Climate and human exploitation have regulated Atlantic salmon populations in the River Spey, Scotland, over the last 2000 years
Historical salmon catch records suggest that climatic variability, and more recently human exploitation, control patterns of abundance in Atlantic salmon populations. We present the first long-term (2000-year) reconstruction of Atlantic Salmon population variations based on a Marine Derived Nutrient...
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ftsouthampton:oai:eprints.soton.ac.uk:456168 2023-12-03T10:19:16+01:00 Climate and human exploitation have regulated Atlantic salmon populations in the River Spey, Scotland, over the last 2000 years Sear, David Langdon, Peter Leng, Melanie Edwards, Mary Heaton, Tim Langdon, Catherine Leyland, Julian 2022-03-11 text https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/456168/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/456168/1/HOL_21_0176_R1_accepted.pdf en English eng https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/456168/1/HOL_21_0176_R1_accepted.pdf Sear, David, Langdon, Peter, Leng, Melanie, Edwards, Mary, Heaton, Tim, Langdon, Catherine and Leyland, Julian (2022) Climate and human exploitation have regulated Atlantic salmon populations in the River Spey, Scotland, over the last 2000 years. The Holocene. (In Press) accepted_manuscript Article PeerReviewed 2022 ftsouthampton 2023-11-03T00:04:15Z Historical salmon catch records suggest that climatic variability, and more recently human exploitation, control patterns of abundance in Atlantic salmon populations. We present the first long-term (2000-year) reconstruction of Atlantic Salmon population variations based on a Marine Derived Nutrient (MDN) lake sediment record. Our record is constructed from nitrogen isotopes (δ15N) measured from a lake sediment core, which we compare with an escapement index (EI) derived from historic net catch data on major Scottish salmon rivers. We used an isotope mixing model to demonstrate that the N isotope values are likely enriched with MDN and demonstrate that Loch Insh sediments are enriched compared with a control site (Loch Vaa) that has never had exposure to salmon. We demonstrate that current adult spawner returns are around half that of historic values prior to major human exploitation. Before the onset of widespread human exploitation and habitat degradation, large fluctuations in salmon abundance are attributed to variations in North Atlantic sea surface temperature. While our data support published reconstructions of declining Atlantic salmon stocks in Northwest European rivers over the last 1000 years, rather than point to a solely human cause, the human impact appears to be overprinted on larger-scale changes in marine habitat occurring at the transition from the warmer Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA) to the cooler Little Ice Age (LIA). Article in Journal/Newspaper Atlantic salmon North Atlantic University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
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University of Southampton: e-Prints Soton |
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ftsouthampton |
language |
English |
description |
Historical salmon catch records suggest that climatic variability, and more recently human exploitation, control patterns of abundance in Atlantic salmon populations. We present the first long-term (2000-year) reconstruction of Atlantic Salmon population variations based on a Marine Derived Nutrient (MDN) lake sediment record. Our record is constructed from nitrogen isotopes (δ15N) measured from a lake sediment core, which we compare with an escapement index (EI) derived from historic net catch data on major Scottish salmon rivers. We used an isotope mixing model to demonstrate that the N isotope values are likely enriched with MDN and demonstrate that Loch Insh sediments are enriched compared with a control site (Loch Vaa) that has never had exposure to salmon. We demonstrate that current adult spawner returns are around half that of historic values prior to major human exploitation. Before the onset of widespread human exploitation and habitat degradation, large fluctuations in salmon abundance are attributed to variations in North Atlantic sea surface temperature. While our data support published reconstructions of declining Atlantic salmon stocks in Northwest European rivers over the last 1000 years, rather than point to a solely human cause, the human impact appears to be overprinted on larger-scale changes in marine habitat occurring at the transition from the warmer Medieval Climatic Anomaly (MCA) to the cooler Little Ice Age (LIA). |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Sear, David Langdon, Peter Leng, Melanie Edwards, Mary Heaton, Tim Langdon, Catherine Leyland, Julian |
spellingShingle |
Sear, David Langdon, Peter Leng, Melanie Edwards, Mary Heaton, Tim Langdon, Catherine Leyland, Julian Climate and human exploitation have regulated Atlantic salmon populations in the River Spey, Scotland, over the last 2000 years |
author_facet |
Sear, David Langdon, Peter Leng, Melanie Edwards, Mary Heaton, Tim Langdon, Catherine Leyland, Julian |
author_sort |
Sear, David |
title |
Climate and human exploitation have regulated Atlantic salmon populations in the River Spey, Scotland, over the last 2000 years |
title_short |
Climate and human exploitation have regulated Atlantic salmon populations in the River Spey, Scotland, over the last 2000 years |
title_full |
Climate and human exploitation have regulated Atlantic salmon populations in the River Spey, Scotland, over the last 2000 years |
title_fullStr |
Climate and human exploitation have regulated Atlantic salmon populations in the River Spey, Scotland, over the last 2000 years |
title_full_unstemmed |
Climate and human exploitation have regulated Atlantic salmon populations in the River Spey, Scotland, over the last 2000 years |
title_sort |
climate and human exploitation have regulated atlantic salmon populations in the river spey, scotland, over the last 2000 years |
publishDate |
2022 |
url |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/456168/ https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/456168/1/HOL_21_0176_R1_accepted.pdf |
genre |
Atlantic salmon North Atlantic |
genre_facet |
Atlantic salmon North Atlantic |
op_relation |
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/456168/1/HOL_21_0176_R1_accepted.pdf Sear, David, Langdon, Peter, Leng, Melanie, Edwards, Mary, Heaton, Tim, Langdon, Catherine and Leyland, Julian (2022) Climate and human exploitation have regulated Atlantic salmon populations in the River Spey, Scotland, over the last 2000 years. The Holocene. (In Press) |
op_rights |
accepted_manuscript |
_version_ |
1784266478837563392 |