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Prey availability and feeding ecology of juvenile Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and coho (O. kisutch) salmon in the northern California Current ecosystem, based on stomach content and stable isotope analyses

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Abstract

To understand the factors that regulate early marine survival of juvenile Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) salmon, it is necessary to characterize their prey availability, selectivity, and dietary niche widths. Currently, no sampling protocol exists that directly measures the salmonid prey field and quantifies dietary niche width via stable isotope analysis (SIA). The main goals of this study were to quantify the dietary niche widths of juvenile salmon and to compare environmental prey community compositions to juvenile salmon diets. Juvenile Chinook and coho salmon and their prey were collected in the northern California Current ecosystem via herring and Nordic trawls during 9–15 June 2010. The catch per unit effort of the salmonid prey field was compared to juvenile salmon stomach contents, and a Manly–Chesson index was used to quantify prey selectivity. Salmon and their prey were measured for δ13C and δ15N values and salmon were analyzed via Stable Isotope Bayesian Ellipses in R. Results indicated that there was no significant difference between juvenile Chinook and coho salmon diets and that they principally consumed rockfish juveniles (Sebastes spp.) and Cancer megalopae. Juvenile salmon consumed somewhat different prey items compared to both herring and Nordic nets and these nets sampled different assemblages of similar prey communities. Though juvenile salmon were in isotopic disequilibrium with their marine prey, both species occupied similar isotopic niche widths. These results demonstrate that SIA provides complementary information to stomach content analysis.

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Acknowledgements

We would like to acknowledge Greg Hutchinson, Curtis Roegner, Caren Barceló, Marisa Litz, Keith Bosley, Toby Auth, and Jason Phillips for assistance in sample collection, Jennifer McKay for assistance in SIA, Andrew Parnell, Andrew Jackson, and Don Phillips for intellectual guidance, and Andrew Jackson for help with the SIBER analysis. We would also like to acknowledge Eric Ward, Correigh Greene, Eric Hertz, Chris Harrod, and two anonymous reviewers for providing useful comments on this manuscript. This study was financially supported by the Bonneville Power Administration and the first author was supported in part by the ASSURE program of the Department of Defense in partnership with the National Science Foundation Research Experience for Undergraduates Site program under Grant No. OCE-1263349.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, P.O. Box 0843-03092, Panama, Republic of Panama

    Julia N. Adams

  2. Fish Ecology Division, Northwest Fisheries Science Center, National Marine Fisheries Service, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2030 S.E. Marine Science Drive, Newport, OR, 97365, USA

    Richard D. Brodeur

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

    Elizabeth A. Daly

  4. Fisheries Research, Division of Fish and Wildlife, Saipan, Commonwealth of The Northern Marianas Islands, 96950, USA

    Todd W. Miller

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Correspondence to Richard D. Brodeur.

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This article does not contain any studies with human participants. All fish and invertebrate specimens were collected in accordance with the guidelines of the state and federal collection permits granted for this study.

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Adams, J.N., Brodeur, R.D., Daly, E.A. et al. Prey availability and feeding ecology of juvenile Chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and coho (O. kisutch) salmon in the northern California Current ecosystem, based on stomach content and stable isotope analyses. Mar Biol 164, 98 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00227-017-3095-z

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