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Energetic status and bioelectrical impedance modeling of Arctic grayling Thymallus arcticus in interior Alaska Rivers

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Abstract

The energetic status of fishes represents energy stored as protein and lipids and reflects the ability of an individual to reproduce, migrate, and transition through life stages, ultimately influencing survival. However, traditional measurement methods, while highly accurate, are time consuming, expensive, and lethal, and nonlethal methods such as condition factor may not adequately characterize energetic status. We collected 161 Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) from four interior Alaska river basins with varying hydrologic regimes during early summer and autumn seasons, and used multiple regression and model selection to evaluate the efficacy of bioelectrical impedance analysis (BIA), a nonlethal condition assessment method, to predict percent dry mass and percent lipid content estimated from proximate analysis. We found that Arctic grayling energetic status varied across seasons, by sex, and fish from sites with spawning runs of Pacific salmon had higher energy content than those from sites without salmon, potentially due to the influence of salmon-derived food subsidies. Electrical measurements explained 82% and 80% of the variability in percent dry mass and percent total lipids, respectively, and top models showed high predictive performance (observed vs. predicted root mean squared error ≤2.2%). Overall, we found the BIA approach to provide rapid, precise, and non-lethal estimates of Arctic grayling body condition. Such an approach may be useful for future work to characterize Arctic grayling bioenergetics and monitor fish condition under a rapidly changing Arctic environment.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Cooperative Research Unit Program. The staff and facilities of the Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and the Institute of Arctic Biology at University of Alaska Fairbanks (UAF) were instrumental in the success of this project. Thanks to J. Margraf (USGS) and J. Stolarski (UAF) for project design input, A. Brase (Alaska Department of Fish and Game) for assistance with site selection, and L. Horstmann (UAF) for proximate analysis advice and use of laboratory facilities. A. Hafs and two anonymous reviewers provided valuable input on previous versions of the manuscript. This work was conducted under UAF Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee protocols # 355540-3 and 918056-2 and Alaska Department of Fish and Game fish resource permits # SF2013-095 and SF2016-220. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. U.S. Geological Survey, Alaska Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 757020, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Jeffrey A. Falke

  2. College of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 757020, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Lauren T. Bailey & Kevin M. Fraley

  3. Institute of Arctic Biology, University of Alaska Fairbanks, P.O. Box 757020, Fairbanks, AK, 99775, USA

    Michael J. Lunde

  4. Sport Fish Division, Alaska Department of Fish and Game, 1300 College Rd, Fairbanks, AK, 99701, USA

    Andrew D. Gryska

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  1. Jeffrey A. Falke
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Falke, J.A., Bailey, L.T., Fraley, K.M. et al. Energetic status and bioelectrical impedance modeling of Arctic grayling Thymallus arcticus in interior Alaska Rivers. Environ Biol Fish 102, 1337–1349 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-019-00910-6

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