Reproductive Ecology of Yakima River Hatchery and Wild Spring Chinook; Yakima/Klickitat Fisheries Project Monitoring and Evaluation, 2004-2005 Annual Report PDF Download

Author: Steven L. Schroder
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 89

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Book Description
This report is intended to satisfy two concurrent needs: (1) provide a contract deliverable from Oncorh Consulting to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), with emphasis on identification of salient results of value to ongoing Yakima/Klickitat Fisheries Project (YKFP) planning and (2) summarize results of research that have broader scientific relevance. This is the fourth in a series of reports that address reproductive ecological research and monitoring of spring chinook populations in the Yakima River basin. This annual report summarizes data collected between April 1, 2004 and March 31, 2005 and includes analyses of historical baseline data, as well. Supplementation success in the Yakima Klickitat Fishery Project's (YKFP) spring chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) program is defined as increasing natural production and harvest opportunities, while keeping adverse ecological interactions and genetic impacts within acceptable bounds (Busack et al. 1997). Within this context demographics, phenotypic traits, and reproductive ecology have significance because they directly affect natural productivity. In addition, significant changes in locally adapted traits due to hatchery influence, i.e. domestication, would likely be maladaptive resulting in reduced population productivity and fitness (Taylor 1991; Hard 1995). Thus, there is a need to study demographic and phenotypic traits in the YKFP in order to understand hatchery and wild population productivity, reproductive ecology, and the effects of domestication (Busack et al. 1997). Tracking trends in these traits over time is also a critical aspect of domestication monitoring (Busack et al. 2004) to determine whether trait changes have a genetic component and, if so, are they within acceptable limits. The first chapter of this report compares first generation hatchery and wild upper Yakima River spring chinook returns over a suite of life-history, phenotypic and demographic traits. The second chapter deals specifically with identification of putative populations of wild spring chinook in the Yakima River basin based on differences in quantitative and genetic traits. The third chapter is a progress report on gametic traits and progeny produced by upper Yakima River wild and hatchery origin fish spawned in 2004 including some comparisons with Little Naches River fish. In the fourth chapter, we present a progress report on comparisons naturally spawning wild and hatchery fish in the upper Yakima River and in an experimental spawning channel at CESRF in 2004. The chapters in this report are in various stages of development. Chapters One and Two will be submitted for peer reviewed publication. Chapters Three and Four should be considered preliminary and additional fieldwork and/or analysis are in progress related to these topics. Readers are cautioned that any preliminary conclusions are subject to future revision as more data and analytical results become available.

Author: Curtis Knudsen
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 95

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This is the third in a series of annual reports that address reproductive ecological research and comparisons of hatchery and wild origin spring chinook in the Yakima River basin. Data have been collected prior to supplementation to characterize the baseline reproductive ecology, demographics and phenotypic traits of the unsupplemented upper Yakima population, however this report focuses on data collected on hatchery and wild spring chinook returning in 2003; the third year of hatchery adult returns. This report is organized into three chapters, with a general introduction preceding the first chapter and summarizes data collected between April 1, 2003 and March 31, 2004 in the Yakima basin. Summaries of each of the chapters in this report are included below. A major component of determining supplementation success in the Yakima Klickitat Fishery Project's spring chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) program is an increase in natural production. Within this context, comparing upper Yakima River hatchery and wild origin fish across traits such as sex ratio, age composition, size-at-age, fecundity, run timing and gamete quality is important because these traits directly affect population productivity and individual fish fitness which determine a population's productivity.

Author: Steven L. Schroder
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 57

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This report covers three of many topics under the Yakima/Klickitat Fisheries Project's Monitoring and Evaluation Program (YKFPME) and was completed by Oncorh Consulting as a contract deliverable to the Yakama Nation and Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. The YKFPME (Project Number 1995-063-25) is funded under two BPA contracts, one for the Yakama Nation (Contract No. 00022449) and the other for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (Contract No. 22370). A comprehensive summary report for all of the monitoring and evaluation topics will be submitted after all of the topical reports are completed. This approach to reporting enhances the ability of people to get the information they want, enhances timely reporting of results, and provides a condensed synthesis of the whole YKFPME.

Author: Curtis M. Knudsen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description
This report is intended to satisfy two concurrent needs: (1) provide a contract deliverable from Oncorh Consulting to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), with emphasis on identification of salient results of value to ongoing Yakima/Klickitat Fisheries Project (YKFP) planning, and (2) summarize results of research that have broader scientific relevance. This is the second in a series of reports that address reproductive ecological research and monitoring of spring chinook in the Yakima River basin. In addition to within-year comparisons, between-year comparisons will be made to determine if traits of the wild Naches basin control population, the naturally spawning population in the upper Yakima River and the hatchery control population are diverging over time. This annual report summarizes data collected between April 1, 2002 and March 31, 2003. In the future, these data will be compared to previous years to identify general trends and make preliminary comparisons. Supplementation success in the Yakima Klickitat Fishery Project's (YKFP) spring chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) program is defined as increasing natural production and harvest opportunities, while keeping adverse ecological interactions and genetic impacts within acceptable bounds (Busack et al. 1997). Within this context demographics, phenotypic traits, and reproductive ecology have significance because they directly affect natural productivity. In addition, significant changes in locally adapted traits due to hatchery influence, i.e. domestication, would likely be maladaptive resulting in reduced population productivity and fitness (Taylor 1991; Hard 1995). Thus, there is a need to study demographic and phenotypic traits in the YKFP in order to understand hatchery and wild population productivity, reproductive ecology, and the effects of domestication (Busack et al. 1997). Tracking trends in these traits over time is also a critical aspect of domestication monitoring (Busack et al. 2002) to determine whether trait changes have a genetic component and, if so, are they within acceptable limits. Each chapter of this report deals with monitoring phenotypic and demographic traits of Yakima River basin spring chinook comparing hatchery and wild returns in 2002; the second year of adult hatchery returns. The first chapter deals specifically with adult traits of American River, Naches basin (excluding the American River), and upper Yakima River spring chinook, excluding gametes. The second chapter examines the gametic traits and progeny produced by upper Yakima River wild and hatchery origin fish. In the third chapter, we describe work begun initially in 2002 to characterize and compare redds of naturally spawning wild and hatchery fish in the upper Yakima River.

Author: C. M. Knudsen
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 40

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A growing body of literature suggests that adult salmon produced by artificial culture are not as reproductively successful as wild fish when they spawn under natural conditions. Behavioral, morphological, and physiological divergences have been observed between hatchery and wild fish. These disparities are the likely proximate causes of the differences seen in the reproductive success of hatchery and wild salmonids. Two evolutionary paradigms have been proposed to explain why salmonids cultured in hatcheries are genetically and phenotypically different from wild cohorts. The first proposes that natural selection has been significantly relaxed in hatcheries. Consequently, fish that normally would have perished because of the possession of unsuitable traits are able to survive. If these traits have a genetic basis, they may become established in a hatchery population and cause its productivity to be less than expected if the fish are once again exposed to natural selection pressures. The second theorizes that environmental and social conditions in hatcheries are less variable than in the natural environment and that these conditions will remain relatively constant from one generation to the next. In this circumstance, selection for genetic traits that adapt fish to artificial culture will become prevalent in the population. Such traits may be mal-adaptive under natural conditions. Many of the studies that have compared the reproductive success (RS) of hatchery and wild fish, however, have used non-local hatchery fish that have experienced multiple generations of hatchery culture. Few efforts have been made where both the hatchery and wild fish have originated from the same population. When such studies have been performed differences in the competency of the fish to produce offspring have not been detected or are not as great as those expressed when non-local hatchery fish have been used. The hatchery spring Chinook produced by the Yakima Fisheries Project originated from wild fish returning to the upper Yakima River. When they return as adults, almost all of them will spawn naturally in the Yakima River. The offspring they produce are expected to augment the Yakima spring Chinook population. Whether such an increase will occur or how great it may be depends on two factors, the ability of hatchery fish to reproduce under natural conditions and the capacity of their offspring to survive to maturity. One of the objectives of the Yakima Fisheries Project is to determine whether the hatchery-origin adults produced by the project have experienced any reduction in their ability to reproduce under natural conditions. To accomplish that objective an observation stream was built in 2000 on the grounds of the Cle Elum Supplementation and Research Facility. Beginning in 2001 hatchery and wild spring Chinook from the upper Yakima River stock have been introduced into the stream and allowed to reproduce. Microsatellite DNA is used to establish the genetic relationships between the adults placed into the stream and fry that are produced by each population. Six populations consisting of mixtures of wild and hatchery fish have been placed into the stream. Pedigree assessments have been completed on five of them. These assessments have shown that the reproductive success in males is often twice as variable as that experienced by females. In the five populations so far examined; wild males (age 4 and 5) produced the most offspring. The success of comparable hatchery males relative to wild males ranged from 37% to 113%. Hatchery and wild males maturing as 3-yr-olds (jacks) and as 1- and 0-yr-olds (precocious males) were also used in the study populations. They were not as successful at producing offspring as the larger hatchery and wild males. During 2001 and 2002 two populations of hatchery and wild fish were placed into the observation stream each year. Each one occupied about half of the structure. In these populations wild females exhibited a superior capacity to deposit eggs. In addition, their eggs survived to the fry stage at higher rates. This survival advantage ranged from 1.9 to 11.7%. In 2003 the entire observation stream was made available to a single population of fish in an effort to reduce intrasexual competition among the females for redd locations. In this year, hatchery females were better at depositing eggs (12.5%) and their buried eggs also achieved a higher egg-to-fry survival rate (3.4%). This suggests that at low population levels hatchery females were as competent as wild fish in burying eggs and in producing fry. Although variation in the reproductive success of females was lower than that seen in males it could be quite variable. For example, coefficient of variation values calculated on female RS ranged from 34 to 77% in the populations we examined. Numerous factors may affect RS in females.

Author:
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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: B. D. Watson
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ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 31

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In September of 2003, twenty-nine hatchery and twenty-eight wild spring chinook adults were placed into the observation stream located at the Cle Elum Supplementation Research Facility. In, addition 20 precocious males, 7 hatchery and 13 wild, were simultaneously released into the structure. As in previous years, the fish had small amounts of fin material removed prior to being introduced into the stream so that microsatellite DNA based pedigree analyses could be performed on their subsequent progeny. The entire 127 m long by 7.9 m wide stream was made available to this group of fish. Continuous behavioral observations were made while the females prepared nests and spawned. Moreover, standard measurements of adult longevity, spawning participation, water velocity, redd sizes, gravel composition, water temperature and flow were taken. Fry produced from these fish started to emigrate from the stream in early January 2004. They were trapped and sub-sampled for later microsatellite DNA analyses. In mid May of 2004 fry emergence from the channel was complete and residual fish were captured by seine and electro-fishing so that the entire juvenile population could be proportionately sampled. Audiotape records of the behavior of wild and hatchery adults spawning in the observation stream in 2001 were transcribed into continuous ethograms. Courting, agonistic, and location data were extracted from these chronological records and analyzed to characterize the reproductive behavior of both hatchery and wild fish. In addition, a ''gold standard'' pedigree analysis was completed on the fry originating from the adults placed into the observation stream in 2001. Behavioral and morphological data collected on hatchery and wild males were linked to the results of the pedigree analysis to ascertain what factors affected their reproductive success (RS) or capacity to produce fry. Individual RS values were calculated for each male placed into the observation stream and the coefficient of variation calculated from these values was greater than 100%. To determine what might be responsible for this degree of variation we examined the relative importance of a variety of physical and behavioral traits. Relative body size, for example, was found not be an important predictor of reproductive success. Instead, the capacity to court females and dominate sexual rivals was directly associated with male RS. However, males that had low dominance scores were also successful at producing offspring. These individuals utilized alternative behavioral strategies to gain close proximity to females and were successful in their attempts to fertilize eggs. Observations made on the color patterns of males showed dominance was closely linked with the possession of an overall black or dark brown color pattern. In addition, we discovered that males that had multiple mates achieved higher RS values than those who spawned with fewer females. The approach we are taking to compare the reproductive competency of hatchery and wild fish is to first determine the factors that are strongly linked to reproductive behavior and then assess whether significant differences occur in the expression of these traits based on the fish origin. Transcriptions of audiotapes are continuing and a second gold standard pedigree analyses on the fry produced from adults placed into the observation stream in 2002 is nearing completion. Future work will be directed at discovering the factors that affect female RS values. In the fall of 2004 we will again liberate hatchery and wild fish simultaneously into the entire observation stream to continue our efforts to objectively determine if differences in RS are caused by fish origin.

Author: J. A. Rau
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 49

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In the Yakima Spring Chinook supplementation program, wild fish are brought into the Cle Elum Hatchery, artificially crossed, reared, transferred to acclimation sites, and released into the upper Yakima River as smolts. When these fish mature and return to the Yakima River most of them will be allowed to spawn naturally; a few, however, will be brought back to the hatchery and used for research purposes. In order for this supplementation approach to be successful, hatchery-origin fish must be able to spawn and produce offspring under natural conditions. Recent investigations on salmonid fishes have indicated that exposure to hatchery environments during juvenile life may cause significant behavioral, physiological, and morphological changes in adult fish. These changes appear to reduce the reproductive competence of hatchery fish. In general, males are more affected than females; species with prolonged freshwater rearing periods are more strongly impacted than those with shorter rearing periods; and stocks that have been exposed to artificial culture for multiple generations are more impaired than those with a relatively short exposure history to hatchery conditions.

Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 86

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Book Description
This report is intended to satisfy two concurrent needs: (1) provide a contract deliverable from Oncorh Consulting to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), with emphasis on identification of salient results of value to ongoing Yakima/Klickitat Fisheries Project (YKFP) planning, and (2) summarize results of research that have broader scientific relevance. This is the first in an anticipated series of reports that address reproductive ecological research and monitoring of spring chinook in the Yakima River basin. In addition to within-year comparisons, between-year comparisons will be made to determine if traits of the wild Naches basin control population, the naturally spawning population in the upper Yakima River and the hatchery control population are diverging over time. This annual report summarizes data collected between April 1, 2001 and March 31, 2002. In the future, these data will be compared to previous years to identify general trends and make preliminary comparisons.

Author: Steven L. Schroder
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 50

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Book Description
In 2001 hatchery- and wild-origin spring chinook were placed into an observation stream located at the Cle Elum Supplementation Research Facility to compare their reproductive success. Two groups containing both wild- and hatchery fish of both sexes were brought into the stream and allowed to spawn. Their longevity, spawning participation, and reproductive success were assessed. In addition, wild- and hatchery-origin precocious males were also introduced into one of the sections and allowed to spawn. We found that hatchery and wild males generally lived longer than females. In one group hatchery and wild females lived for similar periods of time while in the other wild females lived longer than hatchery fish. Wild females were also more successful at burying their eggs and the eggs they buried had higher survival rates. This result occurred in both groups of fish. Spawning participation in males was estimated by using two statistics referred to as percent gonad depletion (PGD) and percent testes retention (PRT). Both of these measures assumed that loss of testes weight in males would reflect their spawning participation and therefore could be used to estimate reproductive success. Hatchery and wild males had similar PGD and PRT values. One of these measures, PRT, was negatively associated with male reproductive success, confirming the idea that reduction in testes weight can be used as a surrogate measure of a male's ability to produce offspring Fry from the observation stream were collected throughout the emergence period that ran from January through May. Proportionate sub-samples of these fish were removed and microsatellite DNA was extracted from them. Pedigree analyses were performed to ascertain which adult fish had produced them. These analyses disclosed that wild males were more successful at producing progeny in one of the groups. No difference occurred in the other group. Precocial males and jacks fathered fewer progeny than did fish maturing at ages 4 and 5. In addition, male reproductive success was more than twice as variable as that seen in females. Some males apparently never spawned and others produced more than 7,000 offspring an amount that was more than double the quantity generated by the most successful female. Behavioral observations showed that a number of factors besides male origin influenced their reproductive success. One was relative body size; larger males tended to dominate smaller opponents and therefore had greater access to females. However, male dominance was not always related to relative size. The ability to attack and chase opponents was, however, positively related to reproductive success. We also discovered that the reproductive status of females and the social status of males were often reflected by their nuptial coloration. Territorial females typically had a single broad purple black stripe, light green or brown backs and white or gray ventral surfaces. Dominate males on the other hand, were generally a uniform dark brown or black color. The percentage of time that a male possessed a dark color pattern was positively linked to his reproductive success, as was the percentage of time he was observed courting or defending a female. The number of times a male was chased or attacked by a female also affected his reproductive success, in this situation the greater the frequency of such attacks the lower the reproductive success of the male. The pedigree analyses also disclosed that both hatchery and wild precocious males were able to fertilize eggs and produce offspring under natural spawning conditions. In conclusion we found differences in the reproductive competency of hatchery- and wild origin spring chinook. Wild females were better at depositing their eggs and having those eggs produce fry. In one study group wild males were more successful at producing offspring than hatchery males. Additional replications of such evaluations are being carried out to determine if the differences seen can be replicated. A repeat of the work done in 2001, for example, was performed in 2002 and additional studies will take place this coming year.