Hydraulic society and a “stupid little fish”: toward a historical ontology of endangerment

Scoville, Caleb

doi:10.1007/s11186-019-09339-3

Cited by 25 publications

(14 citation statements)

References 51 publications

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“…Multiple factors have likely contributed to this decline, in cluding hydrological alterations, habitat degradation, non-native competitor and predator species, agricultural and municipal pollution, climate change, and mortality due to water exports (Knowles & Cayan 2002, Bennett 2005, Feyrer et al 2007, Cloern & Jassby 2012, Fong et al 2016, Moyle et al 2016, Smith et al 2020). Conservation efforts have occasionally im pacted freshwater deliveries to California's multi-billion-dollar agriculture industry and 29 million southern residents, thus putting this endangered species in the political crossfire between advocates of species conservation versus those focused on water conveyance and agriculture (Feyrer et al 2011, Moyle et al 2018, Reis et al 2019, Scoville 2019. In order to effectively manage the system for water conveyance while also protecting sensitive species such as delta smelt, an understanding of how species respond to natural and anthropogenic variation in environmental conditions is needed.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Otolith-based approaches indicate strong effects of environmental variation on growth of a Critically Endangered estuarine fish

Lewis

Denney

Willmes

et al. 2021

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

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In estuaries, fluctuating environmental conditions exact strenuous physiological demands on the fishes that inhabit these oft-impacted areas, including the Critically Endangered delta smelt Hypomesus transpacificus in California (USA). Using an archive of otoliths spanning 2011-2019, we examined how growth rates of wild subadult delta smelt vary ontogenetically, regionally, and in relation to variation in the physical environment during late-summer and fall in the upper San Francisco Estuary. Recent growth rates were quantified using otolith increment analysis and modeled as functions of both intrinsic (age) and extrinsic (temperature, salinity, clarity, and region) factors using a suite of generalized additive models. Age explained 60% of the variation in log10-transformed growth rates, which peaked at 50-80 d post hatch. Overall, age-adjusted growth rates declined at temperatures >20°C, increased with practical salinity values of 0-4, and exhibited interactive patterns with water clarity. Growth rates appeared highest in the West and Central Delta, and lowest in the North Delta, also corresponding with patterns in environmental conditions. Here, we provide new evidence for how vital rates of wild delta smelt vary spatially and in relation to abiotic environmental variation. Such otolith-based growth reconstructions often provide the first direct look at how the vital rates of wild fish respond to environmental variation in situ, and how future changes are likely to affect the dynamics of wild populations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Otolith-based approaches indicate strong effects of environmental variation on growth of a Critically Endangered estuarine fish

Lewis

Denney

Willmes

et al. 2021

Mar. Ecol. Prog. Ser.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The Delta Smelt ( Hypomesus transpacificus ) is one of the most socio-politically important species in the Western United States and is nearing extinction in the wild 19–22 . This small, 2–3 inch cucumber-scented fish is endemic to the upper San Francisco Bay-Delta Estuary (SFE), where spawning habitat coincides with the State Water Project (SWP) and Central Valley Project (CVP) pumping facilities which provide fresh water for 23-million people and irrigation for a multi-billion-dollar agriculture industry 21 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In addition, freshwater flows into the estuary are required to maintain suitable low-salinity nursery habitat downstream of the agricultural diversions during the late summer and fall months. Collectively, these protections reduce the amount of water available for urban and agricultural use, causing significant political conflict and controversy regarding the efficacy of such expensive actions 19,21 .…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Complex life histories discovered in a critically endangered fish

Hobbs

Lewis

Willmes

et al. 2019

Sci Rep

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Effective conservation of endangered species requires knowledge of the full range of life-history strategies used to maximize population resilience within a stochastic and ever-changing environment. California’s endemic Delta Smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) is rapidly approaching extinction in the San Francisco Estuary, placing it in the crossfire between human and environmental uses of limited freshwater resources. Though managed as a semi-anadromous species, recent studies have challenged this lifecycle model for Delta Smelt, suggesting the species is an estuarine resident with several localized “hot-spots” of abundance. Using laser-ablation otolith strontium isotope microchemistry, we discovered three distinct life-history phenotypes including freshwater resident (FWR), brackish-water resident (BWR), and semi-anadromous (SA) fish. We further refined life-history phenotypes using an unsupervised algorithm and hierarchical clustering and found that in the last resilient year-class, the FWR (12%) and BWR (7%) comprised a small portion of the population, while the majority of fish were SA (81%). Furthermore, the semi-anadromous fish could be clustered into at least four additional life-history phenotypes that varied by natal origin, dispersal age and adult salinity history. These diverse life-history strategies should be incorporated into future conservation and management efforts aimed at preventing the extinction of Delta Smelt in the wild.

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“…A prime example is endangered species legislation, which mobilizes a significant amount of resources, data collection, and conservation efforts, while limiting or halting public and private activities that may affect endangered species or their habitats. The result is that a small number of organisms can have an unusually large political and economic impact if they are listed as endangered (Braverman, 2015;Scoville, 2019). A critical element of this world-building potential is the biopolitical drawing of legal or political boundaries between species that are, or are not, worthy of being conserved.…”

Section: Wildness In Law and Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

How “wild” are hatchery salmon? Conservation policy and the contested framing of nature in Canada and the United States

Berseth

Matthews

2020

Environment and Planning E: Nature and Space

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The idea of the Anthropocene presents a paradox for conservation: to restore and protect wild species and ecosystems, greater human intervention is required through efforts such as artificial propagation. This paradox is evident in efforts to conserve Pacific salmon. Salmon hatcheries produce millions of salmon to augment wild populations and sustain fishing industries, but emerging knowledge about salmon genomics has called into question the “wildness” of hatchery salmon. This article examines how the scientific uncertainties regarding wild species are contested by a range of stakeholders and how particular frames become concretized in policy frameworks. Despite the significance of laws and policies to the governance of such hybrid species, they have received limited attention. Drawing on archival documents, legislation, policies, government reports, and media sources, we conduct a cross-national comparative analysis of how wildness is framed in policy debates in Canada and the United States. We find that hatchery-born salmon occupy a position at the threshold of scientific and cultural definitions of wildness and this ambiguity facilitates political contests among groups with divergent interests in conservation and views of the human–nature relationship. As a result, hatchery salmon have been regulated differently across time and geographic and jurisdictional space. These findings contribute to an expanding literature on conservation in the Anthropocene and managing wild species.

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Hydraulic society and a “stupid little fish”: toward a historical ontology of endangerment

Cited by 25 publications

References 51 publications

Otolith-based approaches indicate strong effects of environmental variation on growth of a Critically Endangered estuarine fish

Otolith-based approaches indicate strong effects of environmental variation on growth of a Critically Endangered estuarine fish

Complex life histories discovered in a critically endangered fish

How “wild” are hatchery salmon? Conservation policy and the contested framing of nature in Canada and the United States

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