Cooperative Ecosystem Studies Unit, Californian CESU

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The US Geological Survey, Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center (NOROCK), is offering a funding opportunity for research to understand life-history traits and conservation needs of freshwater fish species through the use of natural variation in strontium concentrations and isotope composition of stream waters and corresponding values recorded in otoliths of bull trout and lake trout. These naturally occurring geochemical signatures in otoliths have emerged as a powerful tool to determine natal origins and life histories of fish. By examining these otoliths, the desired outcome would be to identification of the natal origin and the reconstruction of environmental history of individual fish over their entire lifetime. The invasion and establishment of nonnative lake trout directly threatens the survival of the native bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout in Glacier National Park and the Flathead River Basin. The overall objective of this effort will be to describe seasonal movements, natal origins, and population structure of lake trout and bull trout in the Swan and Flathead systems

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