Interannual variability in the effects of physical habitat and parentage on Chinook salmon egg-to-fry survival

Philip Roni, Christopher Johnson, Trenton De Boer, George Pess, Andrew Dittman, David Sear
2016 Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences  
37 Mortality during incubation is believed to be a major factor limiting the recovery 38 of many salmon populations though direct field measurements of egg-to-fry survival are 39 rare or small in scale. To determine the effects of physical habitat (river reach, fine 40 sediment intrusion, scour), parentage (mating/source of gametes) on Chinook salmon 41 (Oncorhynchus tshwaytscha) egg-to-fry survival and developmental stage at emergence 42 across a basin, we constructed 324 artificial redds in
more » ... ne reaches over four years in the 43 Yakima River Basin, Washington, USA. Average egg-to-fry survival ranged from 49% to 44 69% among reaches from 2009 to 2012 brood years. Survival was significantly different 45 among reaches in 2010, but not 2009, 2011 or 2012, while mating was a significant factor 46 in all years but 2010. In contrast, developmental stage differed significantly among 47 reaches and matings in all four years. Percent of fines, days-in-gravel and median particle 48 size explained only small (<10%) additional amount of variation in survival or 49 developmental stages. Our results suggest that parentage and reach within a basin are 50 major factors influencing egg-to-fry survival, but their relative influence vary annually 51 presumably depending on the magnitude of high flows and scour during incubation. 52 53
doi:10.1139/cjfas-2015-0372 fatcat:jq2pxcq2urcc5nlnraf25gcclu