Environmental and behavioral controls on juvenile Chinook salmon migration pathways in the Columbia River estuary
Open accessAbstract
Juvenile Chinook salmon population dynamics in the Columbia River estuary are influenced by physical processes, hatchery practices, and behavioral decision-making. To better understand how environmental forcing and swimming behavior influence estuarine migration and travel times, we developed an individual-based model (IBM) that uses 3-D outputs from a hydrodynamic model to simulate Lagrangian transport as well as swimming and bioenergetics sub-models to simulate active swimming and growth. Simulations were run in 2010 during the migration seasons for yearling and subyearling Chinook salmon. For both life history types, alternative behaviors were simulated, from random walks to behaviors that optimized efficient system migration for yearling Chinook salmon and growth for subyearling Chinook salmon. Simulation results compared well against observed data on travel times and common migration pathways; the simulated travel times for both yearling and subyearling Chinook salmon were within several hours of the observed travel times. In general, residence times and pathways were largely driven by river discharge and the phase of the tide. During periods of greater river discharge, simulated estuarine residence times were reduced and variability across individuals was minimal. The timing of estuarine exit was closely tied to the phase of the tide, with most simulated individuals exiting the system during the ebb phase. While travel times were largely driven by flow velocities, swimming behavior was likewise important. Simulated yearling Chinook salmon behaviors that optimized movement with surrounding flows resulted in reduced estuarine residence times when compared to passive and random walk behaviors. Similarly, simulated subyearling Chinook salmon behaviors that optimized growth directed individuals to shallow peripheral habitats, resulting in longer residence times and higher growth rates. Even if potentially important factors such as predator avoidance were not included, this IBM provides an informative tool to model migration pathways, growth, and residence times of juvenile salmon in an estuarine environment and could be used to inform management decisions by evaluating various scenarios.
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Migration rates of juvenile salmon vary with fish size and river discharge.
“Migration rates vary with fish size and river discharge (Morrice et al. 2020).”
From Life in the Fast Lane: Feeding and Growth of Juvenile Steelhead and Chinook Salmon in <scp>Main‐Stem</scp> Habitats of the Columbia River Estuary (2022) · cites this paper as Morrice et al. 2020
Greater similarity in diet composition for salmon at the lower three sites was expected given the similarity in habitat mosaics in the lower estuary and given the relatively short travel time (~1 d) in which the fish migrate through the lower estuary.
“Greater similarity in diet composition for salmon at the lower three sites was expected given the similarity in habitat mosaics in the lower estuary (Marcoe and Pilson 2017) and given the relatively short travel time (∼1 d) in which the fish migrate through the lower estuary (Harnish et al. 2012;Morrice et al. 2020).”
From Life in the Fast Lane: Feeding and Growth of Juvenile Steelhead and Chinook Salmon in <scp>Main‐Stem</scp> Habitats of the Columbia River Estuary (2022) · cites this paper as Morrice et al. 2020
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Cites
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Weitkamp, L. A., Beckman, B. R., Van Doornik, D. M., Munguia, A., Hunsicker, M., & Journey, M. (2022) · Transactions of the American Fisheries Society · doi:10.1002/tafs.10376 · Cited by 8 · see citing works
- Authors
- Morrice, K. J., Baptista, A. M., & Burke, B. J.
- Affiliations
- Oregon Health & Science University (US)
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (US)
- Corresponding author
- Morrice, Katherine J.
- Venue
- Ecological Modelling
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 2020-07
- Volume
- 427
- Pages
- 109003
- ISSN
- 0304-3800 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W3022181737
- Cited by
- 24
- References
- 7
- Citations by year
- 2025: 4 · 2024: 6 · 2023: 7 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 1 · 2020: 2
- FWCI
- 2.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- hybrid
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Ecological Modelling (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- RePEc: Research Papers in Economics (submittedVersion)
- NOAA Institutional Repository (submittedVersion, cc-by)
- Funders
- National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Nature and Landscape Conservation › Fish Ecology and Management Studies
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Global and Planetary Change › Marine and fisheries research
- Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Ecology › Marine animal studies overview
- Keywords
- juvenile Chinook salmon, estuarine migration, migration routes, travel time, estuarine residence time, swimming behavior, bioenergetics, agent-based modeling, Lagrangian transport, river discharge, tidal phase, ebb tide, subyearling salmon, growth optimization, Columbia River estuary
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