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Full-Text Articles in Life Sciences

The Relationship Between Measures Of Annual Livestock Disturbance In Western Riparian Areas And Stream Conditions Important To Trout, Salmon, And Char, Lindsey M. Goss, Brett B. Roper Apr 2018

The Relationship Between Measures Of Annual Livestock Disturbance In Western Riparian Areas And Stream Conditions Important To Trout, Salmon, And Char, Lindsey M. Goss, Brett B. Roper

Watershed Sciences Faculty Publications

Managing livestock disturbance in riparian zones in a manner that provides economic returns to ranchers while protecting streams is an important aspect of rangeland management on public lands in the western United States. Attempts to balance economic and ecologic outcomes have been made more difficult due to the presence of several salmonid species that are protected under the Endangered Species Act. One approach to proper management of livestock use near streams has been to define the allowable limits of disturbance using 2 metrics, streambank alteration and stubble height. We evaluated 153 stream reaches within the Interior Columbia Basin to determine …


Working On The Railroad: Coastal Streams Prioritization To Inform Restoration Planning, Paul Schlenger, Phil Bloch, Jennifer Griffiths Apr 2018

Working On The Railroad: Coastal Streams Prioritization To Inform Restoration Planning, Paul Schlenger, Phil Bloch, Jennifer Griffiths

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Puget Sound’s nearshore has been substantially modified since the Industrial Revolution with extensive infrastructure developed along the shoreline. In Washington State, the BNSF railroad right-of-way runs along 52 miles of the shoreline, while another 73 miles of railroad is within 200 feet of the shoreline. In many places, the railroad forms a barrier between the coastal watershed and the shoreline preventing the delivery of water, sediment, wood and organic matter into the nearshore. This creates ongoing degradation of habitat quality in the nearshore, including small estuaries and coastal embayments, which provide important habitat to juvenile Chinook salmon. In addition, the …


Salmon-Safe Farms, Ellen Southard, Amelia Bahr Apr 2018

Salmon-Safe Farms, Ellen Southard, Amelia Bahr

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Stewardship Partners recognizes the crucial role farmers play in the protection of our watersheds and salmon populations, leading us to implement the Salmon-Safe program in Washington in 2004 to support landowners who are promoting and practicing sustainable land management to combat environmental degradation. To date, we have added more than 100 different Washington State farms and vineyards to the program — ensuring the restoration and maintenance of watershed health across tens of thousands of agricultural acres. Since the major salmon streams in the Puget Sound basin flow through the most productive agricultural valleys, conservation efforts aimed at protecting salmon and …


Survival Of The Lower Fraser And People Of The River, Murray Ned, Ken Malloway, Sally Hope, Janson Wong, Dalton Silver Apr 2018

Survival Of The Lower Fraser And People Of The River, Murray Ned, Ken Malloway, Sally Hope, Janson Wong, Dalton Silver

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Fish, fish habitat and fisheries are deeply important to Lower Fraser First Nations. Since time immemorial, Lower Fraser First Nations have relied on the once abundant fisheries and thriving habitats within their territories to support their way of life, including their spiritual, social, cultural and economic well-being. Yet the Lower Fraser River watershed is also subject to immense anthropogenic pressure due to urban developments, navigation, industrial activities, agriculture, etc. The Fraser River and the hundreds of tributaries, streams, marshes, bogs, swamps, sloughs and lakes within its watershed is at its brink due to escalating cumulative pressures and a re-affirmed legal …


Juvenile Salmon Density On Marsh Surfaces Versus Within Tidal Channels, W. Gregory Hood, Eric M. Beamer, Rich Henderson Apr 2018

Juvenile Salmon Density On Marsh Surfaces Versus Within Tidal Channels, W. Gregory Hood, Eric M. Beamer, Rich Henderson

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Use of tidal marsh surfaces by juvenile salmon in Pacific Northwest estuaries has generally been ignored by ecologists, engineers and planners involved in salmon habitat restoration. In contrast, fish use of marsh plains has been documented in many other parts of the world. Are Pacific Northwest marshes an exception to the pattern of fish use that is so common elsewhere? For three consecutive years, fish were sampled bi-monthly in tidal channels and on tidal marsh plains of the Skagit Delta to answer this question. Juvenile Chinook and chum salmon, as well as sticklebacks were the most consistently caught and abundant …


A Watershed Approach To Recovering Salmon In Changing Climate Conditions, Beth Ledoux, Jessica Engel, Morgan Schniedler Ruff, Colin Wahl Apr 2018

A Watershed Approach To Recovering Salmon In Changing Climate Conditions, Beth Ledoux, Jessica Engel, Morgan Schniedler Ruff, Colin Wahl

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Snohomish Basin Forum adopted the Snohomish Basin Protection Plan in 2015 which clearly stated that the survival of our iconic salmon will be challenged by climate change. From that integrative watershed planning effort the Snohomish Basin Technical Committee investigated how locally predicted impacts of climate change affect salmon recovery in the Snohomish Basin and what key actions can be taken to ameliorate those impacts. As the basin continues to implement the Snohomish Basin Salmon Recovery Plan, it will be critical to restore and protect areas that preserve the basin’s hydrologic patterns and key habitat functions that support salmon in …


Reconstructing Historical Patterns Of Primary Production In Puget Sound Using Growth Increment Data From Shells Of Long-Lived Geoducks (Panopea Generosa), Jenny Eccles, Correigh M. Greene, Kathryn Sobocinski, Bethany Stevik, Henry Carson, Christopher Krembs Apr 2018

Reconstructing Historical Patterns Of Primary Production In Puget Sound Using Growth Increment Data From Shells Of Long-Lived Geoducks (Panopea Generosa), Jenny Eccles, Correigh M. Greene, Kathryn Sobocinski, Bethany Stevik, Henry Carson, Christopher Krembs

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Bottom-up hypotheses predict that changes in primary production affect marine survival of species like Pacific salmon. Long term records of primary production would provide important data to test these predictions. However, direct observations of primary production (in situ fluorometers, water chemistry, and satellite observations of color back-scatter) have relatively short time series (< 30 years). We investigated whether growth increments of geoduck clams (Panopea generosa) are correlated with primary production in different sub-basins of greater Puget Sound. Geoduck are long-lived (older specimens live >100 years), widely distributed throughout the Salish Sea, and deposit annual growth rings in their shells. Shell samples from aged geoducks were by the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife in four sub-basins within greater Puget Sound (Strait of Jan de Fuca, Southern Strait of Georgia, South …


Fine-Scale Taxonomic And Spatiotemporal Variability In The Energy Density Of Prey For Juvenile Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha), Jacob Weil, Will Duguid, Francis Juanes Apr 2018

Fine-Scale Taxonomic And Spatiotemporal Variability In The Energy Density Of Prey For Juvenile Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus Tshawytscha), Jacob Weil, Will Duguid, Francis Juanes

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The growth and survival of juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) are determined in part by biotic and abiotic conditions experienced during their first marine summer. Of the biotic conditions, the quality of available prey is integral for optimal growth and survival. Current studies that investigate the effect of variable prey quality on salmon growth approximate energy density using literature values. This approach ignores fine-scale taxonomic as well as spatial and temporal differences in prey quality. To address these possible sources of error, monthly zooplankton tows were performed in Saanich Inlet, Cowichan Bay and Maple Bay off the coast of Vancouver …


Salmon And Jellies And Herring, Oh My! Abiotic And Biotic-Dependent Trends In Abundance And Distribution Of Pelagic Critters In Skagit Bay Across 17 Years, Stuart Harold Munsch, Correigh M. Greene, Jason Hall Apr 2018

Salmon And Jellies And Herring, Oh My! Abiotic And Biotic-Dependent Trends In Abundance And Distribution Of Pelagic Critters In Skagit Bay Across 17 Years, Stuart Harold Munsch, Correigh M. Greene, Jason Hall

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

As a large fjord, the Salish Sea exhibits strong spatiotemporal variation in temperature and salinity due to various marine and freshwater inputs. These patterns are particularly evident in Skagit Bay where water conditions are influenced by marine inputs from Deception Pass and Saratoga Passage and seasonal pulses of fresh water from Skagit River. We investigated how abundance and community composition in pelagic surface waters of Skagit Bay varied from 2001-2017, and how temperature and salinity patterns can influence which species predominate in particular years. Data come from long-term monitoring of Skagit Bay using a Kodiak surface trawl that sweeps the …


Elevated Carbon Dioxide Alters Neural Signaling And Anti-Predator Behaviors In Ocean Phase Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus Kisutch), Chase Williams, Evan Gallagher, Andrew Dittman, Paul Mcelhany, Shallin Busch, Theo Bammler, James Macdonald Apr 2018

Elevated Carbon Dioxide Alters Neural Signaling And Anti-Predator Behaviors In Ocean Phase Coho Salmon (Oncorhynchus Kisutch), Chase Williams, Evan Gallagher, Andrew Dittman, Paul Mcelhany, Shallin Busch, Theo Bammler, James Macdonald

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Elevated levels of CO2 have been shown to disrupt numerous neurological sensory systems in marine fish. This is of concern as Pacific salmon rely heavily on an important neurosensory system for survival, the olfactory system. In this study, we investigated the effects of elevated CO2 on a salmon olfactory driven behavior, as well as changes in neural signaling and gene expression within the peripheral and central olfactory system. Juvenile coho salmon were exposed to three different levels of CO2 for two weeks. These included a current CO2 level with a pH of 7.8, a medium CO2 level with a pH …


Salmonid Distribution And Abundance In The Context Of Elwha River Dam Removals, Anna Kagley, Kinsey Frick, Kurt L. Fresh, Larry Ward, Jameal Samhouri, Ole Shelton Apr 2018

Salmonid Distribution And Abundance In The Context Of Elwha River Dam Removals, Anna Kagley, Kinsey Frick, Kurt L. Fresh, Larry Ward, Jameal Samhouri, Ole Shelton

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

Removal of two dams on the Elwha River, Washington from 2011 to 2014 has begun to restore natural sediment processes to the coastal environment near the river mouth. Since 2006, we have been collecting data on shallow subtidal (nearshore) fish communities near the Elwha River and at reference sites in the Strait of Juan de Fuca to assess fish response to sediment changes resulting from dam removal. Juvenile salmon (Chinook, coho, pink and chum salmon) migrate through this region, which also supports ecologically important forage fish and endemic benthic fauna. Beach seine samples collected annually from April through September from …


Collaborative Solutions To Riparian Protection And Restoration In The Chimacum Creek Watershed, Sarah Doyle Apr 2018

Collaborative Solutions To Riparian Protection And Restoration In The Chimacum Creek Watershed, Sarah Doyle

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

For several decades, the North Olympic Salmon Coalition (NOSC) has been working with agricultural producers in the Chimacum Creek Watershed to plant riparian buffers and restore salmon habitat. In recent years, NOSC and partners have had difficulty engaging landowners to participate in riparian restoration and protection programs due to issues regarding drainage, reed canary grass and beaver damage. To help guide us in how to address these barriers to landowner willingness, NOSC partnered with local entities to develop a Chimacum Creek Protection and Restoration Strategy. Since the strategy has been implemented, four priority farms are now being considered for protection …


Integrated Agricultural Riparian Stewardship In The Stillaguamish And Snohomish Watersheds, Kristin Marshall, Cindy Dittbrenner, Carrie Byron, Colin Hume Apr 2018

Integrated Agricultural Riparian Stewardship In The Stillaguamish And Snohomish Watersheds, Kristin Marshall, Cindy Dittbrenner, Carrie Byron, Colin Hume

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

The Stillaguamish and Snohomish River watersheds are regionally important to the health of Puget Sound and the Salish Sea and in particular for the recovery of salmon. The habitat gains needed to achieve salmon recovery in these watersheds include much of the agricultural landscape in Snohomish County, a situation that often results in conflicts between salmon recovery and agricultural communities. The Snohomish Conservation District’s National Estuary Program-funded Integrated Riparian Stewardship project is one of several efforts aimed at simultaneously achieving agricultural land preservation and salmon habitat protection and restoration in one of the fastest growing counties in the United States, …


Sea Lice Infection Rates On Juvenile Chum Salmon In A Salish Sea Fjord With No Atlantic Salmon Net Pens, Micah Wait, James Fletcher, Adrian Tuohy Apr 2018

Sea Lice Infection Rates On Juvenile Chum Salmon In A Salish Sea Fjord With No Atlantic Salmon Net Pens, Micah Wait, James Fletcher, Adrian Tuohy

Salish Sea Ecosystem Conference

In 2017, Wild Fish Conservancy documented sea louse (Lepeoptheirus salmonis) infection rates on juvenile chum salmon (Oncorhynchus keta) in the nearshore waters of Hood Canal, WA. Transmission of sea lice from the adult fish captive in salmon farms to wild outmigrating juvenile salmon has been posited as a primary impact of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) open net pen farming in the Salish Sea. Hood Canal is an isolated fjord that makes up the westernmost arm of Puget Sound. There are no open net pen Atlantic salmon farms in Hood Canal, sampling here should establish rates of sea lice infection on …


Persistence Of Stream Restoration With Large Wood, Redwood National And State Parks, California, Diedra L. Rodriguez Jan 2018

Persistence Of Stream Restoration With Large Wood, Redwood National And State Parks, California, Diedra L. Rodriguez

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The conservation and recovery of anadromous salmonids (Oncorhynchus sp.) depend on stream restoration and protection of freshwater habitats. In-stream large wood dictates channel morphology, increases retention of terrestrial inputs such as organic matter, nutrients and sediment, and enhances the quality of fish habitat. Historic land use/land cover changes have resulted in aquatic systems devoid of large wood. Restoration by placement of large wood jams is intended to restore physical and biological processes. An important question for scientists and restoration managers, in addition to the initial effectiveness of restoration, is the persistence and fate of large wood installations. In this …