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Influence of a Coastal Riverine Plume on the Cross-shelf Variability in Hydrography, Zooplankton, and Juvenile Salmon Diets

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Abstract

Riverine plumes in nearshore coastal waters are areas of enhanced production and accumulation of prey and may increase availability of food during a critical period of juvenile salmon survival and hence serve as a nursery area for these juveniles. Physical and biological sampling was conducted along a cross-shelf transect through the Columbia River plume during May 1999. Based on cluster analyses of physical variables, stations considered to be within the core of the plume, at 27.8–46.3 km from shore, were distinct from inshore (7.4–18.5 km) and offshore (55.6–92.7 km) stations. Five variables (temperature at 10 m, salinity at 3 and 10 m, silicate, and chlorophyll) accounted for 92 % of this difference. Both surface neuston and subsurface plankton tows revealed differences in plankton composition at the plume core stations compared to non-plume stations. However, stomach contents of juvenile Chinook salmon were not significantly different inside and outside the plume core. Comparison of similarity indices showed that the stomach composition was more similar to the catch composition in the neuston than the meter net. Fishes, decapod larvae, and hyperiid amphipods occurred in greater proportions and copepods and euphausiids in lesser proportions in the stomachs than in the plankton. There appeared to be a distinctive plume signal, evident in both the physical environment and zooplankton resources sampled inside and outside the plume core, but the plume signature was not as evident in the salmon diets, possibly due to their higher mobility and shorter residence time within the plume.

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Acknowledgments

We thank Paul Bentley, Cindy Bucher, Joe Fisher, Julie Keister, Bill Peterson, and the captain and crew of the F/V Sea Eagle, who assisted in collecting the environmental data and in making the plankton and fish collections. We thank Jay Peterson, Curtis Roegner, Antonio Baptista, Ed Casillas, David Kimmel, and two anonymous reviewers for providing valuable comments on earlier versions of the manuscript. This study was funded by the Bonneville Power Administration (Project 1998-014-00) and the Northwest Fisheries Science Center, NOAA.

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  1. National Marine Fisheries Service, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR, 97365, USA

    R.D. Brodeur

  2. Cooperative Institute for Marine Resources Studies, Oregon State University, Hatfield Marine Science Center, Newport, OR, 97365, USA

    C.A. Morgan

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Communicated by David G. Kimmel

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Brodeur, R., Morgan, C. Influence of a Coastal Riverine Plume on the Cross-shelf Variability in Hydrography, Zooplankton, and Juvenile Salmon Diets. Estuaries and Coasts 39, 1183–1198 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12237-015-0050-4

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