Project title: The role of environmental processes in structuring the distribution of Chinook salmon spawning and rearing habitats across a large Alaska river basin.
Personnel Brock Huntsman (Post-doc 2014-2015) Funding source(s): State of Alaska, Alaska Department of Fish and Game Project description: Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) are an important commercial, subsistence, and recreational fishery resource in Alaska. Substantial declines in escapement from many Alaskan watersheds in recent years have resulted in closures of Chinook salmon fishing in more imperiled drainages, such as the Chena River, Alaska. Environmental factors such as flow and temperature are important mechanisms that influence fish population dynamics in stream ecosystems. A better understanding of the relative role of physical processes in Chinook salmon population distribution and dynamics in the Chena River basin is warranted. Our objectives were to: 1) develop spatially continuous metrics that describe historic, current, and future physical habitat, and flow and temperature regimes within the Chena River basin, and 2) investigate the relative role of spatial, physical, and biological processes in describing Chinook salmon population dynamics and distributions. Stream temperature loggers were deployed at >50 sites throughout the Chena watershed in the summer of 2013 and 2014, and retrieved during summer 2015. Based on these data we developed a predictive model of stream thermal regimes to investigate riverscape-scale patterns in juvenile salmon bioenergetic performance. Flow regimes were modelled with a rainfall-runoff hydrologic model downscaled to stream reaches of 100-1000 m. Lastly, juvenile Chinook salmon were collected from 24 sites longitudinally along the Chena main stem in the summer of 2015 to assess environmental and density-dependent factors influencing population dynamics and distributions. The results of this study will help identify mechanisms limiting Chinook salmon productivity within the Chena watershed. Co-Investigators: James Savereide (ADFG) Jimmy Fox (USFWS) Jeff Adams (USFWS) Katrina Bennett (LANL) Erik Schoen (UAF) |
Outreach:
Products: Peer-reviewed publications: Falke, J.A., Huntsman, B.M., and E.R. Schoen. 2019. Climatic variation drives growth potential of juvenile Chinook Salmon along a subarctic boreal riverscape. Pages 57-82 in R.M. Hughes and D. Infante, editors. Advances in understanding landscape influences on freshwater habitats and biological assemblages. American Fisheries Society, Symposium 90, Bethesda, Maryland. Huntsman, B.M. and J. A. Falke. 2019. Lateral connectivity and growth conditions influence juvenile Chinook salmon habitat selection within a sub-Arctic riverscape. Freshwater Biology 64:443-446. https://doi.org/10.1111/fwb.13232 Huntsman, B.M., Falke, J.A., Savereide, J.W., and K.E. Bennett. 2017. The role of density-dependent and –independent processes in spawning habitat selection by salmon in an Arctic boreal stream network. PLoS ONE 12(5): e0177467. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0177467 Oral and poster presentations: Falke, J.A., Huntsman, B.M., and E.R. Schoen. 2018. Growth potential of juvenile Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) across a boreal riverscape. American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting, Atlantic City, New Jersey, August 20-24, 2018. Falke, J.A., Huntsman, B.M., Schoen, E.R., and K.E. Bennett. 2016. Growth potential of juvenile Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) across a boreal riverscape. Alaska Chapter of the American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting, Fairbanks, AK, 20-24 March 2017. Falke, J.A., Huntsman, B.M., and #A.N. Matter. 2016. The role of geomorphic and hydrologic processes in structuring spawning and rearing habitats for Chinook salmon in a boreal stream network. American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting. August 24, 2016. Kansas City, MO. Huntsman, B.M., Falke, J.A., Saveride, J., and K. Bennett. 2015. Density-dependent and -independent mechanisms influencing spawning habitat selection by Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Chena River basin, Alaska. Alaska Chapter American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting, Homer, Alaska, 4-6 November 2015 Interrante, A., Lopez, A., Huntsman, B., Falke, J., and J. Savereide. 2015. Chinook salmon genetic diversity within the Chena River basin revealed through carcass sampling. University of Alaska Fairbanks Undergraduate Research & Scholarly Activity Research Day. April 28, 2015. Fairbanks, AK. (POSTER) Huntsman, B., Falke, J., Savereide, J., and K. Bennett. 2015. Density-dependent and –independent mechanisms influencing Chinook salmon population dynamics within the Chena River basin. Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit Annual Research Review. March 25, 2015. Fairbanks, Alaska. (POSTER) Falke, J. A., Benda, L., and F. J. Adams. 2013. Chena River landscape-scale physical habitat studies (2013-2015). Alaska Chapter American Fisheries Society Annual Meeting. October 9, 2013. Fairbanks, AK. (POSTER) |