{"id":{"repo_id":"uiuc","oai_identifier":"oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/109324"},"canonical_url":"https://search.dev.ndltd.org/etd/uiuc/oai:www.ideals.illinois.edu:2142/109324","repository":{"repo_id":"uiuc","name":"University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign","base_url":"https://www.ideals.illinois.edu/oai-pmh"},"display":{"title":"Influence of physical habitat management strategies on sportfish and food-web processes","abstract":"The addition of habitat structures is a popular management strategy in reservoirs meant to mitigate the negative effects of passive and anthropogenic physical habitat degradation on sportfish populations and angler harvest and satisfaction. However, mechanisms linking the direct effect of habitat management strategies on reservoir food-webs, and the ability of habitat management strategies to meet objectives, remains unclear. We conducted a series of replicated pond experiments using plastic fish attractors (Artificial) and coarse woody habitat (CWH) to test hypotheses linking the direct impact of habitat material type and spatial arrangement on aquatic invertebrates and the growth, condition, and survival of largemouth bass (M. salmoides) and bluegill (L. machrochirus), independent of habitat amount. Patterns of invertebrate community colonization and daily secondary production were similar between ponds containing Artificial or CWH structures. Moreover, the growth, condition, and survival of largemouth bass and bluegill sunfish were similar in ponds containing Artificial or CWH structures, and between ponds that differ in habitat spatial arrangement. Our results suggest that other factors such as habitat amount, or the presence of alternative physical habitats, are more important to fishes and aquatic invertebrates than habitat material type or spatial arrangement. Management agencies and stakeholders should focus on maintaining existing physical habitat abundance and diversity, and the relative cost and longevity of introducing different physical habitat types at the appropriate spatial extent may be more important than habitat material type or spatial arrangement.","abstract_html":"The addition of habitat structures is a popular management strategy in reservoirs meant to mitigate the negative effects of passive and anthropogenic physical habitat degradation on sportfish populations and angler harvest and satisfaction. However, mechanisms linking the direct effect of habitat management strategies on reservoir food-webs, and the ability of habitat management strategies to meet objectives, remains unclear. We conducted a series of replicated pond experiments using plastic fish attractors (Artificial) and coarse woody habitat (CWH) to test hypotheses linking the direct impact of habitat material type and spatial arrangement on aquatic invertebrates and the growth, condition, and survival of largemouth bass (M. salmoides) and bluegill (L. machrochirus), independent of habitat amount. Patterns of invertebrate community colonization and daily secondary production were similar between ponds containing Artificial or CWH structures. Moreover, the growth, condition, and survival of largemouth bass and bluegill sunfish were similar in ponds containing Artificial or CWH structures, and between ponds that differ in habitat spatial arrangement. Our results suggest that other factors such as habitat amount, or the presence of alternative physical habitats, are more important to fishes and aquatic invertebrates than habitat material type or spatial arrangement. Management agencies and stakeholders should focus on maintaining existing physical habitat abundance and diversity, and the relative cost and longevity of introducing different physical habitat types at the appropriate spatial extent may be more important than habitat material type or spatial arrangement.","abstract_has_math":false,"creators":["Gates, Eric John"],"institution":"University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign","degree_name":"M.S.","degree_level":"Thesis","degree_discipline":"Natural Res & Env Sciences","degree_department":null,"school":null,"contributors":["Wahl, David H","Larson, Eric R","Yannarell, Anthony C"],"advisors":[],"committee_chairs":[],"committee_members":[],"year":2021,"date_issued":"2021-03-05T21:36:43Z","date_published":"2021-03-05T21:36:43Z","updated_at":"2026-07-22T22:24:50Z","subjects":["fisheries","aquatic ecology"],"languages":["en"],"rights":["Copyright 2020 Eric Gates"],"rights_urls":[],"identifier_entries":[]},"links":{"outbound_url":"http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109324","outbound_label":"Handle","outbound_source":"dc:identifier"},"metadata_groups":[{"id":"people","label":"People","entries":[{"key":"dc:contributor","label":"Contributor","values":["Wahl, David H","Larson, Eric R","Yannarell, Anthony C"]},{"key":"dc:creator","label":"Author","values":["Gates, Eric John"]}]},{"id":"academic_context","label":"Academic Context","entries":[{"key":"dc:date","label":"Dc Date","values":["2021-03-05T21:36:43Z","2020-08-24","2020-12"]},{"key":"dc:type","label":"Dc Type","values":["text","Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_discipline","label":"Discipline","values":["Natural Res & Env Sciences"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_level","label":"Degree Level","values":["Thesis"]},{"key":"thesis:degree_name","label":"Degree Name","values":["M.S."]},{"key":"thesis:institution_name","label":"Thesis Institution Name","values":["University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign"]}]},{"id":"subjects_keywords","label":"Subjects and Keywords","entries":[{"key":"dc:subject","label":"Dc Subject","values":["fisheries","aquatic ecology"]}]},{"id":"language_rights","label":"Language and Rights","entries":[{"key":"dc:language","label":"Dc Language","values":["en"]},{"key":"dc:rights","label":"Dc Rights","values":["Copyright 2020 Eric Gates"]}]},{"id":"identifiers","label":"Identifiers","entries":[{"key":"dc:identifier","label":"Identifier","values":["http://hdl.handle.net/2142/109324"]}]},{"id":"additional","label":"Additional Metadata","entries":[{"key":"dc:description","label":"Description","values":["The addition of habitat structures is a popular management strategy in reservoirs meant to mitigate the negative effects of passive and anthropogenic physical habitat degradation on sportfish populations and angler harvest and satisfaction. However, mechanisms linking the direct effect of habitat management strategies on reservoir food-webs, and the ability of habitat management strategies to meet objectives, remains unclear. We conducted a series of replicated pond experiments using plastic fish attractors (Artificial) and coarse woody habitat (CWH) to test hypotheses linking the direct impact of habitat material type and spatial arrangement on aquatic invertebrates and the growth, condition, and survival of largemouth bass (M. salmoides) and bluegill (L. machrochirus), independent of habitat amount. Patterns of invertebrate community colonization and daily secondary production were similar between ponds containing Artificial or CWH structures. Moreover, the growth, condition, and survival of largemouth bass and bluegill sunfish were similar in ponds containing Artificial or CWH structures, and between ponds that differ in habitat spatial arrangement. Our results suggest that other factors such as habitat amount, or the presence of alternative physical habitats, are more important to fishes and aquatic invertebrates than habitat material type or spatial arrangement. Management agencies and stakeholders should focus on maintaining existing physical habitat abundance and diversity, and the relative cost and longevity of introducing different physical habitat types at the appropriate spatial extent may be more important than habitat material type or spatial arrangement.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2021-03-04 without embargo terms","The student, Eric Gates, accepted the attached license on 2020-08-20 at 14:44.","The student, Eric Gates, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-08-20 at 14:53.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-08-24 at 13:37.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15778 on 2021-03-04 at 15:33:26","Made available in DSpace on 2021-03-05T21:36:43Z (GMT). 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However, mechanisms linking the direct effect of habitat management strategies on reservoir food-webs, and the ability of habitat management strategies to meet objectives, remains unclear. We conducted a series of replicated pond experiments using plastic fish attractors (Artificial) and coarse woody habitat (CWH) to test hypotheses linking the direct impact of habitat material type and spatial arrangement on aquatic invertebrates and the growth, condition, and survival of largemouth bass (M. salmoides) and bluegill (L. machrochirus), independent of habitat amount. Patterns of invertebrate community colonization and daily secondary production were similar between ponds containing Artificial or CWH structures. Moreover, the growth, condition, and survival of largemouth bass and bluegill sunfish were similar in ponds containing Artificial or CWH structures, and between ponds that differ in habitat spatial arrangement. Our results suggest that other factors such as habitat amount, or the presence of alternative physical habitats, are more important to fishes and aquatic invertebrates than habitat material type or spatial arrangement. Management agencies and stakeholders should focus on maintaining existing physical habitat abundance and diversity, and the relative cost and longevity of introducing different physical habitat types at the appropriate spatial extent may be more important than habitat material type or spatial arrangement.","Submission original under an indefinite embargo labeled 'Open Access'. The submission was exported from vireo on 2021-03-04 without embargo terms","The student, Eric Gates, accepted the attached license on 2020-08-20 at 14:44.","The student, Eric Gates, submitted this Thesis for approval on 2020-08-20 at 14:53.","This Thesis was approved for publication on 2020-08-24 at 13:37.","DSpace SAF Submission Ingestion Package generated from Vireo submission #15778 on 2021-03-04 at 15:33:26","Made available in DSpace on 2021-03-05T21:36:43Z (GMT). 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