Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) spawning in the Salmon River in Oregon. Photo courtesy of Bureau of Land Management.
Over millennia, native salmonids in North America have developed a complex survival strategy in which important life events, such as spawning, coincide with specific river conditions, such as flow and temperature. As river systems are modified by development and climate change, the current adaptations of native salmonids may not be compatible with the altered river conditions, putting their survival at risk.
Station scientists Rebecca Flitcroft, Brooke Penaluna, and Gordon Grant worked with their colleagues to develop a new tool to assess the adaptability of salmonids to changing river conditions. Combining long-term records of river flow characteristics and fish behavior, the ichthyograph tool offers new insight into the ability of salmonids to survive in a range of future river conditions.
The ichthyograph is a new tool that fishery managers can use to identify salmon populations that may be most at risk under future conditions. Fisheries biologists with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and NOAA Fisheries are using it to inform interpretation of river flows needed to support multiple salmonid life stages.