Northern Pike

Literature Cited

Frith H. R. Blake R. W. 1991. Mechanics of the startle response in the northern pike, Esox Lucius. Canadian Journal of Zoology.  69 :2831-2839.                     http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/pdf/10.1139/z91-399

Heise, B. 2013. Icthyology Lecture Notes. Thompson Rivers University.

Johnson B.M. Arlinghaus R. Martinez P. J. 2009. Are we doing all we can to stem the tide of illegal fish stocking? Fisheries. 34(8): 389-394.                     http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/doi/pdf/10.1577/1548-8446-34.8.389

Runciman J.B. Leaf B.R. 2009. A Review of Yellow Perch (Perca Flavascens), Smallmouth Bass (Micropterus olomieu), Largemouth Bass (Micropterus Salmoides), Pumpkinseed (Lepomis Gibbosus), Walleye (Sander Vitreus) and Northern Pike (Esox Lucius) Distributions in British Columbia. Fisheries and Oceans Canada Science Branch, Pacific Region Biological Station. Department of Fisheries and Oceans Canada.                                                                                                                                                             http://www.dfo-mpo.gc.ca/Library/337851.pdf

Rypel A. L. 2012. Meta-analysis of growth rates for a circumpolar fish, the northern pike ( Esox lucius), with emphasis on effects of continent, climate and latitude. Ecology of Freshwater Fish. 21(4): 521-532. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/doi/10.1111/j.1600-0633.2012.00570.x/pdf

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The Northern Pike (Esox lucius) is a circumpolar top predator in freshwater lakes and rivers in temperate regions (Rypel 2012). Circumpolar means found around the globe, and the pikes status as a top predator makes it an important component of community dynamics for the freshwater systems it inhabits. Several components of the pikes morphology facilitate its lie-in-wart predator hunting strategy: It has a big toothy mouth for catching prey, a long torpedo-like fusiform body for rapid, powerful sprinting after passing prey fish, and its anal and dorsal fins are located posteriorly to increase fin surface area for improving acceleration, sprinting speed and power (Frith 1991). Below is an image of the northern pike.

The northern pike is native to Northern BC, but poses serious potential invasive issues in southern BC (Runciman 2009). Northern pike have many healthy populations in northern BC and only two invasive locations in the Kootenays (Runciman 2009). The current invasive status in BC is not a major provincial issue because there are only the two non-native locations in Haha Lake and the Kootenay River, but potential problems are looming. The pike is a voracious predator which has wiped out populations of native fish in other places where it has been introduced such as Lake Davis in California, the upper Colorado River Basin (Johnson 2009), as well as Box Canyon Dam Reservoir on the Pend Oreille River in northeast Washington (Washington department of fish and wildlife website 2013).

The majority of invasive issues involving northern pike like the ones mentioned above as well as the ones in the Kootenays of BC are all thought to have been started by illegal introductions. The people who do these illegal introductions have been called “midnight mangers” and “bucket biologists”. They introduce the pike for fishing purposes without any kind of permission or regard for the problems it may cause (Johnson 2009).  

In Washington there has been an attempt to deal with the Northern Pike issue over the last few years (Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife 2013). The strategy was developed after a population survey in 2011 which set the goal of reducing pike by 87% in one year. The attempts have included three methods: angler harvest, fishing derbies, and pike-specific gill nets. The angler harvest is a continuous aid, the fishing derbies removed 233 pike, and the gill netting removed 5,808 pike in 2012. These methods fell short of the 87% goal, but efforts will continue into 2013. This story from Washington should serve as a warning for conservationists in BC.  

The picture below shows what a pike is capable of doing to our native salmon juveniles. Don’t the juveniles have enough to deal with considering the sea lice issues with open net pen farming? The DFO needs to keep its eye on the Northern Pike to make sure it stays in the north.     

To end this topic on a bright note, consider global warming. The pike prefers colder water (Hiese 2013) so as water temperatures rise, its potential ability to become invasive if introduced will decrease.

Article: If we build habitat, will they come? Woody debris structures and conservation of forest mammals

Bunnell, F. L., and I. Houde. 2010. Down wood and biodiversity—implications to forest practices. Environmental Reviews. 18:397–421.                                http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full/10.1139/A10-019#.UUE2UKVEF8E

Craig, V. J. 2002. Population and habitat use characteristics of forest-dwelling small mammals in relation to downed wood. Graduate thesis UBC.                                                       https://circle.ubc.ca/handle/2429/12974

Craig, V. J., W. Klenner, M. C. Feller, and T. P. Sullivan. 2006. Relationships between deer mice and downed wood in managed forests of British Columbia. Canadian Journal of Forest Research. 36:2189–2203.                                                                                     http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/x06-118#.UUE2a6VEF8E

Sullivan, T.P. Sullivan, D.S., Lindgren, M.F. Ransome, D.B. 2012. If we build habitat, will they come? Woody debris structures and conservation of forest mammals. Journal of Mammalogy. 93(6): 1456-1468.                                                                                    http://www.bioone.org.ezproxy.tru.ca/doi/full/10.1644/11-MAMM-A-250.1  

                                               

Word Count: 499

Clear-cutting a forest is a drastic alteration of habitat for forest mammals in BC because where there were once trees, there are no longer. After logging, there is usually a lot of coarse woody debris (CWD) leftover scattered over the ground (Bunnell and Houde 2010). As we have talked about in seminar discussions before, the CWD is sometimes burned to reduce future fire hazard, and is sometimes left scattered over the ground. A group of scientists from UBC had an interesting new idea to make use of the CWD by gathering it in massive rows or piles as possible new habitat opportunities for forest mammals in clear cuts. The piles and rows of CWD were intended to create opportunities for dens, or a place to hide in open clearings (Sullivan 2012). This blog takes a brief look at the 2012 article which investigates the effect of this new idea. An interesting point to note when considering this study is the importance of scale; the world looks very different depending on whether you are a mouse, or a coyote.

The experimental treatments were piles of CWD, long rows of CWD, scattered CWD, and uncut forest. The study took place in BC at three locations; Summerland (with large amounts of CWD making big piles), Vernon, and Salmon arm (both with less available CWD leading to smaller piles). The method involved live trapping of small mammals in the treatment areas, as well as snow tracking analysis for larger mammals (Sullivan 2012).

The results were highly variable depending on species. Generalists like deer mice were always able to remain in higher numbers no matter what the treatment, which didn’t add any new insight. However something interesting happened regarding a closed canopy specialist, the red backed vole which often disappears after clear-cuts. The especially large CWD rows in Summerland allowed the vole to persist in clear-cut habitat. It was also found that there was a general trend summarized by the following statement. The more, and the bigger the piles and rows of CWD, the greater the species abundance, species richness, and species diversity for small forest floor mammals. No major exciting insights were revealed by the large mammal track analysis (Sullivan 2012).

Other studies have been conducted on the effect of CWD presence or absence, and micro-scale organization, but none which yielded unambiguous results, and none of the scale executed here (Craig 2002, Craig 2006). This was a massive study which broke new ground. It was demonstrated that CWD organized into piles or rows have clear conservation implications for the fate of native forest-floor small-mammal communities after clear cutting.

To apply this method in real world application, this study suggests that piles/ rows need to be large (at least 2m tall and 5m wide), and constructed promptly after logging to prevent immediate loss of species in the area. The piles/ rows will help conserve small mammals by providing habitat in the form of den location opportunities, and safe corridors connecting mature forest (Sullivan 2012).

Orangutans and Personhood

IUCN 2012. IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2012.2. <www.iucnredlist.org>. Downloaded on 28 February 2013

Meijaard E. et al. 2012. Not by Science Alone: why orangutan conservationists must think outside the box. Year in Ecology and Conservation Biology. Vol. 1249: 29-44.

http://apps.webofknowledge.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/full_record.do?product=UA&search_mode=GeneralSearch&qid=2&SID=2EhJ5@5Jkpl@j@Pd5dJ&page=2&doc=11

Online Etymology Dictionary. Orangutan. Retrieved Feb. 28, 2013.

http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=orangutan

Shawn Thompson. Guest lecture appearance. 2013. The intimate ape: Orangutans and the Secret Life of a Vanishing Species. PHIL 4350: environmental ethics.

Van Casteren A. et al. 2012. Nest-building orangutans demonstrate engineering know-how to produce safe, comfortable beds. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States or America. Vol.109. Iss. 18 :6873-6877.

http://www.swetswise.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/FullTextProxy/swproxy?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.pnas.org%2Fcgi%2Freprint%2F109%2F18%2F6873.pdf&ts=1362079415718&cs=2947130439&userName=5786541.ipdirect&emCondId=5786541&articleID=165541516&yevoID=3515552&titleID=165916&referer=4&remoteAddr=192.146.156.172&hostType=PRO&swsSessionId=ZbFV45LW0Ee6+fMaM-8iBA__.pasc2

Of the two species of orangutans, Sumatran orangutans are listed as critically endangered, Bornean orangutans are endangered, and both have decreasing population trends as listed by the IUCN (international union for the conservation of nature). This is due to a number of factors including illegal hunting, pet trade, and tragic forest habitat loss (Meirjaad 2012).

Orangutans are one the most intelligent animals besides humans and have highly sophisticated thinking. One study reported on the way they build nests in the trees to sleep in. They seem to have learned the properties of wood and use that knowledge in their nest building. They use stronger branches as a frame and lighter more leafy ones as a sort of mattress. Their technique involves weaving, intelligent use of half broken branches, and an understanding of mechanical design and architecture (Casteren 2012).         

The word orangutan comes from “man of the woods” in Malay language. This is fitting because of the many traits they have in common with human beings. This was Shawn Thompson’s point he was making in his guest lecture appearance in PHIL 4350: conservation ethics. According to Shawn every wall that has been erected to demarcate humans from orangutans has been shown to be false. However, historical thinking was that humans are the most superior life form for a variety of ungrounded reasons be it religious reasons, moral reasons, or some trait like communication, or use of rational thinking etc. (Thompson S. 2013). In any case humans were the only things granted personhood in the eyes of the law. Since then, corporations have been granted personhood which has allowed them a number of legal rights. This idea of non-human personhood could have major implications for conservation. There is currently a movement to grant great apes legal personhood which would grant them legal rights of their own. This would make conservation efforts much easier because it would be law to respect their rights.

If it is possible to grant the great apes personhood, and corporations have already become legal persons, why should it stop there? This is a question generated from some philosophical thinking in biocentrism, which wishes to extend inherent value to non-human animals. Arguments could be made for inherent value of all living things in varying degrees, and if this could extend into legal concern regarding personhood, then conservation could have a strangle grip on government protection of endangered species. Furthermore, though maybe a bit early, this kind of biocentric thinking where humans are only a part of the natural world could influence legal concerns regarding the inherent value of the non-living environment. These kinds of changes in thinking and legal concern would be much more efficient because laws would be forced to respect animals and the environment for their own sake as opposed to protecting them indirectly because of what they mean to humans.            

Words 474.

Goats eat Weeds

Citations

Booth, A.L. and Skelton, N.W. 2009. The Use of Domestic Goats and Vinegar as Municipal Weed Control Alternatives. Environmental Practice. Vol. 11. Issue 1: (pp 3 - 16)

http://journals.cambridge.org.ezproxy.tru.ca/action/displayFulltext?type=1&fid=5398328&jid=ENP&volumeId=11&issueId=01&aid=5398320&bodyId=&membershipNumber=&societyETOCSession=   

         

Garcia R.R. et al. 2012. Goat Grazing, its interactions with other herbivores and biodiversity conservation issues. Small Ruminant Research. Vol. 107. Issue 2-3: (pp 49 - 64)

http://www.sciencedirect.com.ezproxy.tru.ca/science/article/pii/S092144881200123X

Kenna Cartwright Park. City of Kamloops website. (retrieved Feb. 6, 2013) From:

http://www.city.kamloops.bc.ca/parks/kenna.shtml

Lamming Lani. 2001. Alternative Weed Strategies: Successfully Controlling Noxious Weeds with Goats. Pesticides and You. Vol. 21, No. 4: (pp 19 - 23)

http://www.beyondpesticides.org/infoservices/pesticidesandyou/Winter%2001-02/Successfully%20Controlling%20Noxious%20Weeds%20with%20Goats.pdf

*email conversations with Jo-Ann Fox and Cara Lamont of the SIWMC (Southern Interior Weed    Management Committee)

  

Image from National Post: http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/07/16/in-b-c-park-its-goats-1-weeds-0/

Kenna Cartwright Park is technically labelled a ‘Nature Park’ which encompasses the intention of conservation as well as ensuring an area for human enjoyment. It contains 800 Ha of Mt Dufferen which makes it the largest municipal park in BC. In an attempt to handle some of the noxious invasive weed species which have become a problem in our local grasslands, the city brought a herd of 440 goats to Kenna in order to keep them in check. The goats are known as what is called top down grazers, meaning they eat from the top of the plant down. The goats eating habit causes them to eat the invasive weeds first and the native grass last. They were also intensively herded in Kenna to graze in areas with the most Dalmatian Toadflax. Attention has been concentrated on controlling Dalmatian Toadflax in Kenna, but the goats also eat other invasive weed species which are a problem in Kamloops including knapweeds, purple loostrife, and kochia. During their time here in Kamloops the goats have been a success.

Other reasons that goats work well as a weed control method is because they do not allow passage of viable seeds through their digestive tract, and they do not harm water supply with their waste. Furthermore they are cost effective, allowing for an affordable option for weed control and thereby native grassland conservation. Goats have been used for well over 100 years in the states as a weed control method. Also the positive media attention that these kind of projects attract raise awareness about invasive species problems and help give conservation projects a good name.   

       

In 2005 goats were used as a weed control method for Canada thistle in municipal areas in Prince George. One research study by Annie Booth and Norman Skelton out of the University of Northern British Columbia showed significant positive results over a two year period. The method involved quantitative analysis of weed populations in selected 1m by 1m quadrats before and after grazing by goats. It was a relatively small scale experiment compared to the project in Kamloops. It involved two sites both less than two hectares with ten goats total. Due to miscommunication with city workers, one of their test sites was partially mowed. This accident lead to the finding however that goats were more effective at preventing growth of thistle in the mowed areas than they were at eliminating mature thistle due to the unpalatable, poky nature of the plant. This suggests that the combination of mowing and use of goat grazing may be a viable method for weed control. Overall the study showed positive results for controlling Canada thistle as well as other weeds including Hawkweeds, horsetails, and dandelions.  

In some parts of the world where goats are more numerous they are considered a nuisance which can reduce biodiversity and damage natural ecosystems. But if they are controlled like in the Prince George study and the Kenna project, they can be an effective weed management tool.

Word Count: 499

hawkweed

Wilson, Linda M. 2006. Key to Identification of Invasive and Native Hawkweeds (Hieracium spp.) in the Pacific Northwest. B.C. Ministry of Forests and Range, Forest Practices Branch, Kamloops, B.C.

http://www.for.gov.bc.ca/hfp/publications/00230/Hawkweed%20key_PNW_R3-June06.pdf

ISC (invasive species council of BC) orange hawkweed info page:

http://www.bcinvasives.ca/invasive-species/invasive-plants/orange-hawkweed

“T.I.P.S.” (targeted invasive plant solutions) page for the hawkweed for ease of identification and understanding of treatment method, as well as general biology:

http://www.bcinvasives.ca/images/stories/documents/tips/Invasive_Hawkweeds_TIPS.pdf

“Communities Pulling Together” organized weed pull information from the ISC (invasive species council of BC):

http://www.bcinvasiveplants.com/iscbc/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=968:community-weed-pulls&catid=17:programs&Itemid=1231

Brian Heise, icthyology professor, is currently attending the public information forum held by the invasive species council of BC. While looking into the forum, I came across an online advertisement on the ISC (invasive species council of BC) web site. It featured, in part, a picture of a hawkweed. There are both native and non-native species of hawkweed in BC. Of 14 sp native to western North America, 8 are present in BC, and of 14 non-native to western North America, 13 are present in BC.

Our concern as conservation biologists in controlling invasive hawkweed comes from the ability of invasive hawkweed to replace native vegetation, reducing forage and threatening biodiversity in BC. According to a report on hawkweed done by the invasive plant council of BC and a key to invasive hawkweed sp done by Linda M. Wilson for the Ministry of Forests and Range in BC, hawkweed can be described as follows.

Invasive hawkweed poses a problem for several reasons. Hawkweed is aptly named because it has many r-selected or weedy characteristics, especially the non-native species. It is perennial, has high speed seed production and germinability, long distance seed dispersal, and a wide range of reproduction methods both sexual and asexual including seed dispersal, vegetative stolons, rhizomes, and adventitious root buds.

The habitat that invasive hawkweed invades are open areas both naturally and manually disturbed, like recently logged fields, abandoned farmland, road sides and large meridian separations, beneath power lines, or in mountain meadows. Preferred soil conditions include well drained, coarse soil with low organic matter. Elevation ranges from 725 m to 1700 m, sticking to lower elevation at latitudes within said range in BC. These conditions sound like they describe the Kamloops area, however non-native Hawkweed in general has not proven to be particularly invasive in south central BC and northern Washington.   

However, one sp of invasive hawkweed has received special attention. The orange hawkweed is the most easily identified invasive sp in BC. It is a common ornamental flower and is thought to be brought here, at least in part because of that. It is also the only invasive hawkweed sp considered regionally noxious under the Weed Control Act in BC. This sp of hawkweed is considered regionally noxious to several places including the Thompson-Nicola district, making the orange hawkweed of particular concern to us in Kamloops.  

A possible conservation class project that we might be interested in could involve us trying to find some orange hawkweed sites that we could travel to, carry out an organized weed pull and possibly look into a kind of pesticide treatment. The Invasive Plant Council of BC based out of Williams Lake offers a $250 support fund to organized weed pulls called “Communities Pulling Together”. Some of the requirements include a group of at least 10 volunteers and some liability insurance. This might be an avenue worth pursuing. The pesticide treatment may be too complicated for our means, but is an idea nonetheless.

Word Count: 494

test posting!!!