Abstract Lake sturgeon movement in two adjacent unregulated Lake Superior tributaries, the Pic and White rivers, was assessed over several years to determine seasonal use, identify potential contributing factors for entry or exit migrations, and evaluate whether sturgeon using these tributaries constituted one or two populations. A total of 95 lake sturgeon implanted with radio transmitters were tracked using multiple stationary receivers augmented with boat-based manual surveillance during peak movement times. Both rivers were used by lake sturgeon during the open water (“ice off”) season. In general, spawning sturgeon moved to the first insuperable barrier (i.e., natural rapids) during the spawning season, and then moved downstream to deeper pools in mid- to late summer. Non-spawning sturgeon moved into the river concurrently but remained in lower portions of the river. Lake sturgeon emigrated from the Pic River and resided in Lake Superior during the winter season whereas a small portion of radio transmittered sturgeon, originally sampled in the Pic River, overwintered in the White River. River discharge and the interaction between discharge and water temperature were correlated with upstream movement, and river discharge was also correlated with outmigration. No genetic structuring was apparent between Sturgeon within the two rivers, consistent with telemetry data showing radio-tagged fish moving readily between the rivers. This study provided pertinent seasonal use information of unregulated Great Lake tributaries and may contribute to planning processes for future hydroelectric developments to minimize disruptions to lake Sturgeon populations.

中文翻译：

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鲟鱼季节性使用两条不受管制的苏必利尔湖支流

摘要 苏必利尔湖两条相邻的未受管制的支流皮克河和怀特河中的鲟鱼运动经过几年的评估，以确定季节性使用，确定进入或离开迁徙的潜在因素，并评估使用这些支流的鲟鱼是否构成了一个或两个种群. 总共 95 条植入无线电发射器的湖鲟使用多个固定接收器进行了跟踪，这些接收器在移动高峰期增加了基于船的手动监视。在开放水域（“冰封”）季节，两条河流都被湖鲟使用。一般来说，产卵鲟鱼在产卵季节移动到第一个不可逾越的障碍（即天然急流），然后在夏中至夏末向下游移动到更深的水池。未产卵的鲟鱼同时移入河中，但仍留在河的下游。湖鲟在冬季从皮克河迁徙并居住在苏必利尔湖，而一小部分最初在皮克河采样的无线电发射鲟鱼在白河越冬。河流流量和流量与水温之间的相互作用与上游运动相关，河流流量也与外迁相关。两条河流中的鲟鱼之间没有明显的遗传结构，这与显示无线电标记的鱼在河流之间容易移动的遥测数据一致。