The response of North Atlantic diadromous fish to multiple stressors including land use change: a multidecadal study

• Main Authors: de Eyto, Elvira, Dalton, Catherine, Dillane, Mary, Jennings, Eleanor, McGinnity, Philip, O'Dwyer, Barry, Poole, Russell, Rogan, Ger, Taylor, David
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: unknown
• Published: NRC Research Press (a division of Canadian Science Publishing) 2016
• Subjects: North Atlantic; North Atlantic oscillation; Salmo salar
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/1807/73235; http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/abs/10.1139/cjfas-2015-0450

Reduction of freshwater habitat quality due to land use change can have significant impacts on diadromous fish. Partitioning this impact from other potential drivers, such as changing marine conditions and climate, is hampered by a lack of long term datasets. Here, four decades of data were used to assess the impact of land use change on Salmo salar L. and anadromous Salmo trutta L. in the Burrishoole catchment, Ireland, one of the few index sites for diadromous fish in the North Atlantic. Land use change was found to have no significant impact on the freshwater survival of either salmon or trout. However, climate impacted significantly on the survival of salmon and trout in freshwater, with poor survival in years with wetter warmer winters, coinciding with positive North Atlantic Oscillation values. Additionally, cold springs were associated with higher survival in trout. The addition of hatchery salmon into the salmon spawning cohort coincided with low freshwater survival. Our results highlight the necessity for a broad ecosystem approach in any conservation effort of these species. The accepted manuscript in pdf format is listed with the files at the bottom of this page. The presentation of the authors' names and (or) special characters in the title of the manuscript may differ slightly between what is listed on this page and what is listed in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript; that in the pdf file of the accepted manuscript is what was submitted by the author.