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A dynamic-bioenergetics model to assess depth selection and reproductive growth by lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush)

  • Behavioral ecology - Original research
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Abstract

We coupled dynamic optimization and bioenergetics models to assess the assumption that lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush) depth distribution is structured by temperature, food availability, and predation risk to maximize reproductive mass by autumn spawning. Because the model uses empirical daily thermal-depth profiles recorded in a small boreal shield lake (lake 373 at the Experimental Lakes Area, northwestern Ontario) during 2 years of contrasting thermal stratification patterns, we also assessed how climate-mediated changes in lakes may affect the vertical distribution, growth, and fitness of lake trout, a cold-water top predator. The depths of acoustic-tagged lake trout were recorded concurrently with thermal-depth profiles and were compared to model output, enabling an assessment of model performance in relation to the observed fish behavior and contrasting thermal conditions. The depths and temperatures occupied by simulated fish most closely resembled those of the tagged fish when risk of predation was included in the model, indicating the model may incorporate the most important underlying mechanisms that determine lake trout depth. Annual differences suggest less use of shallow (warm), productive habitats, resulting in markedly less reproductive mass, during the year with the warm stratification pattern. Mass for reproduction may be lower in warmer conditions because of reduced reproductive investment, yet survival may be inadvertently higher because risky surface waters may be avoided more often in warmer, shallower, and metabolically costly conditions. At a minimum our study suggests that lake trout reproductive mass and fitness may be expected to change under the anticipated longer and warmer stratification patterns.

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Acknowledgments

We are grateful to Lori Tate and numerous ELA summer students for assisting with fish tagging and data collection, to Kris Vascotto for the bathymetric survey work, and to Cheryl Podemski and field crew for temperature data. This study was funded by the Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Program (Natural Resources Canada, project no. A968), and we thank Drs Ken Minns and Brian Shuter for project coordination. J. M. P. received scholarships from the ELA Graduate Fellowship Fund and the University of Manitoba. We are grateful to Drs Brenda Hann and Ray Hesslein for their constructive input on this research, and to Dennis Rondorf, Joseph Benjamin, Brett van Poorten, and other anonymous reviewers for insightful comments on earlier versions of this manuscript. All research was approved by the Freshwater Institute Animal Care Committee.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Zoology, University of Manitoba, Z320 Duff Roblin Building, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2, Canada

    John M. Plumb & Mark V. Abrahams

  2. Experimental Lakes Area, Fisheries and Oceans Canada, 501 University Crescent, Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N6, Canada

    John M. Plumb & Paul J. Blanchfield

  3. Departments of Biology and Ocean Sciences, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St John’s, NL, A1B 3X7, Canada

    Mark V. Abrahams

  4. US Geological Survey, Western Fisheries Research Center, Columbia River Research Laboratory, Cook, WA, 98605, USA

    John M. Plumb

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  1. John M. Plumb
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Correspondence to John M. Plumb.

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Communicated by Pedro Peres-Neto.

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Plumb, J.M., Blanchfield, P.J. & Abrahams, M.V. A dynamic-bioenergetics model to assess depth selection and reproductive growth by lake trout (Salvelinus namaycush). Oecologia 175, 549–563 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00442-014-2934-6

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