Dataset Information

River temperature drives salmon survivorship: is it determined prior to ocean entry?

ABSTRACT: Early life is believed to be a critical stage for determining survivorship in all fish. Many studies have suggested that environmental conditions in the ocean determine the fry-to-adult survival rate of Pacific salmon but few investigations have been conducted on the importance of the brief freshwater period during the seaward migration on overall survivorship. Here, we found that most of the variation in survivorship of hatchery-reared chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) was explained by river temperature during the fry stage, despite spending most of their life (approx. 99%) at sea. After the annual release of a constant number of fry, the number of fry moving through the river at a downstream location varied greatly. The number of returning adults was positively correlated with the number of fry moving downstream. This result suggests that most salmon mortality occurred prior to ocean entry, and that short-term mortality in the river is a key factor determining major fluctuations in total mortality. Although marine mortality is often invoked in the literature as a key factor determining total mortality of chum salmon, attention should also be paid to freshwater mortality to understand the population dynamics of this species.

SUBMITTER: Morita K

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4448787 | biostudies-other | 2015 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-other

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River temperature drives salmon survivorship: is it determined prior to ocean entry?

Morita Kentaro K Ayumi Nakashima N Kikuchi Motohiro M

Royal Society open science 20150128 1

Early life is believed to be a critical stage for determining survivorship in all fish. Many studies have suggested that environmental conditions in the ocean determine the fry-to-adult survival rate of Pacific salmon but few investigations have been conducted on the importance of the brief freshwater period during the seaward migration on overall survivorship. Here, we found that most of the variation in survivorship of hatchery-reared chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) was explained by river temp ...[more]

PMID: 26064583

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Project description:The long-term viability of Pacific salmon stocks and the fisheries they support are threatened if large numbers die prematurely en-route to spawning grounds. Physiological profiles that were correlated with the fate of wild sockeye salmon during river migration were discovered using functional genomics studies on biopsied tissues. Three independent biotelemetry studies tracked the biopsied fish after tagging in the marine environment over 200 km from the Fraser River, in the lower river 69 km from the river mouth and at the spawning grounds. Salmon carrying the poor performance (unhealthy) profile in the ocean exhibited a 4-times lower probability of arriving to spawning grounds than those with a healthy genomic signature, although generally migrated into the river and to the spawning grounds faster. A related unhealthy signature observed in the river was associated with a 30% reduction in survival to spawning grounds in one of the three stocks tested. At spawning grounds, the same poor performance signature was associated with twice the pre-spawning mortality compared with healthy fish. Functional analysis revealed that the unhealthy signature, which intensified during migration to spawning grounds, was consistent with an intracellular pathogenic infection, likely a virus. These results are the first to suggest a pathogen present in salmon in the marine environment could be a major source of mortality during migration and spawning in the river. This series is of gill expression profiles from the study of fish sampled and tagged in the ocean and tracked as they entered the river system and swam towards the spawning grounds. Fish were caught in seine nets, gastrically implanted with radio transmitters, and biopsy sampled for blood, gill, muscle, and fin. Individual fish were tracked by receivers placed throughout the Fraser River watershed to identify and fate (i.e. the location of the receiver that last detected the fish). Targeted stocks of interest were genetically identified. Gene expression was profiled in gill tissue, a critical respiratory and ionoregulatory organ that is highly responsive to stress, chemical exposure and disease. Gene expression was assayed on the GRASP salmonid 16K cDNA microarray.

Project description:Migratory salmon transit estuary habitats on their way out to the ocean but this phase of their life cycle is more poorly understood than other phases. The estuaries of large river systems in particular may support many populations and several species of salmon that originate from throughout the upstream river. The Skeena River of British Columbia, Canada, is a large river system with high salmon population- and species-level diversity. The estuary of the Skeena River is under pressure from industrial development, with two gas liquefaction terminals and a potash loading facility in various stages of environmental review processes, providing motivation for understanding the usage of the estuary by juvenile salmon. We conducted a juvenile salmonid sampling program throughout the Skeena River estuary in 2007 and 2013 to investigate the spatial and temporal distribution of different species and populations of salmon. We captured six species of juvenile anadromous salmonids throughout the estuary in both years, and found that areas proposed for development support some of the highest abundances of some species of salmon. Specifically, the highest abundances of sockeye (both years), Chinook in 2007, and coho salmon in 2013 were captured in areas proposed for development. For example, juvenile sockeye salmon were 2-8 times more abundant in the proposed development areas. Genetic stock assignment demonstrated that the Chinook salmon and most of the sockeye salmon that were captured originated from throughout the Skeena watershed, while some sockeye salmon came from the Nass, Stikine, Southeast Alaska, and coastal systems on the northern and central coasts of British Columbia. These fish support extensive commercial, recreational, and First Nations fisheries throughout the Skeena River and beyond. Our results demonstrate that estuary habitats integrate species and population diversity of salmon, and that if proposed development negatively affects the salmon populations that use the estuary, then numerous fisheries would also be negatively affected.

Dataset Information

River temperature drives salmon survivorship: is it determined prior to ocean entry?

Publications

River temperature drives salmon survivorship: is it determined prior to ocean entry?

Similar Datasets

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