A comprehensive search and assessment of pertinent literature was conducted to determine deficiencies in knowledge with respect to fish and their habitat in northern Canada. Particular emphasis was placed on regions where diamond mining is occurring because of the need to assess the importance of fish habitat that will be affected and to address mitigation, compensatory and restorative measures.
This document comprises details of literature searches for a review of the biology and ecology of selected fish species in Arctic Canada. It includes information on various aspects of the biology and ecology of seven species of fish commonly found in streams and lakes of the Lac de Gras watershed of the Northwest Territories. Details of the searches include information on fish distribution, habitat preferences, diet, seasonal changes, behavior, physiology, life cycle stages, residency and migratory behavior, species associations, limiting factors, tolerance and resistance to stressors, and critical habitat requirements. The search also included aspects of watershed ecology, cumulative effects of habitat change, and habitat compensation and restoration strategies.
The assessment of information obtained from the searches is presented elsewhere (Birtwell et al. 2005a, 2005b).
The databases that were searched included Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Abstracts (ASFA), Oceanic Abstracts (OA), Conference Papers Index (CPI), and WAVES (bibliographic information relating to fisheries, aquatic sciences, and nautical sciences currently in the collections of the Fisheries and Oceans Canada libraries). A significant number of relevant records were also obtained from other electronic searches on the Internet. Numerous review articles also provided a significant number of references relevant to this project. Over 3000 records were retrieved. All records were entered into Procite® software and are presented in this document.