Quantifying the contribution of juvenile migratory phenotypes in a population of Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha

Abstract

Chinook salmon is an anadromous species that varies in size at freshwater emigration, which is hypothesized to increase population resiliency under variable environmental regimes. In California's Central Valley (USA), the majority of naturally spawned juveniles emigrate in 2 pulses: small juveniles (referred to as fry), typically ≤55 mm fork length (FL), emigrate from natal streams in February-March, whereas larger juveniles (smolts), typically > 75 mm FL, emigrate in mid-AprilMay. In some river systems, there is a smaller pulse of emigrants of intermediate size (parr), typically 56 to 75 mm FL. Although the relative contribution of these migratory phenotypes to the adult population is unknown, management activities focus on survival of larger emigrants and most artificially produced fish (98%) are released from hatcheries at parr and smolt sizes. We reconstructed individual length at freshwater emigration for a sample of adult Central Valley Chinook salmon from 2 emigration years using chemical (Sr:Ca and Ba:Ca) and structural otolith analyses. The adult sample was comprised of individuals that emigrated as parr (mean = 48%), followed by smolts (32%) and fry (20%). Fry-sized emigrants likely represent natural production because fish ≤55 mm FL comprise < 2% of the hatchery production. The distribution of migratory phenotypes represented in the adult sample was similar in both years despite apparent interannual variation in juvenile production, providing evidence for the contribution of diverse migratory phenotypes to the adult population. The contribution of all 3 migratory phenotypes to the adult population indicates that management and recovery efforts should focus on maintenance of life-history variation rather than the promotion of a particular phenotype. KEY WORDS: Chinook salmon · Migratory phenotype · Otolith chemistry Resale or republication not permitted without written consent of the publisherMar Ecol Prog Ser 408: [227][228][229][230][231][232][233][234][235][236][237][238][239][240] 2010 logistic and interpretive limitations. Chemical and structural analyses of fish otoliths, which hold a record of aspects of an individual's environment, provide an alternative approach to generating empirical data on the contribution of migratory phenotypes without the need to recapture individuals (Campana 1999, Campana & Thorrold 2001.Extensive agricultural land use conversion and water development within California's Central Valley (USA) (Fig. 1) have impacted the region's fall Chinook salmon (Moyle 2002), which are listed as a species of concern under the Endangered Species Act (Good et al. 2005). The majority of naturally spawned juveniles emigrate in 2 pulses: small juveniles (referred to as fry), typically ≤55 mm fork length (FL), emigrate from natal streams in February-March, whereas larger juveniles (smolts), typically > 75 mm FL, emigrate in mid-April-May (Brandes & McLain 2001) (Fig. 2a-f). In some river systems, there is a smaller pulse of emigrants of intermediate size (parr), typically 56 t...

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