A new perspective on the importance of marine-derived nutrients to threatened stocks of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.)

Abstract

Considerable research has highlighted the important role of anadromous salmon in importing marine-derived nutrients to freshwater and riparian ecosystems. These subsidies are thought to support diverse food webs and increase the growth and survival of juvenile salmon during their freshwater residency. Quite recently, however, salmon smolts have been identified as important exporters of nutrients from freshwater ecosystems. Using a mass-balance approach, we examined the phosphorus-transport dynamics by spring/summer Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) in the Snake River basin and estimated that net phosphorus transport into the basin over the past 40 years was <2% of historical levels. Furthermore, a nonlinear relationship existed between nutrient import by adults and subsequent export by smolts, such that smolts exported proportionally more phosphorus as spawner abundance decreased. In 12% of years, smolts exported more than adults imported, resulting in a net loss of phosphorus from the ecosystem. This loss of marine subsidies may have caused a state shift in the productivity of the freshwater ecosystem, resulting in strong density-dependent survival observed in juvenile salmon. These results suggest that conserving this threatened stock of salmon requires the need to explicitly address the important role of marine-derived nutrients and energy in sustaining salmon populations.