The Relationship between Hydroregime and Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) Spawning in Three Streams of the Smith River Watershed, Oregon
Mackenzie Baxter Butler, Masters Research
Mackenzie is evaluating whether Oregon Coastal Coho Salmon returning to four tributaries of the Smith River are responding to a specific combination of water temperature and stream discharge conditions. Furthermore, as climate change continues to alter terrestrial and freshwater habitat conditions in the Oregon coast range, she will attempt to determine how the habitat conditions and the timing of Coho Salmon runs in these four sub-basins may change over time. Mackenzie is working in collaboration with Dr. Rebecca Flitcroft (USDA – Forest Service Research Lab)
Juvenile coho salmon movement, growth and survival in a coastal basin of southern Oregon
Adam Weybright, Masters Research
Beach seining for juvenile coho salmon in the tide gate reservoir of Palouse Creek
Movement patterns in juvenile salmonids can be highly variable among individuals and across stream networks. Varying degrees of movement among juvenile coho salmon have been attributed to competition, physical habitat, streamflow characteristics, and genotypic variation. The influence of these factors differs with the life history stage of the fish, but will ultimately affect the way coho salmon utilize nursery habitat and may influence their size as smolts. The relationship between juvenile coho salmon size and movement patterns has been documented but the results are ambiguous. The goal of this study is to identify juvenile coho salmon movement strategies among habitats and to examine possible relationships between those strategies and their effects on fish growth rates and final body size (as indicators of apparent fitness). Five objectives are part of the proposed research: 1) to determine whether the spring and summer movement strategies of juvenile coho salmon in lowland coastal streams in southern Oregon are limited to sedentary and nomadic or if there are more patterns that emerge when movement is examined at different temporal and spatial scales; 2) to identify the proportion of each movement strategy type among juvenile coho populations; 3) to examine whether juvenile coho salmon movement strategy types are correlated with habitat quality; 4) to examine whether seasonal growth rates and late summer body size of juvenile coho are correlated with habitat quality; and 5) evaluate whether seasonal growth rates and late summer body size of juvenile coho are related to unique movement strategies exhibited by juvenile coho.
Beach seining for juvenile coho salmon in the estuarine marshes downstream of Larson Creek
Stop nets during juvenile coho sampling in Palouse Creek
Adam measuring and tagging juvenile coho salmon
Use of PIT tags and otoliths microchemistry in monitoring the life cycle of coho salmon
Katherine sorting coho salmon PIT tagged carcasses after spawning
Katherine Nordholm, Masters Research
We are using Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags to monitor movement of coho in two coastal lowland streams. Fish are tagged as juveniles and their movements are recorded at a variety of in-stream antenna arrays. After rearing for a year in the ocean, adult coho return to the rivers to spawn. PIT tagged fish detected during this return migration are being used to calculate marine survivals for lifecycle monitoring projects in the systems. These returning adults are comprised of fish that showed both nomad and sedentary rearing strategies as juveniles. Spawning ground surveys are conducted to recover carcasses and biological samples are collected. These samples include scales, tissue, and otoliths.
Otoliths are bones in a fish’s head that grow continuously throughout a fish’s life. As the bone is formed it captures the chemical signal of the water surrounding the fish. Since otoliths collected from PIT tagged carcasses come from fish with known juvenile life history patterns, we will compare otoliths chemical analysis with known estuary entry times to determine if this method can reliably detect early estuary rearing patterns in coho.
Conducting coho salmon redd surveys
Coho salmon ready to spawn
Coho salmon carcasses with their PIT tag identification numbers
ADDITIONAL RESEARCH INFORMATION:
The Relationship between Hydroregime and Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) Spawning in Three Streams of the Smith River Watershed, Oregon
Mackenzie Baxter Butler, Masters Thesis
Juvenile coho salmon movement, growth and survival in a coastal basin of southern Oregon
Adam Weybright and Guillermo R. Giannico
Juvenile coho salmon movement, growth and survival in a coastal basin of southern Oregon
Adam Weybright, Masters Thesis
Contribution of subyearling estuarine migrant coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) to spawning populations on the southern Oregon coast
Katherine Nordholm, Masters Thesis