Geology topics

Jennifer R. Gardner

Publications and source records attributed to Jennifer R. Gardner.

5 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2021

Resource use among top-level piscivores in a temperate reservoir: Implications for a threatened coldwater specialist

Evaluations of resource use among native piscivores in natural lakes have consistently documented significant partitioning that supports coexistence. Partitioning may be less prominent in reservoirs where water-level fluctuations can compress habitat and trophic diversity, but studies are lacking. Stable isotopes and bioenergetic models were used to quantify trophic interactions within a native piscivore assemblage inhabiting a temperate irrigation reservoir and explore implications for coexistence with a focus on threatened bull trout ( Salvelinus confluentus ). As hypothesised, adult bull trout exhibited the greatest degree of trophic specialisation by consuming mostly coldwater pelagic forage fish, which were consumed seasonally by the more abundant burbot ( Lota lota ) and northern pikeminnow ( Ptychocheilus oregonensis ). Numerous trophic niche overlap probabilities exceeded 70%, were as high as 93% and greatest between bull trout and burbot. Bioenergetics simulations demonstrated the high seasonal consumption capacity of burbot relative to northern pikeminnow. As a result, threefold to fourfold fewer burbot were required to consume the annual productivity of coldwater prey important for bull trout, particularly in the absence of small-bodied mesothermic or eurythermal fish as a buffer. Collectively, our analysis elucidated relatively strong trophic niche overlap among similarly sized piscivores, the importance of maintaining a diverse forage fish community for promoting coexistence and the greatest potential for competitive interactions between adult bull trout and burbot if key prey were limited or less diverse. More studies in regulated systems are needed to test for consistent patterns and identify mechanisms that limit or promote coexistence amid growing human-induced environmental change and demands on freshwater.

Washington↗

USGS2020

Variable prey consumption leads to distinct regional differences in Chinook salmon growth during the early marine critical period

Growth during the early marine critical period is positively associated with survival and recruitment for Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp., so it is important to understand how certain foraging strategies may bolster growth in estuarine and marine environments. To elucidate how spatiotemporal and demographic differences in diet contribute to growth rate variability, we analyzed stomach contents in tandem with morphometric and hormonal indices of growth for subyearling Chinook salmon O. tshawytscha captured in Puget Sound, Washington, USA. Regional dietary patterns indicated that fish caught in northern Puget Sound ate insects in the estuarine and nearshore habitats, followed by decapod larvae, euphausiids, or forage fish in the offshore zone. In southern Puget Sound, fish ate insects in the estuary but were more likely to eat mysids and other crustaceans in the nearshore zone. In the marine habitats adjacent to the San Juan Islands, subyearlings ate forage fish, and their stomachs were as much as 1.4 to 3 times fuller than salmon captured in other regions. Scale-derived growth rates and insulin-like growth factor-1 levels showed distinct growth advantages for San Juan Islands fish which were strongly associated with the early adoption of piscivory. However, consumption of larger crustaceans such as mysids and euphausiids was also associated with greater relative growth regardless of where individuals were captured. These findings highlight how spatiotemporal differences in prey quantity, prey profitability, and individual foraging strategies result in variable growth rates among salmon populations. Specifically, they emphasize the role of piscivory in promoting early marine growth for out-migrating Chinook salmon.

Washington↗

USGS2018

Trophic compression of lake food webs under hydrologic disturbance

The need to protect biostructure is increasingly recognized, yet empirical studies of how human exploits affect ecological networks are rare. Studying the effects of variation in human disturbance intensity from decades past can help us understand and anticipate ecosystem change under alleviated or amplified disturbance over decades to come. Here, we use stable isotopes and an innovative analytical approach to compare the food webs of two akin lake ecosystems subject to disparate water use regimes, a pervasive, yet unappreciated stressor. We show that intensive water use (persistent, early season, rapid lake‐level drawdown) can compress trophic diversity by 46%, necessitating reorganization of biostructural elements configuring lake food webs. Compression occurred over the δ 13 C axis indicating erosion of basal trophic diversity, but food chain length remained intact over the period and intensity of disturbance examined. This study demonstrates the potential for water use, like other disturbances (warming, eutrophication, and invasive species), to mute opportunity for benthic‐pelagic coupling and benefits to lake food webs and the inherent capacity of lake ecosystems to adapt to stress. Trophically compressed lakes may be less able to adapt to intensified water use.

Ecosphere↗

USGS2018

Size, growth, and size‐selective mortality of subyearling Chinook Salmon during early marine residence in Puget Sound

In marine ecosystems, survival can be heavily influenced by size‐selective mortality during juvenile life stages. Understanding how and when size‐selective mortality operates on a population can reveal underlying growth dynamics and size‐selective ecological processes affecting the population and thus can be used to guide conservation efforts. For subyearling Chinook Salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha in Puget Sound, previous research reported a strong positive relationship between marine survival and body mass during midsummer in epipelagic habitats within Puget Sound, suggesting that early marine growth drives survival. However, a fine‐scale analysis of size‐selective mortality is needed to identify specific critical growth periods and habitats. The objectives of this study were to (1) describe occupancy patterns across estuarine delta, nearshore marine, and offshore epipelagic habitats in Puget Sound; (2) describe changes in FL and weight observed across habitats and time; (3) evaluate evidence for size‐selective mortality; and (4) illustrate how marine survival of the stocks studied may be affected by variation in July weight. In 2014 and 2015, we sampled FLs, weights, and scales from seven hatchery‐origin and two natural‐origin stocks of subyearling Chinook Salmon captured every 2 weeks during out‐migration and rearing in estuary, nearshore, and offshore habitats within Puget Sound. Natural‐origin stocks had more protracted habitat occupancy patterns than hatchery‐origin stocks and were smaller than hatchery‐origin stocks in both years. Regardless of origin, subyearlings were longer and heavier and grew faster in offshore habitats compared to estuary and nearshore habitats. For all stocks, we found little evidence of size‐selective mortality among habitats in Puget Sound. These patterns were consistent in both years. Finally, the weights of subyearlings sampled during July in the offshore habitat predicted Puget Sound‐wide marine survival rates of 0.4% for 2014 and 2.0% for 2015, with stock‐specific predictions ranging from 0.18% to 11.70%.

Washington↗

USGS2016

Recovery of sockeye salmon in the Elwha River, Washington, after dam removal: Dependence of smolt production on the resumption of anadromy by landlocked kokanee

Pacific salmon Oncorhynchus spp. are adept at colonizing habitat that has been reopened to anadromous passage. Sockeye Salmon O. nerka are unique in that most populations require lakes to fulfill their life history. Thus, for Sockeye Salmon to colonize a system, projects like dam removals must provide access to lakes. However, if the lakes contain landlocked kokanee (lacustrine Sockeye Salmon), the recovery of Sockeye Salmon could be mediated by interactions between the two life history forms and the processes associated with the resumption of anadromy. Our objective was to evaluate the extent to which estimates of Sockeye Salmon smolt production and recovery are sensitive to the resumption of anadromy by kokanee after dam removal. We informed the analysis based on the abiotic and biotic features of Lake Sutherland, which was recently opened to passage after dam removal on the Elwha River, Washington. We first developed maximum expectations for the smolt-producing capacity of Lake Sutherland by using two predictive models developed from Sockeye Salmon populations in Alaska and British Columbia: one model was based on the mean seasonal biomass of macrozooplankton, and the other was based on the euphotic zone volume of the lake. We then constructed a bioenergetics-based simulation model to evaluate how the capacity of Lake Sutherland to rear yearling smolts could change with varying degrees of anadromy among O. nerka fry. We demonstrated that (1) the smolt-producing capacity of a nursery lake for juvenile Sockeye Salmon changes in nonlinear ways with changes in smolt growth, mortality, and the extent to which kokanee resume anadromy after dam removal; (2) kokanee populations may be robust to changes in abundance after dam removal, particularly if lakes are located higher in the watershed on tributaries separate from where dams were removed; and (3) the productivity of newly establishing Sockeye Salmon can vary considerably depending on whether the population becomes rearing limited or is recruitment limited and depending on how adult escapement is managed.

Washington↗