Abstract
BackgroundLong-term data from marked animals provide a wealth of opportunities for studies with high relevance to both basic ecological understanding and successful management in a changing world. The key strength of such data is that they allow us to quantify individual variation in vital rates (e.g. survival, growth, reproduction) and then link it mechanistically to dynamics at the population level. However, maintaining the collection of individual-based data over long time periods comes with large logistic efforts and costs and studies spanning over decades are therefore rare. This is the case particularly for migratory aquatic species, many of which are in decline despite their high ecological, cultural and economical value.New informationThis paper describes two unique publicly available time series of individual-based data originating from a 51-year mark-recapture study of a land-locked population of large-sized migratory brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Norway: the Hunder trout. In the period 1966-2015, nearly 14,000 adult Hunder trout have been captured and individually marked during their spawning migration from Lake Mjøsa to the river Gubrandsdalslågen. Almost a third of those individuals were later recaptured alive during a later spawning run and/or captured by fishermen and reported dead or alive. This has resulted in the first data series: a mark-recapture-recovery dataset spanning half a century and more than 18,000 capture records. The second data series consists of additional data on juvenile and adult growth and life-history schedules from half of the marked individuals, obtained by means of scale-sample analysis. The two datasets offer a rare long-term perspective on individuals and population dynamics and provide unique opportunities to gain insights into questions surrounding management, conservation and restoration of migratory salmonid populations and freshwater ecosystems.
Highlights
Important processes in ecology and evolution of vertebrates occur over the course of multiple years and often decades
This paper describes two unique publicly available time series of individual-based data originating from a 51-year mark-recapture study of a land-locked population of large-sized migratory brown trout (Salmo trutta) in Norway: the Hunder trout
Individual-based mark-recapture and life-history data resulting from the latter provide a wealth of opportunities for studies that are impossible with only population-level data, as they allow linking population dynamics to vital rates, and enable the study of individual differences in those vital rates (Clutton-Brock and Sheldon 2010)
Summary
Long-term data from marked animals provide a wealth of opportunities for studies with high relevance to both basic ecological understanding and successful management in a changing world. Maintaining the collection of individual-based data over long time periods comes with large logistic efforts and costs and studies spanning over decades are rare. This is the case for migratory aquatic species, many of which are in decline despite their high ecological, cultural and economical value. Almost a third of those individuals were later recaptured alive during a later spawning run and/or captured by fishermen and reported dead or alive This has resulted in the first data series: a markrecapture-recovery dataset spanning half a century and more than 18,000 capture records. Keywords mark-recapture, sclerochronology, individual-based, long-term, Salmo trutta, survival, growth, life-history, hydropower dam, river regulation, migration, freshwater
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