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Review of proposed mechanisms for sockeye salmon population cycles in the fraser river

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Abstract

Prominent and persistent cyclic fluctuations in the abundance of consecutive year-classes occur in some sockeye salmon populations throughout the species' range. We review and test a number of explanations for the existence of these cycles using qualitative biological arguments, including a consideration of the synchrony of cycles among populations. Most of the hypotheses involve mechanisms that would reinforce synchronous population fluctuations within watersheds. However, the 4-year cycles characteristic of many Fraser River sockeye populations are sometimes out of phase with each other, both among populations which migrate together as mixed stocks while vulnerable to commerical fisheries, and among populations whose juveniles share the same nursery lake habitat (Shuswap Lake). Such asynchrony suggests that the mechanism(s) causing population cycles can operate independently within reproductively isolated populations. Of the mechanisms reviewed here, only those involving genetic effects on age at maturation, or on resistance to disease or parasites, or those involving depensatory predation soon after fry emergence, appear to offer satisfactory explanations.

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  1. Levy Research Services Ltd, 102-2221 Folkestone Way, V7S 2Y6, West Vancouver, BC, Canada

    David A. Levy

  2. Department of Fisheries and Oceans, Pacific Biological Station, V9R 5K6, Nanaimo, BC, Canada

    Chris C. Wood

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Levy, D.A., Wood, C.C. Review of proposed mechanisms for sockeye salmon population cycles in the fraser river. Bltn Mathcal Biology 54, 241–261 (1992). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02464832

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