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The Fate of Bonneville Cisco Eggs in Bear Lake: Evaluating Mechanisms of Egg Loss

1997; Wiley; Volume: 126; Issue: 2 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1577/1548-8659(1997)126 2.3.co;2

1548-8659

Nicolaas Bouwes, Chris Luecke,

Aquatic Ecosystems and Phytoplankton Dynamics

Bonneville cisco Prosopium gemmifer are endemic to and found only in Bear Lake, Utah–Idaho. As part of an investigation into life history characteristics of this species of special conservation concern, we examined survival of Bonneville cisco eggs by measuring changes in egg density under natural environmental conditions. Eggs were vacuumed off the lake bottom over a month period in 1992 and 1993. This survey indicated that egg loss was high: fewer than 4% of the eggs remained after 30 d of an incubation period lasting more than 100 d. Thirty percent of this egg loss could be explained by unsuccessful fertilization or improper embryonic development. An exclosure experiment demonstrated, however, that the majority of the Bonneville cisco egg loss was due to fish predation. A second exclosure experiment indicated that predation rates were not affected by changes in egg density. Our results suggested that fish predation on the eggs may determine recruitment success of Bonneville cisco.