Density-dependent survival as a function of size in juvenile salmonids in streams

Abstract

The bioenergetic mechanism of density-dependent survival in juvenile stream salmonids was modeled using the relationship between density, food availability, and body size for a food-limited stream system. With a consumption-rate function estimated from laboratory experiments reported in the literature, we developed a function to predict maximum density of stream-resident juvenile salmonids of different sizes. This function can thus predict effective density based on both numbers and sizes of fish. Density predictions from this mechanistic function did not differ from predictions in the literature based on an empirically derived function describing the relationship between minimum territory size and body size in age-0 salmonids in streams, but it did suggest a bioenergetic mechanism for these relationships, linking size and consumption rate to the available food. Finally, we proposed a model of per capita survival rate as a function of the numbers and sizes in a cohort of stream-resident juvenile salmonids.