Environmental Changes Affecting the Migratory Timing of American Shad and Sockeye Salmon

Abstract

The rate of evolution and the scope of phenotypic plasticity can be assessed by studying the adaptation of an introduced population to a new habitat and the response of established populations to progressive environmental change. Adult American shad (Alosa sapidissima), and introduced species, and sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka), a native species, migrate up the Columbia River (northwestern United States) in late spring and early summer to spawn. Based on records from Bonneville Dam, the river's spring warming has occurred progressively earlier since ≈ 1950, coinciding with a reduction in spring discharge. The date when 50% of the shad migrated past the dam is correlated with this shift inthermal and flow regimes; they now ascend the river ≈38 d earlier than they did in 1938. However, the mean temperature that they experience has actually decreased by 1.8$deg;C in 45 yr, indicating that the change in their migratory timing has outstripped the rate of environmental change. The upriver migration of sockeye salmon is also earlier than in past years, but their change in time (≈6 d since 1949) lags behind the rate of environmental change, and they are now experiencing ≈2.5°C warmer temperatures than in past years. We hypothesize that the differences in response to changing environmental conditions between these species arise from differences in their migration patterns and early life histories. Shad spawn soon after they enter the river in its main stem where environmental conditions of the larvae will closely mirror those experienced by upstream—migrating adults. They may therefore have evolved a migratory pattern that allows greater behavioral response to environmental fluctuations than sockeye salmon, which spawn in distant locations many months after their upriver migration. Sockeye salmon migration may be more strongly controlled by innate responses to photoperiod, migrating at the time of year which is best on average because conditions in the lower river will not be indicative of those to be experienced by incubating embryos and juveniles.