Winter involves long periods of low water temperatures, with the activities and movements of many temperate fish species being reduced compared with summer. In very cold periods, individuals can become winter quiescent. The extent to which the activities and movements of many fish species reduce in winter is unknown, including how these decrease in relation to environmental conditions. Acoustic biotelemetry was applied here to...

Riverine barriers can have significant negative impacts on the spawning migrations of anadromous fishes, with barriers of low passage efficiency limiting access to upstream spawning areas. Even fish that pass a barrier can be negatively affected via migration delays and energetic costs. The spawning migrations of 74 twaite shad Alosa fallax were tracked at two head-of-tide weirs on a bifurcated channel in the River Severn’s up...

Lowland temperate rivers provide important habitats for piscivorous fishes, but with their year-round spatial and temporal habitat use is often poorly understood, including their use of off-channel habitats. Here, the movements and habitat use of the piscivorous native Northern pike Esox lucius and invasive pikeperch Sander lucioperca were investigated using acoustic telemetry in the highly regulated (through impoundment) lowe...

Acoustic telemetry (AT) has emerged as a valuable tool for monitoring aquatic animals in both European inland and marine waters over the past two decades. The European Tracking Network (ETN) initiative has played a pivotal role in promoting collaboration among AT researchers in Europe and has led to a significant increase in the number of tagged and observed aquatic animals in transboundary European waters. While AT benefits d...

The ability of fish to cope with warm water temperatures in summer depends on factors including their thermal traits and the ability of individuals to access cool-water refugia. Knowledge is highly limited on the in situ responses of many fishes to elevated summer temperatures, including whether they express behavioural thermoregulation. The responses of two riverine species to summer water temperatures were tested here using...

Anthropogenic barriers are widely known to negatively impact the spawning migrations of anadromous fishes, by delaying or preventing passage upstream. Although the impacts of barriers on emigrating post‐spawned adults are less well studied, they could potentially impact the fitness and subsequent return rates of iteroparous species. In this study, passive acoustic telemetry was used to track the emigrations of 53 twaite shad A...

There is limited knowledge of how philopatry influences the spatial ecology of iteroparous anadromous species during their spawning migrations, but this knowledge is important in understanding population responses to interventions such as river reconnection. Here, acoustic telemetry was applied to twaite shad Alosa fallax and hybrids ( n = 184) during their freshwater spawning migration, enabling quantification of philopatry a...

The timing of entry into freshwater by mature anadromous fishes is an important component of their migration phenology. In iteroparous anadromous species, identifying the migration cues that influence the timing of entry into freshwater, and annual variability in these timings, is important in assessing the extent of individual repeatability. Here, passive acoustic telemetry tracked 71 twaite shad Alosa fallax (‘shad’) returni...

Aquatic biotelemetry increasingly relies on using acoustic transmitters (‘tags’) that enable passive detection of tagged animals using fixed or mobile receivers. Both tracking methods are resource-limited, restricting the spatial area in which movements of highly mobile animals can be measured using proprietary detection systems. Transmissions from tags are recorded by underwater noise monitoring systems designed for other pur...

Competition and resource partitioning can have profound implications for individuals, populations and communities, and thus food webs, ecosystems and the management of biota and environments. In many species, the impacts of competition and resource partitioning are believed to be most severe during early life, but our understanding of the mechanisms and implications is incomplete. This study revealed short-term variations in b...

Downstream passage of European eel Anguilla anguilla (L.) in catchments with pump(s) for water level management is a major concern. Catchment‐wide acoustic telemetry revealed silver eels quickly migrated downstream through unobstructed reaches ( n = 12; mean ± SD = 17.9 ± 1.9 km/day). Fourteen of 17 acoustic‐tagged eels detected at the pumping station (82.1%) retreated back upstream and ten (58.8%) passed through pumps after d...

Since the 1990s national and international programs have aimed to legitimize local conservation initiatives that might provide an alternative to the formal systems of state‐managed or otherwise externally driven protected areas. We used discourse analysis (130 semistructured interviews with key informants) and descriptive statistics (679 surveys) to compare local perceptions of and experiences with state‐driven versus communit...

Research into the relationships between non‐salmonid fish population dynamics and discharge is in its infancy compared with salmonids, thus compromising the ability to manage flows in rivers and maintain ecological status. This study reviews the potential role of ‘natural’ hydrographical variability on fish life‐history characteristics and develops a fish typology based on flow preference and conservation importance criteria t...

Panjet‐applied alcian blue did not produce a reliable long‐term (> 5 months) mark. Average time to mark loss was 9·5 months for chub Leuciscus cephalus , 6·0 months for dace Leuciscus leuciscus and 11·1 months for roach Rutilus rutilus . Growth rate did not influence retention.

Mark–recapture and fixed‐station passive integrated transponder (PIT) telemetry were used to compare movements, distribution and survival of stocked juvenile chub Leuciscus cephalus and roach Rutilus rutilus with those of wild conspecifics. Daily activity of wild fish activity was affected by a combination of river flow and temperature, whereas stocked fishes were not influenced by environmental factors. PIT telemetry recorded...

Stocking is a widespread management activity in inland fisheries, but the efficacy of such fishery enhancement measures is poorly understood. Radio‐telemetry was used to compare the movements and habitat selection of stocked, juvenile chub, Leuciscus cephalus (L.), with those of wild individuals in a small river in Eastern England. Thirty‐two wild juvenile chub (total for 2005 and 2006 combined) and 12 stocked, 1+ chub (2006)...

The fork length ( L F ) of individual chub Leuciscus cephalus in English riverine populations at the end of their first growth season varied considerably, ranging from 70 mm. This had a significant influence on the subsequent growth of individuals over their lifetime. Chub of small L F at age 1 year generally produced smaller annual growth increments throughout life than those of longer L F at age 1 year, although they had the...

Life‐cycle assessment is an established tool for industrial ecology. An analysis of the energy use in the chemical and other energy‐intensive industries is still under discussion in this field. We argue that the concept of exergy can play a role in industrial ecology, using a recent Norwegian power production policy question as illustration. The question is whether to build a standard natural gas‐ or a hydrogen‐fired gas‐turbi...