elevated Sr:Ca to ambient water 1 day posthatch, indicating that short-term residency in environments can be detected. Nine of 30 age-0 fish captured in the middle Mississippi River were Missouri River emigrants. Four of these emigrants originated in the upper portion of the lower Missouri River (≥589 km upstream from its mouth), where water Sr:Ca is higher compared with the lowermost section of the Missouri River and the Mississippi River. Twenty-five of 30 fish collected from the lowermost section of the Missouri River originated within this river segment; the remainder originated upriver. Fin ray Sr:Ca enables identification of natal river segment for age-0 sturgeons and contributions of river segments to sturgeon recruitment.

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