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Influences of environmental variation on anadromous Arctic charr from the Hornaday River, NWT

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Abstract

Insights from long-term subsistence fisheries data can improve our understanding of the population-specific responses of Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus, to environmental conditions. In this study, associations were found between temporal environmental variation and Arctic charr length- and weight-based growth using data from fish captured in the Hornaday River fishery. Overall, spring precipitation and summer air temperature appear to be the most important environmental influences on Arctic charr probably because of their respective impacts on the opportunities for acquiring surplus energy for growth. A pattern of decreasing age-related importance of temperature and increasing age-related importance of precipitation suggested that the coupling between growth and environmental effects varied by life-period. The changing prominence of each variable seems to result from the shift in apportioning energy for increases in length to increases in weight, likely as a result of the onset of maturation. The linkage of population characteristics to environmental conditions provides a baseline reference against which future data may be compared to determine the significance of any observed changes in population characteristics as a result of continuing ecological change in the north.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the numerous people who have contributed to the collection and archiving of the data over the years, particularly the fishers of Paulatuk who have done all of the sampling and fishing, and Gary Carder, who performed all of the aging. Special thanks are due to Al Kristofferson for his efforts in implementing the subsistence fishing-monitoring program. Funding for the study was provided by the Natural Resources Canada Climate Change Impacts and Adaptation Program, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Canada/Inuvialuit Fisheries Joint Management Committee.

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Guest editors: C. E. Adams, C. R. Bronte, M. J. Hansen, R. Knudsen & M. Power / Charr Biology, Ecology and Management

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Chavarie, L., Reist, J.D., Guzzo, M.M. et al. Influences of environmental variation on anadromous Arctic charr from the Hornaday River, NWT. Hydrobiologia 840, 157–172 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10750-018-3828-0

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