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Fish Diversity and Abundance in Willard Spur, Great Salt Lake

Fish Diversity and Abundance in Willard Spur, Great Salt Lake. Hannah Moore – Utah State University Wayne Wurtsbaugh – Utah State University Jim Harris – Division of Water Quality . Introduction.

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Fish Diversity and Abundance in Willard Spur, Great Salt Lake

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  1. Fish Diversity and Abundance in Willard Spur, Great Salt Lake Hannah Moore – Utah State University Wayne Wurtsbaugh – Utah State University Jim Harris – Division of Water Quality

  2. Introduction • Division of Water Quality is researching potential effects of effluent from Willard-Perry waste-water treatment plant. However…. • The Great Salt Lake is seen as one uniform lake that is too salty to support fish, and very little research has been done on it. • To our knowledge this is the first scientific fish study conducted on the Great Salt Lake. • Historical reports say brown trout, perch, walleye, and carp have been sighted/caught. • Willard Bay Reservoir is commonly mistaken for part of the Great Salt Lake, but it is a separate water body.

  3. Gunnison Bay (29% Salinity) Bear River Bay (1-22%) Gilbert Bay (16%) Farmington Bay (0.1 – 9%)

  4. Large bird communities (including pelican and other piscivorous birds) are found in the Great Salt Lake, so fish must exist there.

  5. Transect Study Site in Willard Spur PWRWWTP 1. 4. 6. 8.

  6. Station 1 – • Complex habitat, • Emergent macrophytes, • Inflow from Willard Bay Res. • Inflow from Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge. • Station 6 – • Submerged macrophytes • Less complex habitat.

  7. Materials • Multi-size mesh gill nets • Fyke Nets – Each fyke net was set with a flashing light to prevent boat collisions. • Minnow Cage Traps • Airboat (DWQ)

  8. Methods • October 7 – Nets were set at four stations along the DWQ sampling (1,4,6,8) transect in the morning, Site 8 first to Site 1 last. • Fyke and minnow traps were set at all stations, Gill nets were set at station 1 and 8. • October 8 – Nets were collected in the morning, Site 8 first down to Site 1. All fish collected were measured, and different species photographed. • Sites were accessed using airboat.

  9. Limnological Data Sampling began at Station 8 in the morning and finished at Station 1 in the afternoon. The increase in temperature is due to the temporal variability.

  10. Temperature (°F)

  11. Results

  12. Community Indices Shannon – Weaver index refers to the number of species, and their abundance. A high Index value refers to fish assemblages with higher number of species, with higher abundances. Species dominance refers to the probability that if two individuals are selected randomly from this sample, they will be from the same species. Evenness is a measure of how equal in abundance each species is. Values range from 0-1, with 1 being all species even.

  13. Number of Individuals

  14. Number of Individuals

  15. 22.7 kg Total

  16. Conclusions • There are fish in the Willard Spur, and there is diversity (native, invasive species and sport fish). • Fish catches may have been higher if we had not had a sudden drop in temperatures • Although no significant relationships to limnological parameters were observed, they may exist if observed over a broader range of salinity, chlorophyll or other parameters.

  17. Questions?

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