NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/581251
NOVEMBER 2015 • NEBRASKAland 49 female populations, called gynogens, are clones of the previous generation. After the sperm – most typically from a northern redbelly male – initiates development in the egg, the egg kicks out the male's genetic material so that every egg the female hybrid lays is a clone of herself. The original hybridization between northern redbelly and finescale dace was not recent, but perhaps occurred during post glaciation when the species became "scrunched" or conditions somehow became just right for this phenomenon to occur. "It's common for hybrids to make up a significant portion of the species assemblage, even without the presence of the finescale parental species," Gerdes said. "Though they're hybrids and therefore fall short of a species status, these hybrids are typically found co-existing with these other relict species, and their presence still may serve as an important indicator of the quality and condition of those stream systems." Though Gerdes is still in the writing and data analysis phase of research, ultimately she hopes her data will give a clearer picture of the distribution and habitat preferences of the target species within the study streams of the Keya Paha Watershed. Furthermore, much like Felts's research that spawned Gerdes's research, John Lorenzen, one of the technicians that assisted in sampling during the first summer, has continued on to begin his own research. "John is building fish ladders to attach to culverts. He had a season where he just lab tested them and tried different widths and designs to see which was most passable. Now they're being field tested, and it is super cool. It's neat to see how the initial project has built up for more," Gerdes said. The Land and People Though the fish were interesting, the field work was memorable for many other reasons. Before sampling, Gerdes and her researchers spent a lot of time knocking on doors. All three study streams were located on private land, and gaining permission from landowners to access those streams was crucial in getting the study off the ground. "At first, I think they thought we were crazy, and then they just thought we were really weird, and then they started to ask questions about it. Water is always a contentious issue in this part of the world. And so for us to show up in a government vehicle and they don't know us from Adam and say, 'Hey, can we go catch fish in your stream?' was really a huge leap of trust. Some people were really uncomfortable with it at first, but we were open about what we were doing the whole time," Gerdes said. Thanks to generous landowners, Gerdes was able to gain sufficient access and a comprehensive picture of all three streams. Prior to this study, Gerdes had no background in fisheries biology. But as a farm bill wildlife biologist with Pheasants Forever, she does know landowners. "As wildlife biologists, as stream ecologists, as fisheries biologists, we are wired to go out and work with people to do projects that benefit both the landowner and the wildlife," Gerdes said. Gerdes recalled an older landowner name Viola Keszler. "She said, 'You betcha. You can go and sample in the stream, but sit down and have a visit for a while.' We wandered through the backyard with her son and her grandson and we stood in the backyard for three or four hours, talking. "About halfway through, she looked at us and said – after she had told us a lot about her family and the place, 'You know, a lot of times I worry about who's going to tell our story.' I know it kind of resonated with us that day. "Learning about the fish was cool – the more we learn about them, the more unique and spectacular they become. That they've been able to persist for thousands of years as the whole landscape around them dramatically changed is incredible. But the place where these fish are located is completely special in its own right. And it all worked together." ■ Blacknose Shiner G erdes also sampled for the blacknose shiner, which existed in abundance in prairie streams before the settlement of the Great Plains and is an important indicator species of high water quality. Completely intolerant to turbid water and pollution, and requiring clean, cool and well- oxygenated streams to live in, the blacknose shiner's range has shrunken considerably compared to their historic range in South Dakota and Nebraska. "There are so few of them left," Gerdes said. "We found six of them, which weren't even in our study streams. They were in a stream to the west of our study streams and all we were able to do was get a presence record from that. But it's good to know that they're there." Little research was conducted on the blacknose shiner in the southern portion of its range while it was still a common species. Though they remain abundant in their northern range in southern Canada from Saskatchewan to Nova Scotia, this species of minnow is disappearing in its southern range, which historically extended south to Missouri and Ohio. "Although the water in the streams may be passable for the dace, maybe it had degraded just enough to where it was past the threshold for the blacknose shiner," Gerdes said. s s s e mer,