Food habits of some estuarine fishes in a small, seasonal central California lagoon

ScholarWorks, Sjsu; Martin, John A.

doi:10.31979/etd.4fka-yr75

Cited by 4 publications

(5 citation statements)

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“…Bioenergetics studies have shown that the net effect of elevated water temperature on juvenile salmonid growth is dependent upon food consumption rates (Boughton et al 2007;Myrvold and Kennedy 2015; although see Viant et al 2003) and the variability in metabolic costs associated with accessing habitats with abundant prey (Armstrong et al 2013;Brewitt et al 2017). While we did not quantify temporal changes in prey availability or consumption rates by lagoon-rearing steelhead, community and food habit investigations conducted in nearby Pescadero Creek estuary/lagoon (San Mateo County, CA, USA) demonstrated that both invertebrate density and richness (Robinson 1993) and juvenile steelhead stomach fullness (Martin 1995) were high in the lower lagoon following sandbar 2018) were 20 June-12 July (phase 1), 13 July-8 August (phase 2), 9 August-7 September (phase 3), and 8 September-20 November (phase 4) formation and subsequently declined following stratification of the water column. We propose that high rates of secondary production in the Scott Creek lagoon during summer (phases 1 and 2) may have helped mitigate the negative effects of high water temperature on steelhead growth in the short term, as recently demonstrated for juvenile coho salmon rearing in a northern California river (Lusardi et al 2020).…”

Section: Steelhead Abundance and Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal Variability in Environmental Conditions Influences the Performance and Behavior of Juvenile Steelhead in a Coastal California Lagoon

Bond

Kiernan

Osterback

et al. 2021

Estuaries and Coasts

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In California (USA), seasonal lagoons provide important oversummer rearing habitat for juvenile steelhead trout (anadromous Oncorhynchus mykiss). However, key water quality parameters such as temperature and dissolved oxygen concentration can periodically approach or exceed the physiological tolerances of steelhead during the protracted dry season. A field study employing distributed temperature sensing technology, water quality monitoring, habitat mapping, and mark-recapture sampling was conducted to examine how shifting environmental conditions affected the performance and behavior of juvenile steelhead in the Scott Creek estuary/lagoon (Santa Cruz County). Abiotic conditions were driven by episodic inputs of seawater to the typically freshwater lagoon. During midsummer, the water column was vertically stratified which reduced suitable lagoon rearing habitat by approximately 40%. Nevertheless, steelhead abundance, growth, and condition factor were high during the summer and decreased in autumn following lagoon destratification and cooling. Unlike previous work, this study identified limited emigration from the lagoon to riverine habitat during the summer. Instead, juvenile steelhead exhibited crepuscular movement patterns within the lagoon, with peaks in upstream (to upper lagoon habitat) and downstream (to lower lagoon habitat) movement occurring at dawn and dusk, respectively. This study underscores that habitat complexity and connectivity are critical for juvenile steelhead production and persistence and provides insight into steelhead habitat use and behavior in seasonal lagoons.

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Section: Steelhead Abundance and Performancementioning

confidence: 99%

Spatiotemporal Variability in Environmental Conditions Influences the Performance and Behavior of Juvenile Steelhead in a Coastal California Lagoon

Bond

Kiernan

Osterback

et al. 2021

Estuaries and Coasts

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“…Intermittently closed estuaries create a conundrum for diadromous fish. Although often considered productive, estuarine closure events not only prevent migration between the ocean and the river but also can cause unfavorable (Robinson 1993;Martin 1995) or deadly conditions (Sloan 2006;Lill et al 2012;Moreira et al 2014). Furthermore, growth rates of juvenile steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss rearing in ICEs have been among the highest reported in the literature for the species and are much higher than those of their upstream counterparts (Bond 2006;Hayes et al 2008).…”

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confidence: 99%

Juvenile Steelhead Locate Coldwater Refugia in an Intermittently Closed Estuary

Matsubu

Simenstad

Horton³

2017

Trans Am Fish Soc

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Many coastal estuaries in Mediterranean climates are susceptible to inlet closures resulting from barrier beach formation. These closures are ecologically important because they eliminate tidal exchange and connectivity of nekton movement to the coastal ocean and, depending on closure duration, can convert a dynamic estuary into a quiescent lagoon. Although closures can create lethal or stressful conditions for nekton and benthic communities, especially obligate diadromous species, under some conditions they can enhance survival of juvenile steelhead Oncorhynchus mykiss. However, the mechanisms explaining how closed conditions enhance the growth of juvenile steelhead and how inhabitants avoid physiologically stressful conditions remain unknown. In the present study, recent technological advances in sensor‐encoded acoustic telemetry provided the ability to simultaneously locate and determine the temperature of juvenile steelhead as small as 93 mm FL by using mobile and stationary tracking. In the Russian River estuary, an intermittently closed estuary in northern California, we used acoustic telemetry to infer water quality exposure by linking the temperature of individually tagged fish with water quality profiles collected in close proximity. Under open‐inlet conditions, juvenile steelhead experienced primarily brackish and saline water in the lower and middle reaches and warm freshwater in the upper reach, whereas under closed‐inlet conditions they experienced warm freshwater in the middle and upper reaches. During closed conditions, juvenile steelhead displayed behavior that suggested the ability to mediate stressful environmental conditions; specifically, they responded to closed conditions by moving greater distances and aggregating near thermal refugia. Our findings show the importance of recognizing these strategies when contemplating changes to estuary management and highlight the significance of tributary hydrogeomorphic processes and groundwater linkages in subwatersheds that are sources of cool water for thermal refugia in intermittently closed estuaries. Received August 5, 2016; accepted February 27, 2017 Published online May 11, 2017

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“…Salinity stratification has been reported to be an important factor driving the water quality of lagoons, by affecting temperature and dissolved oxygen concentrations (Smith 1990;Robinson 1993;Cannata 1998;Sloan 2006). Previous studies reported a relationship between water quality of lagoons and the abundance of macroinvertebrates (Robinson 1993) and food habits of fish (Martin 1995) at Pescadero Creek estuary / lagoon, San Mateo County. When water quality conditions were good (low to moderate temperatures and high dissolved oxygen concentrations), macroinvertebrate abundance was high, and species composition changed from marine and euryhaline species to freshwater species, depending on water column salinity (Robinson 1993).…”

Section: List Of Tablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…When water quality conditions were good (low to moderate temperatures and high dissolved oxygen concentrations), macroinvertebrate abundance was high, and species composition changed from marine and euryhaline species to freshwater species, depending on water column salinity (Robinson 1993). When the estuary was subject to tidal influence and salinity was high, steelhead fed more heavily on marine and euryhaline species (Martin 1995). When the lagoon became fresh after sandbar closure and salinity destratification, steelhead fed on freshwater species.…”

Section: List Of Tablesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Habitat Conditions and Steelhead Abundance and Growth in a California Lagoon

Atkinson¹

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HABITAT CONDITIONS AND STEELHEAD ABUNDANCE AND GROWTH IN A CALIFORNIA LAGOON by Kristine A. Atkinson To better understand the temporal and spatial relationships of water quality parameters, as well as steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) habitat use and growth in San Gregorio Creek estuary / lagoon, water quality and steelhead at San Gregorio Creek estuary / lagoon were studied over a period of two years. During both years, there was above-average rainfall, and during the dry seasons of both years the lagoon was repeatedly artificially breached. In spite of the breaching, variations in growth and population size relative to variable sandbar dynamics were measured both within and between years. Data showed that repeated artificial breaching of the sandbar prevented complete destratification, causing hot (up to 29.5°C) and hypoxic / anoxic conditions at the bottom of the water column. Nevertheless, steelhead that reared in the lagoon in both 2005 and 2006 were abundant and grew substantially larger than those in two stream reaches. Coho (O. kisutch) did not rear in the lagoon, but passed through as smolts in spring 2006. Sizes of juveniles in the lagoon were more related to time spent in the lagoon than to their age. In 2005 the estimated steelhead population declined 15% from 2,365 ± 598 to 2,005 ± 715 from July to October. The 2006 population decreased substantially from 2,802 ± 354 to 1,373 ± 610, and age 0+ grew slower, possibly due to impacts of breaching. A majority (55-64%) of a sample (n=22) of adult steelhead had reared in the lagoon. Most of the remaining adults and most spring smolts reared 2 years in the stream. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I received support from numerous volunteers who assisted one or more days in the field. These volunteers included friends, San Jose State University (SJSU) students, California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) staff, and San Mateo County Farm Bureau staff.

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Food habits of some estuarine fishes in a small, seasonal central California lagoon

Cited by 4 publications

References 0 publications

Spatiotemporal Variability in Environmental Conditions Influences the Performance and Behavior of Juvenile Steelhead in a Coastal California Lagoon

Spatiotemporal Variability in Environmental Conditions Influences the Performance and Behavior of Juvenile Steelhead in a Coastal California Lagoon

Juvenile Steelhead Locate Coldwater Refugia in an Intermittently Closed Estuary

Habitat Conditions and Steelhead Abundance and Growth in a California Lagoon

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