Methods
Field Data Collection
Data collection took place between September and November 2014 over a total area of 50810 km2 in the Red Deer River watershed in south- central Alberta, Canada. Within this watershed, 5 sub-basins were sampled including tributaries: Kneehills Creek, Rosebud River, Ghostpine Creek, Lonepine Creek, Three Hills Creek, Carstairs Creek, Crossfield Creek, Michichi Creek, West Michichi Creek, and three unnamed streams (Figure 1). Site locations were chosen based on a report published by the Alberta Conservation Association (Stevens et al. 2006), where Carassius gibelio had not been detected in streams within the Red Deer River watershed, Alberta, Canada during sampling in 2005. Supplementary information accessed from the Government of Albert’s Fish and Wildlife Management Information System online database (Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development 2013) identifying known locations of Carassius gibelio within this region were used to prioritize 2014 sample sites due to time constraints. Community analysis will be done…… *****NEED BETTER MAP**** |
Standardized sampling (Alberta Fisheries Management Branch, 2013) using single-pass electrofishing was conducted along 300-meter wadeable stream sections using Smith-root, Inc. LR-24 electrofisher (Figure 2). Habitat data was recorded at each site and all fish species caught were enumerated. A sub-sample of each species (<=20 specimens) and all Prussian carp were taken back to the lab for further analysis. All GPS points were recorded in UTM using a (*type of GPS used*).
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Spatial Analysis:
To further verify the extent and movement of Prussian carp throughout watersheds in south-central Alberta, a meta-analysis was conducted on all available data through the years 1999-2014. Information was compiled from documented accounts/records of Prussian carp presence and absence from academic institutions, government, non-government organizations and consultants/industry, as well as interviews with regional biologists. This information combined with data from the present study was spatially analyzed in ArcMap (ESRI. 2012. ArcGIS 10.1. Redlands, California) using the Minimum Bounding Geometry spatial tool to calculate area of occupancy. |