Abstract
Successful migration of Chinook Salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) smolts seaward in the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta (hereafter, Delta) requires navigating a network of numerous branching channels. Within the Delta, several key junctions route smolts either towards more direct paths to the ocean or towards the interior Delta, an area associated with decreased survival. Movements within these junctions that determine route choice can be influenced by numerous behavioral and environmental factors, including the complex interplay between tidal and riverine hydraulics. Here, we apply continuous time multistate Markov models to examine the influence of tidal and riverine hydraulics, behavioral factors, and management actions on smolt movements. These models incorporate more information from acoustic telemetry data compared with previous approaches to modeling smolt movements in the Delta. By decomposing modeled flows into tidal and net flow signals we elucidate how each component influences movements into and out of distributary channels. Increasing net flows generally increased movement rates, while flood tides decreased seaward movement rates. Similarly, ebb tides increased downstream movements as fish go with the flow. We found less support for diel movement behaviors compared to flow metrics. Additionally, we quantify the effects of a large management action, the placement of a physical barrier, which was effective at decreasing entrainment into the interior Delta. Together, these results help inform management of Chinook Salmon and increase our understanding of the major factors driving smolt movements within these key junctions.
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The data analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This work was funded by California Department of Water Resources. We extend special thanks to Ryan Reeves and William McLaughlin for their support. We thank Summer Burdick, Rebecca Buchanan, Bryan Matthias and anonymous reviewers. Further, we thank the many people and agencies who oversaw and implemented fish tagging, care, and release, and acoustic receiver installation, maintenance, retrieval, and processing. The data analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request. Any use of trade, firm, or product names is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government.
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This work was funded by California Department of Water Resources.
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Dodrill, M.J., Perry, R.W., Pope, A.C. et al. Quantifying the effects of tides, river flow, and barriers on movements of Chinook Salmon smolts at junctions in the Sacramento – San Joaquin River Delta using multistate models. Environ Biol Fish 105, 2065–2082 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-022-01273-1
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-022-01273-1