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Interactions among predators can have important consequences for lower trophic levels. Here, we use individual tag data on juvenile salmonids to quantify how their geographic, taxonomic, and life-history representation in the diets of great blue herons (Ardea herodias) changed after a pair of bald eagles (Haliaeetus leucocephalus) usurped the colony's nesting site, forcing the colony to relocate. Heron diet composition changed significantly despite the short relocation distance (4.1 km). This was driven by a shift in space use, as herons to a greater extent began consuming fish from a river basin farther away from the bald eagle nest. As a consequence the species composition in heron diets changed significantly, with the largest increase in coho (Oncorhynchus kisutch) and largest decrease in Chinook salmon (O. tshawytscha). The representation of Chinook life-history types in the diets also shifted. Fall Chinook was the numerically dominant life-history type in the diets but decreased relative to ...

A paradox in managing threatened and endangered species is the increased need for documenting population status, which in many instances requires capturing and handling individuals. Electrofishing is a widely used method for sampling fish in small streams, but the potential for detrimental effects call for its careful use. Methods that reduce exposure for individual fish, yet still provide useful abundance estimates, are therefore desirable. Using data from a juvenile steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) monitoring program in Idaho, we quantified variation and bias in capture probability from three-pass depletion electrofishing, and evaluated a method for indexing abundance based on single-pass electrofishing. Capture probability varied primarily at the level of sampling visits, with little spatial variation (i.e. at the level of the study sites). Water temperature, channel depth and, to a lesser degree, discharge best described the variation in capture probability between sampling events. We found no effect of previous capture and handling on individual capture probability, and the capture probability did not differ between subyearling and overyearling fish. Finally, a simple mixed-effects model with study site as a random effect, which related first-pass catch to the associated multiple-pass removal estimate, explained 91% of the variation in our data. The main limitation of the approach is that it does not provide error propagation and confidence intervals to the abundance estimates. However, the approach can be useful where multiple depletion electrofishing data exist, and when a single point estimate is sufficient to monitor major population trends in small streams.

In territorial stream salmonids, asymmetric competition can perpetuate individual size differences over time, but the extent to which this is manifested can be environmentally mediated. Here we study the variation in juvenile steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) growth rates to identify the conditions (population density and water temperature) under which an individual’s size relative to its conspecifics conferred an advantage. Among steelhead rearing in the same stream section we found that relatively larger individuals on average grew faster than smaller conspecifics. However, comparing across stream sections there was a negative interaction between relative size and water temperature. The effect of an individual’s relative size on its growth rate decreased as temperatures were increasing, indicating that the advantages of being large diminished during periods of high temperatures or in locations with relatively higher temperatures. Compared to temperature, the effects of population density on the growth rate were less substantial. The results suggest that larger individuals on average acquire more resources than smaller individuals, and demonstrate that water temperature exerts an important, modulating control over growth performance in heterogeneous environments.

Recent declines of anadromous salmonids in the Pacific Northwest have prompted a need to understand the factors limiting populations across habitats and life stages. In the weeks following emergence from the spawning gravel, juvenile salmonids have limited swimming capacity and can be particularly vulnerable to predation by piscivores, such as sculpins (Cottus sp.) which are widespread in Pacific Northwest streams. The objective of this study was to investigate the extent to which sculpin prey on newly emerged steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in a threatened population in Idaho. Three species of sculpin were present in the watershed, including Paiute (C. beldingii), mottled (C. bairdii), and torrent (C. rhotheus) sculpin. Gut content analyses of 360 sculpin showed that invertebrates were the dominant food source (> 85% of all sculpin preyed mainly on invertebrates), and piscivory was rare (< 2%). None of the samples contained steelhead alevins. We conclude that there was no indication of predation...