Comparative Ecology Of Stream Dwelling And Estuarine Juvenile Coho Salmon Oncorhynchus Kisutch In Carnation Creek Vancouver Island British Columbia Microform

Author : Kailan F. Mackereth
Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 44 pages
Book Rating : 4.:/5 (946 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!

Download or read book Juvenile Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus Kisutch) Diet in Brackish and Freshwater Habitats in the Stream-estuary Ecotones of Coos Bay, Oregon written by Kailan F. Mackereth and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 44 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Loss of lowland estuarine and freshwater off-channel habitats along the Pacific Northwest coast has contributed to the decline of salmonid populations. These habitats serve as nursery grounds for juvenile salmonids providing them with food, winter shelter, and a transition zone between freshwater and saltwater. Lowland areas have undergone anthropogenic alterations (e.g., installation of tide gates, construction of dikes, channelization) to increase the net area of land suitable for agriculture and development resulting in watershed fragmentation and reduction in the amount of habitats with high intrinsic potential to support populations of juvenile salmonids. Until recent years, sub-yearling coho salmon found in lowland riverine habitats and estuarine marshes were assumed to have been displaced from optimal upland reaches by competition and high water discharge. Recent studies have concluded that early estuarine migrant behavior is volitional and these fish return as 20-40% of the spawning population, but there are few studies that delve into the capacity of estuarine habitat to support early estuarine life history strategies in systems heavily altered by human practices. This study documented differences in diet and condition factor (K) between sub-yearling and yearling coho salmon foraging concurrently in brackish or freshwater lowland habitat of the upper estuarine intertidal zone. Fish stomach contents were sampled by means of gastric lavage in three coastal lowland creeks in Coos Bay on the southern Oregon coast. Prey found in the samples were sorted, counted, identified, and dried to obtain dry weight biomass. Condition factor (K) and total dry weight prey biomass of fishes were not different between brackish and freshwater habitat; however, non-metric multidimensional scaling indicated that prey composition was substantially different between habitat and age class. These findings suggest that early migrating sub-yearlings and yearling smolts diverge in their diets whether they occupy the same or different habitats in the stream to estuary transition zone. Insects were important prey within the diets of yearling and sub-yearling freshwater foragers and sub-yearling brackish water foragers while crustaceans were important in the diets of yearling brackish water foragers. Future research exploring prey abundance and availability in relation to prey selected by juvenile coho salmon would denote habitat foraging quality and habitat exploitation by early estuarine migrants. Expanding this research to contrast natural intertidal habitats with those regulated by tide gates would be beneficial towards understanding the impact different styles of tide gates have on biotic communities and hydrological attributes (e.g., flow, chemistry, temperature, tidal exchange). Identification of factors that influence habitat selection in the stream-estuary ecotone by alternative early life history strategies of juvenile coho salmon is essential towards enhancing genetic diversity thereby strengthening the resiliency of the population.