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Tidal effects on marsh habitat use by three fishes in the San Francisco Estuary

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Abstract

Little is known about the ecological importance of low-order tidal marsh channels to fishes in the San Francisco Estuary, California. We conducted a passive mark-recapture study to compare residency, site fidelity, and movement patterns of fishes in a small intertidal channel (0.1 km2) in a large tidal marsh reserve (4.25 km2). We coupled continuous, high-frequency data on movements of fish tagged with Passive Integrated Transponder (PIT) tags and abiotic conditions from a PIT-detector and datasonde, respectively. Novel insights were gained by employing TidalTrend, a software program that characterizes tidal time-series data for ecological interpretation. Overall, we found that fishes exhibited different patterns of intertidal habitat use: the resident species, tule perch (Hysterocarpus traski), consistently spent more time per visit, per day, and per season using the intertidal channel, except during the reproductive window in spring; the transient species, Sacramento splittail (Pogonichthys macrolepidotus) and striped bass (Morone saxatilis), were more opportunistic and exhibited higher individual variation in movement patterns. Generalized additive mixed models indicated that tide height, rate of change in tide height, tidal inequality, time of day, lunar phase, and water temperature better predicted fish detections than other variables, but their effects varied across species. Based on our findings, we posit that time, through tides, allows habitat partitioning among fish species and individuals with different life-history types. Furthermore, functional connectivity between subtidal and intertidal channels in tidal marshes is a feature of the estuarine mosaic that should be integrated into habitat restoration designs in the San Francisco Estuary.

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Acknowledgements

Funding for data collection was provided by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife Ecosystem Restoration Program [E1183013], the Department of Water Resources [4600011551], and the S.D. Bechtel Jr. Foundation. Funding for J. Donovan and D. Ayers was provided by the Bureau of Reclamation [R15PG00085]. Additional funding for D. Colombano was provided by a Delta Science Fellowship [2271] administered by the Delta Science Program and California Sea Grant. This study adhered to Animal Care and Use standards [18883]. We thank I. Jezorek and C. Smith and anonymous reviewers for helping us improve this manuscript.

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Correspondence to Denise D. Colombano.

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Colombano, D.D., Donovan, J.M., Ayers, D.E. et al. Tidal effects on marsh habitat use by three fishes in the San Francisco Estuary. Environ Biol Fish 103, 605–623 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-020-00973-w

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-020-00973-w

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