Population processes responsible for larger-fish-upstream distribution patterns of Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) in interior Alaskan runoff rivers

Abstract

During the summer months, Arctic grayling (Thymallus arcticus) in Alaskan streams adopt a larger-older-fish-upstream distribution pattern. In this paper, I analyse data from two large interior Alaskan rivers to determine how population processes maintain this size and age gradient. These analyses support the hypothesis that age-phased recruitment and growth-dependent movement are primarily responsible for this distribution pattern. Age-phased recruitment describes the way that the mean age of fish recruiting to a reach increases upstream, from ages 0-1 in the lower river to ages 3-7 in the headwaters. This process begins with the concentration of spawning fish, and the resultant fry, in the lower reaches of the river. Downstream movement during the first year of life further concentrates young fish in the lower river. Over time, the distribution of this cohort broadens steadily as individuals move further upstream, so that fish recruiting to headwater reaches are 3-7 years old. This process contributes to both size and age gradients. Growth-dependent movement magnifies the size gradient by sorting fast-growing fish into the upper river and slow-growing fish into the lower river. This sorting results from the fact that individuals making long-distance upstream movements tend to have grown particularly rapidly that year, while individuals making long-distance downstream movements tend to have grown especially slowly that year. I rejected the hypothesis that age and size gradients are the result of whole-stream gradients in growth or mortality acting on a sedentary population. However, there was some evidence that fish did grow more slowly in the lowest 40 km of one river, although this made only a minor contribution to the size gradient and growth rates were remarkably constant for the next 120 km. There was no suggestion that spatial variation in mortality rate contributes towards the size or age gradient, but natural and sampling variability could have obscured small but significant differences between reaches.