Swimming behaviour of Atlantic salmon kelts migrating past a hydropower plant dam : Effects of hydraulics and dam operations
Hydropower plants commonly impede the downstream migration of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) kelts. Thus, understanding the effects of hydraulic conditions on kelt behaviour and passage performance at dams is crucial for developing effective mitigation measures. In this study, we investigated the inf...
Published in: | Science of The Total Environment |
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Language: | English |
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Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för miljö- och livsvetenskaper (from 2013)
2024
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Online Access: | http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-99150 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171304 |
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ftkarlstadsuniv:oai:DiVA.org:kau-99150 2024-04-28T08:13:18+00:00 Swimming behaviour of Atlantic salmon kelts migrating past a hydropower plant dam : Effects of hydraulics and dam operations Simmons, O. M. Silva, A. T. Forseth, T. Andreasson, P. Müller, S. Calles, Olle Aldvén, David 2024 application/pdf http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-99150 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171304 eng eng Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för miljö- och livsvetenskaper (from 2013) Norwegian Institute for Nature Research, Norway Älvkarleby Laboratory, Sweden; Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden Älvkarleby Laboratory, Sweden Science of the Total Environment, 0048-9697, 2024, 922, orcid:0000-0002-8738-8815 orcid:0000-0003-4758-6507 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-99150 doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171304 PMID 38423307 Scopus 2-s2.0-85186266108 info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess Post-spawner Regulated river Swimming speed Swimming depth VelocityTurbulence Oceanography Hydrology and Water Resources Oceanografi hydrologi och vattenresurser Ecology Ekologi Article in journal info:eu-repo/semantics/article text 2024 ftkarlstadsuniv https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171304 2024-04-09T23:37:21Z Hydropower plants commonly impede the downstream migration of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) kelts. Thus, understanding the effects of hydraulic conditions on kelt behaviour and passage performance at dams is crucial for developing effective mitigation measures. In this study, we investigated the influence of hydraulic conditions on kelt passage performance and swimming behaviour at a Norwegian hydropower plant. We combined biological data from 48 kelts collected via acoustic telemetry with hydraulic data modelled using computational fluid dynamics. We assessed kelt passage performance using metrics such as time-to-pass, total number of detections, and total number of detections per day. Additionally, we analysed swimming depths and speeds in relation to the hydraulic conditions created by different dam operating conditions. We found that the dam operation schedule impacted the kelts’ ability to find a route past the dam. Though kelts could have passed the dam throughout the study period via a submerged pipe at the dam (which had seemingly sufficient discharge for the kelts to find), 98 % of the kelts instead waited for a spill gate to open partway through the study period. The swimming depth analysis indicated diel variation, with kelts swimming nearer to the water surface during the night. We found that swimming speed increased with increasing kelt body length, particularly under high turbulence kinetic energy and during the day. Furthermore, kelts swam faster as water velocity increased, but slowed down again as turbulence intensity increased. Our findings reveal the effects of hydraulic conditions and dam operations on the migration behaviour of Atlantic salmon kelts. This provides valuable insights for developing strategies to optimise dam operations and improve fish passage performance, including the need to spill enough water to increase passage success and will contribute to sustainable management of Atlantic salmon populations in regulated rivers. Article in Journal/Newspaper Atlantic salmon Salmo salar Karlstad University: Publications (DIVA) Science of The Total Environment 922 171304 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Karlstad University: Publications (DIVA) |
op_collection_id |
ftkarlstadsuniv |
language |
English |
topic |
Post-spawner Regulated river Swimming speed Swimming depth VelocityTurbulence Oceanography Hydrology and Water Resources Oceanografi hydrologi och vattenresurser Ecology Ekologi |
spellingShingle |
Post-spawner Regulated river Swimming speed Swimming depth VelocityTurbulence Oceanography Hydrology and Water Resources Oceanografi hydrologi och vattenresurser Ecology Ekologi Simmons, O. M. Silva, A. T. Forseth, T. Andreasson, P. Müller, S. Calles, Olle Aldvén, David Swimming behaviour of Atlantic salmon kelts migrating past a hydropower plant dam : Effects of hydraulics and dam operations |
topic_facet |
Post-spawner Regulated river Swimming speed Swimming depth VelocityTurbulence Oceanography Hydrology and Water Resources Oceanografi hydrologi och vattenresurser Ecology Ekologi |
description |
Hydropower plants commonly impede the downstream migration of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) kelts. Thus, understanding the effects of hydraulic conditions on kelt behaviour and passage performance at dams is crucial for developing effective mitigation measures. In this study, we investigated the influence of hydraulic conditions on kelt passage performance and swimming behaviour at a Norwegian hydropower plant. We combined biological data from 48 kelts collected via acoustic telemetry with hydraulic data modelled using computational fluid dynamics. We assessed kelt passage performance using metrics such as time-to-pass, total number of detections, and total number of detections per day. Additionally, we analysed swimming depths and speeds in relation to the hydraulic conditions created by different dam operating conditions. We found that the dam operation schedule impacted the kelts’ ability to find a route past the dam. Though kelts could have passed the dam throughout the study period via a submerged pipe at the dam (which had seemingly sufficient discharge for the kelts to find), 98 % of the kelts instead waited for a spill gate to open partway through the study period. The swimming depth analysis indicated diel variation, with kelts swimming nearer to the water surface during the night. We found that swimming speed increased with increasing kelt body length, particularly under high turbulence kinetic energy and during the day. Furthermore, kelts swam faster as water velocity increased, but slowed down again as turbulence intensity increased. Our findings reveal the effects of hydraulic conditions and dam operations on the migration behaviour of Atlantic salmon kelts. This provides valuable insights for developing strategies to optimise dam operations and improve fish passage performance, including the need to spill enough water to increase passage success and will contribute to sustainable management of Atlantic salmon populations in regulated rivers. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Simmons, O. M. Silva, A. T. Forseth, T. Andreasson, P. Müller, S. Calles, Olle Aldvén, David |
author_facet |
Simmons, O. M. Silva, A. T. Forseth, T. Andreasson, P. Müller, S. Calles, Olle Aldvén, David |
author_sort |
Simmons, O. M. |
title |
Swimming behaviour of Atlantic salmon kelts migrating past a hydropower plant dam : Effects of hydraulics and dam operations |
title_short |
Swimming behaviour of Atlantic salmon kelts migrating past a hydropower plant dam : Effects of hydraulics and dam operations |
title_full |
Swimming behaviour of Atlantic salmon kelts migrating past a hydropower plant dam : Effects of hydraulics and dam operations |
title_fullStr |
Swimming behaviour of Atlantic salmon kelts migrating past a hydropower plant dam : Effects of hydraulics and dam operations |
title_full_unstemmed |
Swimming behaviour of Atlantic salmon kelts migrating past a hydropower plant dam : Effects of hydraulics and dam operations |
title_sort |
swimming behaviour of atlantic salmon kelts migrating past a hydropower plant dam : effects of hydraulics and dam operations |
publisher |
Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för miljö- och livsvetenskaper (from 2013) |
publishDate |
2024 |
url |
http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-99150 https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171304 |
genre |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
genre_facet |
Atlantic salmon Salmo salar |
op_relation |
Science of the Total Environment, 0048-9697, 2024, 922, orcid:0000-0002-8738-8815 orcid:0000-0003-4758-6507 http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-99150 doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171304 PMID 38423307 Scopus 2-s2.0-85186266108 |
op_rights |
info:eu-repo/semantics/openAccess |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.scitotenv.2024.171304 |
container_title |
Science of The Total Environment |
container_volume |
922 |
container_start_page |
171304 |
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1797579869027041280 |