Ecology of Juvenile Arctic charr in Canada

• Main Author: Sinnatamby, Ramila Niloshini
• Format: Doctoral or Postdoctoral Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: University of Waterloo 2013
• Subjects: Arctic charr; Salvelinus alpinus; climate change; otoliths; stable isotopes; juvenile life-history stage; maternal source; freshwater; latitudinal range; thermal habitat; Biology; Arctic; Canada; Lake Hazen; Nunavut; Climate change
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/10012/7607

Increases in global temperatures resulting from climate change have raised concern over potential responses of Arctic charr, Salvelinus alpinus , a cold-adapted freshwater/anadromous fish species in the salmonid family. While various aspects of adult Arctic charr ecology are well established, juvenile, and in particular, young-of-the-year (YOY) ecology is less well understood. The study of early life stages is important because of implications for subsequent population dynamics as well as their particular sensitivity to climate change. In this thesis, I aimed to broaden the scope of knowledge on juvenile Arctic charr from Canadian populations with a particular emphasis on YOY, and thermal habitat use through four studies. An intensive study of juvenile Arctic charr from Lake Hazen, Nunavut, demonstrated a preference during the summer for stream environments, particularly those fed by warm upstream ponds. Charr occupying both stream and nearshore lake habitats were found to feed similarly, with chironomids occurring most frequently in diets. Some older stream-dwelling charr preyed on smaller, younger Arctic charr. Preferred stream occupancy is likely mediated by physical barriers created mainly by water velocity, and by distance from the lake, lake-ice dynamics, low water depth, and turbidity. Water velocities and possibly intercohort competition resulted in stream habitat segregation by size, with YOY mainly found in low velocity pools and back eddies adjacent to stream banks, but not in water velocities greater than 0.1m/s. Greatest charr densities in streams were found in small, shallow, slow-flowing side channels, which are highly susceptible to drought. A discriminant function analysis model based on carbon and nitrogen stable isotope values was used to identify offspring of piscivorous large-form and non-piscivorous small-form Arctic charr morphotypes from Lake Hazen, Nunavut. The adult morphotypes were estimated to contribute approximately equally to the YOY population, however, the morphotype offspring ...