Is shape in the eye of the beholder? Assessing landmarking error in geometric morphometric analyses on live fish.

Geometric morphometrics is widely used to quantify morphological variation between biological specimens, but the fundamental influence of operator bias on data reproducibility is rarely considered, particularly in studies using photographs of live animals taken under field conditions. We examined this using four independent operators that applied an identical landmarking scheme to replicate photographs of 291 live Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar L.) from two rivers. Using repeated measures tests, we found significant inter-operator differences in mean body shape, suggesting that the operators introduced a systematic error despite following the same landmarking scheme. No significant differences were detected when the landmarking process was repeated by the same operator on a random subset of photographs. Importantly, in spite of significant operator bias, small but statistically significant morphological differences between fish from the two rivers were found consistently by all operators. Pairwise tests of angles of vectors of shape change showed that these between-river differences in body shape were analogous across operator datasets, suggesting a general reproducibility of findings obtained by geometric morphometric studies. In contrast, merging landmark data when fish from each river are digitised by different operators had a significant impact on downstream analyses, highlighting an intrinsic risk of bias. Overall, we show that, even when significant inter-operator error is introduced during digitisation, following an identical landmarking scheme can identify morphological differences between populations. This study indicates that operators digitising at least a sub-set of all data groups of interest may be an effective way of mitigating inter-operator error and potentially enabling data sharing.

The role of individual behavioral traits on fishway passage attempt behavior.

Variations in behavioral traits are widely recognized to drive animal behaviors exhibited within a population. However, information on how behavior traits influence behavior in anthropogenically modified habitats is lacking. Many habitats have become highly fragmented as a result of human processes. To mitigate this and improve habitat connectivity, wildlife passes are increasingly employed, with the aim of enabling animals to move freely between habitats. However, wildlife passes (e.g., fishways) are not always effective in achieving passage and it remains uncertain what factors play a role in an individual's likelihood of passing successfully. This study measured three behavioral traits (boldness, exploration, and activity) in juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta; n = 78) under field conditions within a river and tested whether these behavior traits influenced both the passage success and the behaviors exhibited during upstream fishway passage attempts. Although behavioral traits were found and collapsed into two behavioral trait dimensions, behavioral traits had low repeatability and so did not contribute to a personality spectrum. Boldness was found to negatively influence the number of passage attempts carried out by an individual and to positively influence passage success, with bolder individuals carrying out fewer attempts and having an increased probability of passage success. No behavioral traits were found to be related to other passage metrics (passage success, Time until First Attempt, and Passage Duration) during the first passage. But all three behavioral traits were significantly negatively related to the changes in passage behaviors at consecutive, successful passage attempts, with bolder, more exploratory and more active individuals passing through a fishway quicker on the second passage than on the first. This study suggests that bolder and more active individuals may perform better during fishway passage attempts, particularly within rivers where multiple barriers to movement exist.

Are we designing fishways for diversity? Potential selection on alternative phenotypes resulting from differential passage in brown trout.

Fishways are commonly employed to improve river connectivity for fishes, but the extent to which they cater for natural phenotypic diversity has been insufficiently addressed. We measured differential upstream passage success of three wild brown trout (Salmo trutta) phenotypes (anadromous, freshwater-resident adult and parr-marked), encompassing a range of sizes and both sexes, at a Larinier superactive baffle fishway adjacent to a flow-gauging weir, using PIT telemetry (n = 160) and radio telemetry (n = 53, double tagged with PIT tags). Fish were captured and tagged downstream of the weir in the autumn pre-spawning period, 2017, in a tributary of the River Wear, England, where over 95% of tributary spawning habitat was available upstream of the weir. Of 57 trout that approached the weir-fishway complex, freshwater-resident adult and parr-marked phenotypes were less successful in passing than anadromous trout (25%, 36%, and 63% passage efficiency, respectively). Seventy-one percent of anadromous trout that passed upstream traversed the weir directly. Although the fishway facilitated upstream passage, it was poor in attracting fish of all phenotypes (overall attraction efficiency, 22.8%). A higher proportion (68.2%) of parr-marked trout that approached the weir were male and included sexually mature individuals, compared with that of freshwater-resident (37.8%) and anadromous trout (37.0%). The greater passage success of anadromous trout was likely due to their greater size and locomotory performance compared to the other phenotypes. Barriers and fishways can act as selection filters, likely the case in this study, and greater consideration needs to be given to supporting natural diversity in populations when proposing fishway designs to mitigate river connectivity problems.