Evidence for variability in spawning behavior of interior cutthroat trout in response to environmental uncertainty

Authors

Rodger L. Nelson, USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Boise, Idaho
William S. Platts, USDA Forest Service, Intermountain Research Station, Forestry Sciences Laboratory, Boise Idaho
Osborne Casey, USDI Bureau of Land Management, Reno, Nevada

Abstract

The fluctuating characteristics (numbers, biomass, condition, and young-adult ratios) of the Lahontan (Humboldt) cutthroat trout population in Chimney Creek, Nevada, are discussed in relationship to the unpredictable and unstable habitat in which the population occurs. One possible means of adapting to environmental capriciousness, staggered spawning, occurred during 1982, and clues as to the cause of this unusual event are sought by examining the runoff hydrographs of a nearby watershed for 1981 through 1984. The management values of the environmental tolerance of these native trout with respect to restoring viable trout fisheries in degraded Great Basin streams are also considered.

Recommended Citation

Nelson, Rodger L.; Platts, William S.; and Casey, Osborne (1987) "Evidence for variability in spawning behavior of interior cutthroat trout in response to environmental uncertainty," Great Basin Naturalist: Vol. 47: No. 3, Article 11.
Available at: https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/gbn/vol47/iss3/11