The thermal regime and species composition of fish and invertebrates in Kelly Warm Spring, Grand Teton National Park, WY-Data

We evaluated the thermal regime and relative abundance of native and non-native fish and invertebrates within Kelly Warm Spring and Savage Ditch, Grand Teton National Park, Wyoming. Water temperatures within the system remained relatively warm year round with mean temperatures less than 20 degrees Celsius near the source, and greater than 5 degress Celsius approximately 2 km downstream of the spring source. A total of 5 non-native species were collected; Convict/Zebra Cichlids (Cichlasoma nigrofasciatum), Green Swordtail (Xiphophorus hellerii), Tadpole Madtom (Noturus gyrinus), Guppies (Poecilia reticulate), and Goldfish (Carassius auratus). Non-native fish (Zebra Cichlids and Swordtails), red-rimmed melania snails and bullfrog tadpoles (Lithobates catesbeianus) dominated the upper 2 km of the system. Abundance estimates of the Zebra Cichlid exceeded 12,000 fish/kilometer immediately downstream of the spring source. Relative abundance of native species increased moving downstream as water temperatures attenuated with distance from the thermally warmed spring source; however, non-native species were captured 4 km downstream from the spring. Fish diseases were prevalent in both native and non-native fish from the KWS pond. Clinostomum marginatum a Trematode parasite was found in native species samples, and the tapeworm Diphyllobothrium dendriticum was present in samples from non-native species. Diphyllobothrium
dendriticum is rare within Wyoming. The Salmonella spp. bacterium was also found in some samples of non-native species, is associated with aquarium fish and aquaculture, and is generally not found in the wild.