Rainbow smelt spawning population and habitat characteristics in a Missouri River reservoir

Abstract

Rainbow Smelt Osmerus mordax are the primary coldwater forage species in Lake Oahe, South Dakota, yet most aspects of their life history remain unknown. As Missouri River reservoirs present a novel habitat compared to elsewhere in the Rainbow Smelt’s range, we investigated their spawning site use relative to available physical and thermal habitat from spring 2016 − 2018 using a mobile horizontal-beaming hydroacoustic survey. We mapped spawning habitat using side-scanning sonar to establish relationships with site bathymetry and thermal spawning conditions. From our site mapping, we determined the depth, slope, bottom hardness, and ruggedness of individual sites. We used a PCA to condense our physical habitat metrics, with PC1 representing 77% of cumulative variance. Peak abundance was linked to a physical habitat gradient, representing [steep slope, deep, soft bottom] to [low slope, shallow, hard bottom]. Peak Rainbow Smelt spawning aggregations were observed at 6.8 ± 1.7 °C (Mean ± StDev). An information-theoretic regression analysis revealed an interactive effect of temperature and habitat, whereby shallower, warmer sites typically had a lower peak abundance. These results represent the first step toward understanding habitat use characteristics of spawning Rainbow Smelt in reservoir systems.