Growth variation of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar at sea affects their population-specific reproductive potential

2Citations
Citations of this article
7Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

Understanding the processes shaping the dynamics of anadromous fish populations is essential for their management and conservation. Yet, little is known about how variation in performance at sea affects their population dynamics. Here we show that variation in body growth at sea contributes to explaining variation in the reproductive potential for 2 Atlantic salmon Salmo salar populations, but to a varying extent. To this end, we assembled data collected during 50 yr for 2 Baltic salmon populations of hatchery origin, including annually released smolts, survival at sea estimates, size-specific growth at sea, annual length distributions of returning adult females and their reproductive potential. The regression models fitted to explain the reproductive potential of our 2 study populations improved when growth at sea was included as an explanatory variable, in addition to smolt year class abundance and estimates of their survival at sea. This link between body growth at sea and population-level reproductive potential suggests that growth at sea can be important to consider when resolving variation in recovery and dynamics among salmon populations sharing the same sea.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Jacobson, P., Whitlock, R., Huss, M., Leonardsson, K., Östergren, J., & Gårdmark, A. (2021). Growth variation of Atlantic salmon Salmo salar at sea affects their population-specific reproductive potential. Marine Ecology Progress Series, 671, 165–174. https://doi.org/10.3354/meps13734

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free