Meet Danil-Asher Wellington
Danil-Asher, a Cornell University Sophomore, was able to study the habitat use of juvenile Lake Sturgeon in Oneida Lake during the summer of 2024 during his Forney Fellowship Internship. Lake Sturgeon have been stocked in Oneida Lake since 1995 as part of recovery efforts for this native charismatic mega-fauna. CBFS monitors adult sturgeon during their spawning season in May and June, but we don't have a standardized sampling effort for juveniles. We do catch juveniles during mid- to late-summer in other surveys that are not targeting sturgeon, particularly in specific areas of the lake. However, we are unsure if those juvenile hot spots are due to seasonal trends in juvenile sturgeon movement or if there are habitat features at those sites that always make them attractive for juveniles. Danil-Asher examined the seasonal trends in juvenile sturgeon as well as the habitat traits of areas with high juvenile catches. He did not find distinct differences in habitats with high juvenile catches and those with lower juvenile catches, and he was able to catch juvenile sturgeon throughout the summer. However, catches of juveniles at the site they are most abundant were higher later in the summer (late July) than earlier (June). Danil-Asher's project indicated that there may be a seasonal component to the high juvenile catches, however, we cannot rule out the idea that some habitat features differ between sites with high and low catches. We do not often have funds to specifically study sturgeon since they are not considered a sportfish. However, Forney Foundation Funds allow undergraduate researchers to ask some of the questions that would help us better understand the ecology of this species.
