Assessment of native fish passage through Brandon Road Lock and Dam, Des Plaines River, Illinois, using fin ray microchemistry

This study examined evidence of native fish passage through Brandon Road Lock and Dam (BRLD) on the Des Plaines River, Illinois, in light of proposed modifications to prevent the upstream passage of invasive carps. Direct evidence of upstream passage by native fishes at BRLD is lacking and could help to inform assessment of the impacts of barrier technology installation. Fin ray microchemistry was used to assess upstream BRLD passage in the native taxa Centrarchidae, Catostomidae, Ictaluridae, and Lepisosteidae. The fin ray edge strontium : calcium ratio (Sr:Ca) of fish sampled from the Des Plaines River upstream of BRLD and in rivers downstream of BRLD was used to characterize ranges of river-specific fin ray Sr:Ca for each taxon. These were applied to Sr:Ca data along a transect from fin ray core to edge to infer the environmental history of individual fish that were captured upstream from BRLD and to estimate the proportion of fish that had passed upstream through BRLD. Depending on the taxon, 6–37% of individuals sampled upstream from BRLD exhibited fin ray Sr:Ca indicating prior residency in rivers downstream of BRLD and therefore upstream passage through BRLD. Upstream passage was indeterminate for 19–91% of individuals in each taxon due to uncertainty in environmental history inferred from fin ray Sr:Ca. These results provide the first definitive evidence of upstream native fish passage at BRLD and suggest that the installation of barrier technology could have an impact on native fish.