Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier

Mawer, Rachel; Elings, Jelger; Bruneel, Stijn P.; Pauwels, Ine S.; Pickholtz, Eliezer; Pickholtz, Renanel; Coeck, Johan; Goethals, Peter L.M.

doi:10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102967

Journal article 41 views 3 downloads

Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier

Rachel Mawer

, Jelger Elings, Stijn P. Bruneel, Ine S. Pauwels, Eliezer Pickholtz, Renanel Pickholtz, Johan Coeck, Peter L.M. Goethals

Ecological Informatics, Volume: 85, Start page: 102967

Swansea University Author: Rachel Mawer

PDF | Version of Record

© 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY license.
Download (6.9MB)

Check full text

DOI (Published version): 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102967

Abstract

Riverine barriers are threatening freshwater fish migration, with major impacts on fish populations. Effective management requires understanding of fish movement and behaviour as they approach a barrier and fish pass, which can inform optimal mitigation options and barrier management. Here, the move...

Full description

Published in:	Ecological Informatics
ISSN:	1574-9541
Published:	Elsevier BV 2025
Online Access:	Check full text
URI:	https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/Record/cronfa71540

first_indexed	2026-03-04T16:01:35Z
last_indexed	2026-04-10T10:29:40Z
id	cronfa71540
recordtype	SURis
fullrecord	<?xml version="1.0"?><rfc1807><datestamp>2026-04-09T15:34:01.9462885</datestamp><bib-version>v2</bib-version><id>71540</id><entry>2026-03-04</entry><title>Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier</title><swanseaauthors><author><sid>b326ca8a689948f5f72cea5d46cf2194</sid><ORCID>0009-0003-0114-9691</ORCID><firstname>Rachel</firstname><surname>Mawer</surname><name>Rachel Mawer</name><active>true</active><ethesisStudent>false</ethesisStudent></author></swanseaauthors><date>2026-03-04</date><deptcode>BGPS</deptcode><abstract>Riverine barriers are threatening freshwater fish migration, with major impacts on fish populations. Effective management requires understanding of fish movement and behaviour as they approach a barrier and fish pass, which can inform optimal mitigation options and barrier management. Here, the movements of upstream migrating barbel Barbus barbus and grayling Thymallus thymallus near a barrier were analysed and results used to develop predictive models. Fish were tracked via 2D acoustic telemetry. Hidden Markov models were used to distinguish behavioural states and step selection functions were applied to determine habitat selection by the fish in each state. Model results were explored to assess the benefits of including behavioural state and understand state-specific habitat preferences, then cross-validated and used to develop an individual based model to predict fish spatial usage. Little difference existed in habitat selection between states and individual variation was high, limiting general trends that could be described. Overall, barbel preferred deeper or faster water while for grayling, few trends could be described. Under the tested flow conditions, high spatial usage was predicted in the area directly downstream of the barrier. In addition, barbel usage was high in the area by and downstream of the fish pass entrance but not for grayling, which may indicate a need to improve pass attractiveness for grayling. The predictive model produced directed upstream movements of fish similar to those expected for upstream migrating freshwater fish, highlighting model potential for fish passage applications in future iterations. The high individual variability in fish behaviour drives the need for individual-based approaches for predicting fish movement.</abstract><type>Journal Article</type><journal>Ecological Informatics</journal><volume>85</volume><journalNumber/><paginationStart>102967</paginationStart><paginationEnd/><publisher>Elsevier BV</publisher><placeOfPublication/><isbnPrint/><isbnElectronic/><issnPrint>1574-9541</issnPrint><issnElectronic/><keywords>Step selection functions; Acoustic telemetry; Hydropower; Individual based model; Fine-scale telemetry; Fish migration</keywords><publishedDay>1</publishedDay><publishedMonth>3</publishedMonth><publishedYear>2025</publishedYear><publishedDate>2025-03-01</publishedDate><doi>10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102967</doi><url/><notes/><college>COLLEGE NANME</college><department>Biosciences Geography and Physics School</department><CollegeCode>COLLEGE CODE</CollegeCode><DepartmentCode>BGPS</DepartmentCode><institution>Swansea University</institution><apcterm>Another institution paid the OA fee</apcterm><funders>The project has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, Grant Agreement No. 860800. The study setup and data collection were funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 (H2020) research and innovation program FITHydro (https://www.fithydro.wiki/index.php), under Grant Agreement No. 727830.</funders><projectreference/><lastEdited>2026-04-09T15:34:01.9462885</lastEdited><Created>2026-03-04T14:32:47.6050983</Created><path><level id="1">Faculty of Science and Engineering</level><level id="2">School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences</level></path><authors><author><firstname>Rachel</firstname><surname>Mawer</surname><orcid>0009-0003-0114-9691</orcid><order>1</order></author><author><firstname>Jelger</firstname><surname>Elings</surname><order>2</order></author><author><firstname>Stijn P.</firstname><surname>Bruneel</surname><order>3</order></author><author><firstname>Ine S.</firstname><surname>Pauwels</surname><order>4</order></author><author><firstname>Eliezer</firstname><surname>Pickholtz</surname><order>5</order></author><author><firstname>Renanel</firstname><surname>Pickholtz</surname><order>6</order></author><author><firstname>Johan</firstname><surname>Coeck</surname><order>7</order></author><author><firstname>Peter L.M.</firstname><surname>Goethals</surname><order>8</order></author></authors><documents><document><filename>71540__36484__5874db929841496eab00832e33aecf21.pdf</filename><originalFilename>71540.VoR.pdf</originalFilename><uploaded>2026-04-09T15:32:47.6039025</uploaded><type>Output</type><contentLength>7231849</contentLength><contentType>application/pdf</contentType><version>Version of Record</version><cronfaStatus>true</cronfaStatus><documentNotes>© 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY license.</documentNotes><copyrightCorrect>true</copyrightCorrect><language>eng</language><licence>http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</licence></document></documents><OutputDurs/></rfc1807>
spelling	2026-04-09T15:34:01.9462885 v2 71540 2026-03-04 Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier b326ca8a689948f5f72cea5d46cf2194 0009-0003-0114-9691 Rachel Mawer Rachel Mawer true false 2026-03-04 BGPS Riverine barriers are threatening freshwater fish migration, with major impacts on fish populations. Effective management requires understanding of fish movement and behaviour as they approach a barrier and fish pass, which can inform optimal mitigation options and barrier management. Here, the movements of upstream migrating barbel Barbus barbus and grayling Thymallus thymallus near a barrier were analysed and results used to develop predictive models. Fish were tracked via 2D acoustic telemetry. Hidden Markov models were used to distinguish behavioural states and step selection functions were applied to determine habitat selection by the fish in each state. Model results were explored to assess the benefits of including behavioural state and understand state-specific habitat preferences, then cross-validated and used to develop an individual based model to predict fish spatial usage. Little difference existed in habitat selection between states and individual variation was high, limiting general trends that could be described. Overall, barbel preferred deeper or faster water while for grayling, few trends could be described. Under the tested flow conditions, high spatial usage was predicted in the area directly downstream of the barrier. In addition, barbel usage was high in the area by and downstream of the fish pass entrance but not for grayling, which may indicate a need to improve pass attractiveness for grayling. The predictive model produced directed upstream movements of fish similar to those expected for upstream migrating freshwater fish, highlighting model potential for fish passage applications in future iterations. The high individual variability in fish behaviour drives the need for individual-based approaches for predicting fish movement. Journal Article Ecological Informatics 85 102967 Elsevier BV 1574-9541 Step selection functions; Acoustic telemetry; Hydropower; Individual based model; Fine-scale telemetry; Fish migration 1 3 2025 2025-03-01 10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102967 COLLEGE NANME Biosciences Geography and Physics School COLLEGE CODE BGPS Swansea University Another institution paid the OA fee The project has received funding from the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie Actions, Grant Agreement No. 860800. The study setup and data collection were funded by the European Union's Horizon 2020 (H2020) research and innovation program FITHydro (https://www.fithydro.wiki/index.php), under Grant Agreement No. 727830. 2026-04-09T15:34:01.9462885 2026-03-04T14:32:47.6050983 Faculty of Science and Engineering School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences Rachel Mawer 0009-0003-0114-9691 1 Jelger Elings 2 Stijn P. Bruneel 3 Ine S. Pauwels 4 Eliezer Pickholtz 5 Renanel Pickholtz 6 Johan Coeck 7 Peter L.M. Goethals 8 71540__36484__5874db929841496eab00832e33aecf21.pdf 71540.VoR.pdf 2026-04-09T15:32:47.6039025 Output 7231849 application/pdf Version of Record true © 2024 The Authors. This is an open access article under the CC BY license. true eng http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/
title	Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier
spellingShingle	Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier Rachel Mawer
title_short	Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier
title_full	Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier
title_fullStr	Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier
title_full_unstemmed	Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier
title_sort	Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier
author_id_str_mv	b326ca8a689948f5f72cea5d46cf2194
author_id_fullname_str_mv	b326ca8a689948f5f72cea5d46cf2194_***_Rachel Mawer
author	Rachel Mawer
author2	Rachel Mawer Jelger Elings Stijn P. Bruneel Ine S. Pauwels Eliezer Pickholtz Renanel Pickholtz Johan Coeck Peter L.M. Goethals
format	Journal article
container_title	Ecological Informatics
container_volume	85
container_start_page	102967
publishDate	2025
institution	Swansea University
issn	1574-9541
doi_str_mv	10.1016/j.ecoinf.2024.102967
publisher	Elsevier BV
college_str	Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchytype
hierarchy_top_id	facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_top_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
hierarchy_parent_id	facultyofscienceandengineering
hierarchy_parent_title	Faculty of Science and Engineering
department_str	School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences{{{_:::_}}}Faculty of Science and Engineering{{{_:::_}}}School of Biosciences, Geography and Physics - Biosciences
document_store_str	1
active_str	0
description	Riverine barriers are threatening freshwater fish migration, with major impacts on fish populations. Effective management requires understanding of fish movement and behaviour as they approach a barrier and fish pass, which can inform optimal mitigation options and barrier management. Here, the movements of upstream migrating barbel Barbus barbus and grayling Thymallus thymallus near a barrier were analysed and results used to develop predictive models. Fish were tracked via 2D acoustic telemetry. Hidden Markov models were used to distinguish behavioural states and step selection functions were applied to determine habitat selection by the fish in each state. Model results were explored to assess the benefits of including behavioural state and understand state-specific habitat preferences, then cross-validated and used to develop an individual based model to predict fish spatial usage. Little difference existed in habitat selection between states and individual variation was high, limiting general trends that could be described. Overall, barbel preferred deeper or faster water while for grayling, few trends could be described. Under the tested flow conditions, high spatial usage was predicted in the area directly downstream of the barrier. In addition, barbel usage was high in the area by and downstream of the fish pass entrance but not for grayling, which may indicate a need to improve pass attractiveness for grayling. The predictive model produced directed upstream movements of fish similar to those expected for upstream migrating freshwater fish, highlighting model potential for fish passage applications in future iterations. The high individual variability in fish behaviour drives the need for individual-based approaches for predicting fish movement.
published_date	2025-03-01T05:51:49Z
_version_	1862148407120887808
score	11.101457

Combining habitat selection, behavioural states, and individual variation to predict fish spatial usage near a barrier

Similar Items