Underwater acoustic telemetry positioning is widely used to track the fine-scale movements of aquatic animals. In study areas near acoustically reflective surfaces, reflected transmissions may cause large detection outliers that can severely reduce the accuracy of positioning models. A novel time-of-arrival model for telemetry positioning is presented that utilizes a population Monte Carlo algorithm to solve positions (termed PMC-TOA). Telemetry detection error is modelled as a mixture distribution, allowing reflected detections to be identified and positions to be estimated despite their presence. Importantly, the PMC-TOA model provides good measures of positioning uncertainty, facilitating the use of post-processing state-space models to further refine position estimates. A simulated telemetry study is used to validate the PMC-TOA model and compare its performance to a conventional time-difference-of-arrival positioning model. A real case study on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) smolt passage behaviour is further used to demonstrate how PMC-TOA can be combined with post-processing models to produce high-resolution tracks. The resulting tracks are compared against those resulting from YAPS and TDOA positioning. The PMC-TOA model was shown to work well as either (i) a pre-processing step to remove reflected transmissions from time-of-arrival datasets, or (ii) a fast and accurate positioning method when paired with a post-processing state-space model. Positions returned by the model can be further used for animal movement statistics, allowing researchers to test the effects of experimental or environmental factors on the fine-scaled movement behaviours of aquatic animals in acoustically challenging environments. 

Hydropower is a vital renewable energy source but has substantial ecological impacts on rivers, lakes, and surrounding ecosystems. It alters hydrogeomorphology, disrupts connectivity, and changes water physicochemical properties such as temperature and dissolved gas concentrations. Historically, the environmental impact has been of less concern compared to energy production, and there is an urgent need to adapt hydropower production to reduce impacts on aquatic ecosystems. While various mitigation measures exist, a systematic understanding of their efficiency is lacking. Here, we extensively review both the environmental effects of hydropower and the scientific base for mitigation measures. We then list key abiotic and biological candidates for systematic monitoring before outlining a programmatic monitoring approach to evaluate the efficiency of mitigation measures. This programmatic monitoring approach involves monitoring packages based on specific mitigation measures. A set of abiotic parameters and biological indicators are monitored with standardized methods and monitoring designs over the long-term and at several sites, covering different river types and hydropower configurations. The proposed program serves to inform ongoing and future remedial measures, expand our mechanistic understanding of the ecological effects, facilitate knowledge transfer, and allow for more reductionist monitoring approaches outside of the program.

Migration is critical for life-cycle completion in diadromous fish species. River connectivity is vital in facilitating these large-scale movement events, but the extent of present-day river fragmentation can interfere with these migrations. Fish passage solutions (FPSs) are commonly implemented with the aim of improving river connectivity. In our study, we investigated the performance of two types of FPSs, spill regimes and complete dam removal, on Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) smolt migrations. We used acoustic telemetry to monitor migration behavior and passage success of 120 wild smolts released in three different groups/sites: one group with two dams to pass to reach the river mouth, a second group with one dam to pass, and a control group without any barriers to pass (upstream of a recently removed hydroelectric dam). Smolt passage probabilities were similar for the two studied dams (87% and 86%) but showed variation in path choice, delay times, and loss rates. Passage success was influenced by several factors, such as body size, diel period, and water temperature, but not flow. Cumulative passage success to the river mouth was 61%, with most individuals being lost within lentic river stretches, either in the forebays of hydroelectric power stations or in naturally wide river stretches. Within the recently rehabilitated river sections (post dam removal), passage speeds were significantly faster than all other sections of the river (post-rehabilitation x<overline> = 56.1 km/day) with significantly faster speeds compared to pre-rehabilitation (pre-x<overline> = 28.0 km/day). Our findings provide valuable information on the benefits of dam removal and highlight the need for further rehabilitation measures in upriver reaches where barriers still affect downstream passage.

The size structure of populations is crucial for predator–prey dynamics and ecosystem function. Anthropogenic pressures such as habitat alteration may affect the demography of many species. We investigated the size structure of European perch (Perca fluviatilis) populations in lakes before and after dam removal by using the planned removals of multiple dams in the outlets of boreal lakes in central Sweden as a natural experiment. In five lakes from which we had obtained data both before and after dam removal, removal resulted in a reduced abundance of small perch and an increase in body size of large, piscivorous perch, but there was no major effect on perch biomass. In a second comparison of 22 lakes where we only had access to data from either before or after removal, the effects were not as evident. We suggest that a plausible mechanism explaining a potential effect on perch demography was alterations in the predator–prey dynamics caused by changes in refuge habitat area for small fish. Specifically, dam removal caused a reduction of aquatic plant coverage. Large piscivorous fish are known to play a crucial regulatory role in controlling lake ecosystem function. Thus, we suggest that lake outlet dam removal may induce processes leading to positive effects on fish populations and ecosystem state. Moreover, our study emphasises the importance of before versus after studies to evaluate restoration measures. 

Biomagnification of environmental toxins is influenced by food chain length, which in turn is shaped by habitat connectivity and food web dynamics. Dam removals are increasingly used as restoration measures, yet their role in reducing contaminant exposure has rarely been quantified. We tested if mercury concentration in pike (Esox lucius) muscle tissue was reduced by removals of lake outlet dams in five oligotrophic, boreal lakes, using a before-after design. For pike of average size (50 cm), mean mercury concentration decreased from 843 to 598 mu g Hg per kg muscle tissue following dam removal, which corresponds to a 29% reduction. These results show that dam removal can lower mercury bioaccumulation in apex predators, providing an additional conservation benefit of restoring natural aquatic connectivity, with positive implications for both ecosystem integrity and human health.

Populations of the European eel (Anguilla anguilla), a critically endangered species, have been severely impacted by migration barriers, as losses due to turbine-induced mortality can be substantial. To prevent eels from entering turbines, effective guidance systems are needed to redirect downstream-migrating eels towards safer alternative passage routes. Although physical guidance screens may have very high guidance efficiencies, these generally come with high construction and maintenance costs and are difficult to scale up to large rivers. Behavioural guidance systems are typically less costly, but have often been ineffective. Hence, more work is needed to identify more effective behavioural solutions or physical barriers that are less costly to upscale. In this study, we assessed the performance of a physical net barrier (23 mm mesh size) and a behavioural bubble curtain guidance solution, for downstream-migrating eels and compared these with a guidance-free control at four different water velocities (0.1, 0.4, 0.7 and 1 m/s) in a large experimental flume using PIT-telemetry and video. The overall passage rate with the net barrier was 68 % higher than during the control treatment, whereas there was no significant difference between the bubble curtain and the control. We also found an effect of eel body size, where larger eels were less likely to enter the bypass than smaller eels. Velocity did not influence passage rate. Video data, in addition, revealed that b guidance along the barrier was greater, and passes through the barrier fewer, for the net barrier than for the bubble curtain and the control. The results suggest that net guidance solution for downstream guidance of eels should be explored further, whereas the bubble curtain does not appear appropriate for eel guidance.

Hydropower dams come with high ecological and social costs, not least concerning longitudinal connectivity in rivers, which causes declines and sometimes local extinctions of fish species. Fishways are widely used to allow fish to pass dams, but their efficiency is highly variable between species and sites. Many species, and at places entire fish communities, remain understudied, likely hindering the implementation of effective remedial measures. Here, we studied fish passage behaviour in a vertical slot fishway in the Po River, Italy. Almost 1000 individual fish of nine species, representing the local fish community, were tagged and released within and downstream of the fishway. The only species passing the fishway at relatively high numbers were potamodromous barbel and Italian chub, and for these species passage success was positively related to fish size. Passage was more likely to occur at night than during the day for barbel, but not for chub. In relation to the dispersal of invasive species, it is noteworthy that a few individuals of wels catfish and common carp passed the fishway.

Parasites often have a large impact on their hosts and can alter host phenotype to increase their own fitness, a phenomenon known as extended phenotype. Studies demonstrating extended phenotype for non-trophically transmitted parasites are scarce. Unionid mussels have a parasitic life stage adapted to parasitize fish which can affect host behavior, habitat use and growth rates, raising the question if parasitic freshwater mussels can also manipulate their host fish to compensate for downstream dispersal and to reach habitats favorable for newly excysted juvenile mussels. Wild-caught, parasite-na & iuml;ve juvenile brown trout (Salmo trutta) were PIT-tagged, and half of the individuals were infested with parasitic larvae from the freshwater pearl mussel (Margaritifera margaritifera), all individuals were then returned to their home stream. During the following year, trout were tracked to investigate movement and habitat use, and also periodically recaptured to measure growth and body condition factor. The infested trout showed significantly higher upstream movement than non-infested trout and were more often recaptured in stream sections with slow-moving shallow water, particularly during the parasite excystment period (270 d post infestation). These data suggest that the juvenile mussels were successfully transported an average of 170 m upstream from the host trout release points to stream sections favorable for adult mussels. Infested trout survived as well as the non-infested, but had a significantly lower specific growth rate than non-infested trout. These results indicate a first example of extended phenotype in unionid mussels and highlight the importance of understanding glochidia-induced changes to host fish behavioral ecology. Parasites often manipulate host behavior to increase their reproductive success, but studies on this phenomenon typically focus on parasites which lead to the eventual death of their host, an effect that parasitic freshwater mussels generally do not have. Here, we show that parasitic freshwater mussel larvae manipulate host fish into swimming further upriver to habitats well suited for the next stage of their lifecycle.

Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar), brown trout (Salmo trutta), and steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss) kelts have important conservation value for population resilience. Nonetheless, relative to other salmonid life-stages, knowledge on their behavior and survival is poor. This is especially true for kelt downstream migration in rivers fragmented by hydropower plants (HPP), even though the physiological and survival consequences are severe when functional connectivity is not provided. Here, the existing information about kelt downstream migration past HPP was summarized, beginning with an overview of iteroparous salmonid lifecycles. Then, the importance of kelts for conservation and the threats they encounter while migrating was discussed. Finally, the current corpus of peer-reviewed literature and reports focused on kelt migration in these systems was presented. Kelt studies have focused on five main themes: (1) postspawning survival, (2) migration delays before dam passage, (3) passage selection and guidance efficiency, (4) passage mortality, and (5) the swimming behaviors of kelts during migration. Overall, there was a paucity of information about kelts and several information gaps and needs for future research. This work should inform scientists and river managers on the conservation of salmonids in regulated rivers, including the development of passage solutions for safe downstream migration.

Over the past decade, acoustic telemetry has become commonplace in studies on fish movement and behaviour. Over small spatial scales, arrays of acoustic receivers can be used to estimate movement paths in 2- or 3-dimensions with high temporal resolutions. Despite the growing prevalence of acoustic telemetry arrays, guidelines on how to generate robust position estimates—and further utilize this data in animal movement models such as hidden Markov models or step selection functions—are sparse. As animal movement models generally require either true positions or accurately specified spatial error distributions, understanding positioning error is crucial for behavioural inference. Here, current methods of telemetry positioning are reviewed. Simulated case studies are used to highlight the effect of state space model parameter selection on positioning accuracy, and in turn, the fitting of animal movement models.