Stable isotope analysis of trophic position and terrestrial vs. marine carbon sources for juvenile Pacific salmonids in nearshore marine habitats

• Published in: Fisheries Management and Ecology
• Main Authors: ROMANUK, T. N., LEVINGS, C. D.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2005
• Subjects: Pacific; Keta; Oncorhynchus gorbuscha
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2400.2004.00432.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1365-2400.2004.00432.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1365-2400.2004.00432.x

Abstract Stable isotope analysis was used to determine trophic position and the relative contributions of terrestrial‐derived carbon (TDC) and marine‐derived carbon for Chinook, Oncorhynchus tshawytscha (Walbaum), pink, Oncorhynchus gorbuscha (Walbaum), and chum, Oncorhynchus keta (Walbaum) salmon fry in near‐shore marine habitats. Chum fry were enriched in δ 13 C relative to pink fry, and enriched in δ 15 N relative to both Chinook and pink fry. Between 5.5 and 39.7% of the carbon in the three species was TDC. The TDC was higher in chum fry (28.7 ± 4% SD) than in pink fry (24.9 ± 4.4% SD), but TDC did not differ between Chinook fry (27.8 ± 9.5% SD) and either chum or pink fry. The fry of these three species of Pacific salmon may form a trophic hierarchy with chum fry occupying the highest trophic position and the three species may also partition resources according to carbon source.