Behavior and habitat selection of largemouth bass in response to dynamic environmental variables with a focus on dissolved oxygen
type: CreativeWork
description: Stratification is a naturally occurring phenomenon in many lakes and reservoirs that is often aggravated by increasing agricultural land use. During summer stratification, substantial production regularly leads to hypoxic areas below the thermocline, resulting in the loss of suitable fish habitat. Additionally, high surface temperatures can also contribute to the loss of preferred habitat. Understanding how fish interact with and respond to their environment is a critical part of fisheries research and management. My research investigates the effects that low dissolved oxygen concentrations and other dynamic environmental variables have on behaviors and distributions of largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides a popular sportfish. To better understand how largemouth bass respond to low oxygen concentrations, I performed three separate, complementary studies. First, I observed foraging behavior of juvenile largemouth bass in simulated stratified environment. Observations provided significant evidence that low dissolved oxygen concentrations may restrict access to prey resources below the thermocline. Additionally, I observed several behavioral modifications while fish were foraging in low oxygen environments. Second, I tracked largemouth bass positions in a stratified lake and examined oxygen and temperature selection along with movements in relation to available abiotic habitat. I found that largemouth bass generally selected favorable oxygen concentrations and temperatures, and were able to occupy areas of suitable habitat despite large portions of the water column containing areas of low oxygen concentrations or high temperatures. However, there were individuals from the tagged population frequently observed in low oxygen environments. Distributions of fish are influenced by a host of dynamic environmental variables and their interactions. Considerations of biotic and physical variables in addition to abiotic variables such as oxygen concentration and temperature ar…
abstract: Stratification is a naturally occurring phenomenon in many lakes and reservoirs that is often aggravated by increasing agricultural land use. During summer stratification, substantial production regularly leads to hypoxic areas below the thermocline, resulting in the loss of suitable fish habitat. Additionally, high surface temperatures can also contribute to the loss of preferred habitat. Understanding how fish interact with and respond to their environment is a critical part of fisheries research and management. My research investigates the effects that low dissolved oxygen concentrations and other dynamic environmental variables have on behaviors and distributions of largemouth bass, Micropterus salmoides a popular sportfish. To better understand how largemouth bass respond to low oxygen concentrations, I performed three separate, complementary studies. First, I observed foraging behavior of juvenile largemouth bass in simulated stratified environment. Observations provided significant evidence that low dissolved oxygen concentrations may restrict access to prey resources below the thermocline. Additionally, I observed several behavioral modifications while fish were foraging in low oxygen environments. Second, I tracked largemouth bass positions in a stratified lake and examined oxygen and temperature selection along with movements in relation to available abiotic habitat. I found that largemouth bass generally selected favorable oxygen concentrations and temperatures, and were able to occupy areas of suitable habitat despite large portions of the water column containing areas of low oxygen concentrations or high temperatures. However, there were individuals from the tagged population frequently observed in low oxygen environments. Distributions of fish are influenced by a host of dynamic environmental variables and their interactions. Considerations of biotic and physical variables in addition to abiotic variables such as oxygen concentration and temperature ar…
author: French, Christopher
language: en
keywords: Largemouth Bass, Oxygen, Hypoxia, Behavior, Movements
date published: 2016-07-07T20:27:44Z
date modified: 2026-07-22T22:26:34Z
provider: University of Illinois - Urbana-Champaign
publisher: Networked Digital Library of Theses and Dissertations
type: WebPage
source organization: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

PropertyValue
property ID: Handle
value: http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90792