Abstract
As part of the Shenandoah National Park: Fish in Sensitive Habitats (SNP: FISH) project, movements of blacknose dace (Rhinichthys atratulus) and brook char (Salvelinus fontinalis) were examined during exposure to artificial acidification in paired channels of a laboratory stream. The objective of this study was to determine the ability of the fish to avoid depressions in the ambient pH and recognize and use a neutral-pH microhabitat refuge during acute reductions. Fish preference for a particular channel was statistically predictable based on the delivery of food. We tested fish avoidance behavior by manipulating food and the delivery of a pulse of acidified water. Both blacknose dace and brook char avoided the acid pulse (ambient pH reduced from 7.2 to 5.1) by sheltering in the pH-neutral refuge. Extensive field sampling in refuge microhabitats before and during episodic acidification is needed to determine changes in the distributional patterns of these species associated with acid precipitation events.
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