Juvenile Chinook Salmon Diet in Comparison to Invertebrate Drift in the Merced River, California

Authors

Tyler Orgon

Document Type

Article

Abstract

Diets and habitat types of salmonids have been widely studied in disturbed streams and rivers. The Merced River in California has a long history of flooding, damming, levee failures, and channel reconstruction events that has disrupted the aquatic ecosystem. This 30 day study was conducted in the Robinson Reach of the Merced River using juvenile Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawtscha). The objectives were to try and understand if juvenile Chinook salmon were selecting certain invertebrate species, determine if there were any differences in diets between habitat types, and determine whether diets and drift samples were different. Diets consisted of three major invertebrate families: Hydropyschidae, Baetidae, and Culicidae. Family Hydropyschidae was the most common composing of 35.9% of all salmonid diets at the time of the study. When comparing diets between habitat types, there was not enough evidence to suggest a significant difference between reference and artificial structure types (p = 0.77). Previous studies suggest that Chinook salmon diets closely resemble drift samples. However, our data provides evidence to suggest that diets and drift samples are different with family Hydropsychidae occurring mainly in diets. One hypothesis for this occurrence could be linked to the drift tolerance of certain invertebrate families like Hydropsychidae.

Publication Date

2015

Comments

Faculty sponsor: Dr. Andrew Hafs, Department of Biology, Aquatic Biology Program

Recommended Citation

Orgon, Tyler, "Juvenile Chinook Salmon Diet in Comparison to Invertebrate Drift in the Merced River, California" (2015). Journal of Earth and Life Science. 44.
https://pines.bemidjistate.edu/j-earth-life-sci/44