The Fish Site
27 January 2015
US – US Fisheries scientists have discovered that oxygen-depleted dead zones between dams in the upper Missouri River are directly linked with the failure of the endangered pallid sturgeon hatched embryos to survive to adulthood.
Pallid sturgeon come from a genetic line that has lived on this planet for tens of millions of years; yet it has been decades since anyone has documented any of the enormous fish successfully producing young that survive to adulthood in the upper Missouri River basin.
Now, fisheries scientists with the US Geological Survey, Montana State University and the US Fish and Wildlife Service have shown why, detailing for the first time the biological mechanism that has caused the long decline of pallid sturgeon in the Missouri River and led to its being placed on the endangered species list 25 years ago.
In a paper published this week in the journal Fisheries, the scientists show that oxygen-depleted dead zones between dams in the upper Missouri River are directly linked with the failure of endangered pallid sturgeon hatched embryos to survive to adulthood.
“This research is a notable breakthrough in identifying the reason why pallid sturgeon in the Missouri River have been declining for so many decades,” said Suzette Kimball, acting director of the USGS. “By pinpointing the biological mechanism responsible for the species’ decline, resource managers have vital information they can use as a focus of pallid sturgeon conservation.”