Statistical analysis of the relationship among environmental variables, inter-annual variability and smolt trap efficiency of salmonids in the Tucannon River

Abstract

Abstract Spring and fall chinook (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha), steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) and hatchery spring chinook in the Tucannon River, Washington, USA are listed as “threatened” under the Endangered Species Act of 1973. Restoration and management of both species can be facilitated by understanding how biotic and abiotic factors affect their smolt trap efficiency. In this paper, we examine the effects of the rate of water flow, water temperature, the level of staff gauge, debris load, and Secchi disk readings on their weekly smolt trap efficiency from 1998 to 2003 using a generalized linear model (GLM) with a binomial response (link function – logit). The nonlinear relationships between the smolt trap efficiency and abiotic variables are also analyzed using a generalized additive model (GAM) with a binomial response (link function – logit). Both GLM and GAM analyses showed that the trap efficiency varied among years for fall chinook, steelhead, and wild spring chinook, but not for hatchery spring chinook, and that the level of staff gauge and the rate of water flow were the most important factors altering trap efficiency. The partial residuals from GAM analyses were used to determine the optimal number of sampled fish with a known efficiency and to detect possibly misleading results from GLM analyses.