Synthesis of studies in the fall low-salinity zone of the San Francisco Estuary, September-December 2011

Brown, Larry R.; Baxter, Randall D.; Castillo, Gonzalo; Conrad, Louise; Culberson, Steven D.; Erickson, Gregg; Feyrer, Frederick; Fong, Stephanie; Gehrts, Karen; Grimaldo, Lenny; Herbold, Bruce; Kirsch, Joseph E.; Mueller–Solger, Anke; Slater, Steven B.; Sommer, Ted; Souza, Kelly; Nieuwenhuyse, Erwin Van

doi:10.3133/sir20145041

Cited by 21 publications

(51 citation statements)

References 67 publications

(2 reference statements)

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“…; Kimmerer ) and as a water quality standard in the upper SFE (Brown et al. ). During periods of high outflow, X2 is typically located in Suisun Bay (~55 to 65 km).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Community Patterns and Environmental Associations for Pelagic Fishes in a Highly Modified Estuary

2018

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Understanding how natural and human‐induced processes interact to influence ecosystem responses is essential for their effective management and conservation. Long‐term environmental degradation of the upper San Francisco Estuary, California, has resulted in numerous species declines. In this study, we used pelagic fish monitoring and hydrodynamic data during winter–spring 2002–2014 to evaluate how natural and human‐induced environmental changes in the upper San Francisco Estuary may have influenced the distribution, abundance, and community structure of the pelagic fishes. Delta outflow and turbidity tended to decline and salinity tended to increase since the early 2000s. Twelve of the 27 pelagic fish species sampled were introduced, most of which were freshwater‐dominant species in highly altered upstream areas. Overall mean relative abundance was similar between native and introduced fishes across all study areas. The upstream distribution of the eight most abundant pelagic fishes was generally associated with their salinity habitat components. Among these species, the Delta Smelt Hypomesus transpacificus and the introduced Threadfin Shad Dorosoma petenense had the highest rates of population decline over the period 2002–2014 and the largest relative increase in salinity predicted in their habitats due to hydrological alteration. Community structure was significantly related to abiotic factors (water temperature, salinity, and turbidity) and spatiotemporal variation (longitude and month), which accounted for 30–33% of the variation. Low to intermediate outflows due to droughts and water diversions since the early 2000s likely interacted synergistically with multiple factors, decreasing the abundance of several pelagic species. Management actions linking ecologic, hydrologic, and geomorphic processes with multiple stressors could help to reverse the long‐term decline of Delta Smelt and other threatened and endangered fishes in the San Francisco Estuary.

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“…; Kimmerer ) and as a water quality standard in the upper SFE (Brown et al. ). During periods of high outflow, X2 is typically located in Suisun Bay (~55 to 65 km).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The population declines of pelagic fishes beginning in the early 2000s were attributed to multiple interacting factors and were interpreted as an ecological regime shift (Brown et al. ; IEP ). Fish community studies indicate that the upper SFE is primarily dominated by introduced fishes, both in numbers and biomass.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Community Patterns and Environmental Associations for Pelagic Fishes in a Highly Modified Estuary

2018

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“…We calculated the remaining 27 variables from the UnTRIM Bay-Delta model predictions to characterize surface and bottom salinities, surface and bottom velocities, vertical and horizontal gradients in salinity and velocity, and local bathymetry for each FMWT station (Table 2). We chose the 35 complexity metrics a priori to the analysis based on published literature that described Delta Smelt distribution and related hypotheses of Delta Smelt in the fall (Moyle et al 1992;Aasen 1999;Bennett 2005;Feyrer et al 2007;Sommer and Meija 2013;Brown et al 2014). …”

Section: Complexity Metricsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The principal scientists of the Interagency Ecological Program (a consortium of the nine state and federal agencies doing science in the estuary) identified a primary need to "develop a method of measuring 'hydrodynamic complexity'" (Brown et al 2014). However, there is currently no established method to quantify hydrodynamic complexity, defined by Brown et al (2014) as habitat heterogeneity that provides a large array of habitat types for Delta Smelt to use for resting, feeding, and other activities.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, there is currently no established method to quantify hydrodynamic complexity, defined by Brown et al (2014) as habitat heterogeneity that provides a large array of habitat types for Delta Smelt to use for resting, feeding, and other activities. Brown et al (2014) note that there remains much uncertainty about the interaction of hydrodynamics with stationary habitat components in Suisun Bay and their combined effects on other dynamic habitat components including turbidity, contaminants, and biota.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Linking Hydrodynamic Complexity to Delta Smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) Distribution in the San Francisco Estuary, USA

Bever¹,

MacWilliams²,

Herbold³

et al. 2016

SFEWS

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Resistance and resilience of pelagic and littoral fishes to drought in the San Francisco Estuary

Mahardja

Tobias

Khanna

et al. 2021

Ecological Applications

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Many estuarine ecosystems and the fish communities that inhabit them have undergone substantial changes in the past several decades, largely due to multiple interacting stressors that are often of anthropogenic origin. Few are more impactful than droughts, which are predicted to increase in both frequency and severity with climate change. In this study, we examined over five decades of fish monitoring data from the San Francisco Estuary, California, U.S.A, to evaluate the resistance and resilience of fish communities to disturbance from prolonged drought events. High resistance was defined by the lack of decline in species occurrence from a wet to a subsequent drought period, while high resilience was defined by the increase in species occurrence from a drought to a subsequent wet period. We found some unifying themes connecting the multiple drought events over the fifty-year period. Pelagic fishes consistently declined during droughts (low resistance), but exhibit a considerable amount of resiliency and often rebound in the subsequent wet years. However, full recovery does not occur in all wet years following droughts, leading to permanently lower baseline numbers for some pelagic fishes over time. In contrast, littoral fishes seem to be more resistant to drought and may even increase in occurrence during dry years. Based on the consistent detrimental effects of drought on pelagic fishes within the San Francisco Estuary and the inability of these fish populations to recover in some years, we conclude that freshwater flow remains a crucial but not sufficient management tool for the conservation of estuarine biodiversity.

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Synthesis of studies in the fall low-salinity zone of the San Francisco Estuary, September-December 2011

Cited by 21 publications

References 67 publications

Community Patterns and Environmental Associations for Pelagic Fishes in a Highly Modified Estuary

Community Patterns and Environmental Associations for Pelagic Fishes in a Highly Modified Estuary

Linking Hydrodynamic Complexity to Delta Smelt (Hypomesus transpacificus) Distribution in the San Francisco Estuary, USA

Resistance and resilience of pelagic and littoral fishes to drought in the San Francisco Estuary

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