Gulf of Alaska | Climate and Oceanography UNDERGRADUATE POSTER PRESENTATION Understanding factors that may affect survival and productivity of Pacific salmonids Presenter: Julia Kischkat , julia.kischkat@noaa.gov Charlie Waters , charlie.waters@noaa.gov, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) Phenological variation, such as the migration trends of salmonids, may provide resilience against trophic asynchronies and thus has important implications for individual survival and population productivity. However, climate change may promote phenological mismatches between predators and prey. Understanding how phenological variation may be affected by environmental conditions is important for predicting the responses of populations under future climate scenarios. The effects of climate variability on Pacific salmon are difficult to assess partially because of the diverse habitats the fishes utilize during their fresh water and oceanic life histories. Comparing migration data of salmonids to environmental data may assist the difficult process of determining whether there is the potential for phenological variation to provide resilience against climate change. In addition, the analysis of year-to-year changes in phenology aids in establishing a sensitive and observable indicator of changes in salmon abundance and productivity as a function of the species’ environment. Here, we aimed to quantify phenological shifts in the Pacific salmonids studied at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s biological field station in Little Port Walter, Alaska. A 22-year old data set containing the migration timing of adult and juvenile steelhead trout from Sashin Creek, Alaska was used. We calculated the midpoint and duration of each species to quantify any phenological shifts in migration timing. For any observed shifts, we assessed if these were driven by environmental conditions such as snowfall, precipitation, freshwater temperature, and saltwater temperature. The results of this work will assist in determining the resilience of salmonid populations in the face of environmental challenges such as climate change through phenological variability.
Alaska Marine Science Symposium 2023 110
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