Using Short-Lived Cyprinid Species to Detect Change in a Long Term Sturgeon Monitoring Program

Populations of long–lived, late maturing species like sturgeon are generally slow to respond to environmental change.  Relatively low annual reproduction and infrequency of spawning lead to slow population growth.  Long lifespans of such species may delay detection of population declines.   Slow population response creates challenges in correlating population trends to environmental factors and makes implementing appropriate management actions difficult.  Conversely, populations of short-lived species usually respond quickly to environmental change and are therefore used as biological indicators when appropriate.  We examined the feasibility of using short-lived cyprinids (Macrhybopsis spp.) to quickly detect change within an aquatic ecosystem and then looked at the appropriateness of drawing inferences to long-lived sturgeon species which inhabit the same system.