Salmon species, density and watershed size predict magnitude of marine enrichment in riparian food webs

Abstract

Resource subsidies across habitat boundaries can structure recipient communities and food webs. In the northern Pacific region, bears Ursus spp. foraging on anadromous salmon Oncorhynchus spp. provide a key link between marine and terrestrial ecosystems, with salmon density, fish size and watershed size as potential predictors of the magnitude of marine subsidy to terrestrial habitats. We use nitrogen and carbon stable isotopes to provide an assessment of the patterns of marine‐enrichment in riparian plants (11 species, 4 guilds) and litter invertebrates (4 guilds) sampled from 27 watersheds in coastal British Columbia, Canada. Watersheds occurred in three geographical regions (Vancouver Island, mainland midcoast and Haida Gwaii) and varied in size, and in biomass (kg m−1 of spawning length) and species of salmon (chum O. keta, pink O. gorbuscha and coho O. kisutch). δ15N values in all plant species and invertebrate guilds were positively predicted by total salmon biomass (kg m−1) and negatively predicted by watershed size. We observed replicated parallel slopes among plant species and invertebrate guilds across the gradient in salmon biomass, with differences in means hypothesized to be due to plant fractionation and animal trophic position. As such, we derived a watershed δ15N‐index averaged across guilds, and using an information theoretic approach we find that the biomass of chum salmon is a much stronger predictor of the δ15N‐index than either pink or coho salmon, or the sum biomass of all species. The top linear model contained chum biomass and watershed size. Chum salmon biomass independently predicted δ15N‐index variation in all three regions of British Columbia. Chum salmon are larger than pink or coho and provide an energetic reward for bears that facilitates carcass transfer, tissue selective foraging, and nutrient distribution by insect scavengers. Analyses of biodiversity and habitat data across many watersheds moves towards a long‐term goal in fisheries ecology to better integrate ecosystem values in salmon conservation.