Glacier runoff influences biogeochemistry and resource availability in coastal temperate rainforest streams: Implications for juvenile salmon growth

Abstract (from Limnology and Oceanography): Meltwater contributions to watersheds are shrinking as glaciers disappear, altering the flow, temperature, and biogeochemistry of freshwaters. A potential consequence of this landscape change is that streamflow patterns within glacierized watersheds will become more homogenous, potentially altering the capacity of watersheds to support Pacific salmon. To assess heterogeneity in stream habitat quality for juvenile salmon in a watershed in the Alaska Coast Mountains, we collected organic matter and invertebrate drift and measured streamwater physical and biogeochemical properties over the main runoff season in two adjacent tributaries, one fed mainly by rain and the other...

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Stream hydrology and a pulse subsidy shape patterns of fish foraging

Pulsed subsidy events create ephemeral fluxes of hyper-abundant resources that can shape annual patterns of consumption and growth for recipient consumers. However, environmental conditions strongly affect local resource availability for much of the year, and can heavily impact consumer foraging and growth patterns prior to pulsed subsidy events. Thus, a consumer's capacity to exploit pulse subsidy resources may be influenced by antecedent environmental conditions, but this has rarely been shown in nature and is unknown in aquatic ecosystems. Here, we sought to understand the importance of hydrologic variation and a salmon pulse subsidy on the foraging and growth patterns of two stream salmonids in a coastal southeast...

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