The University of Maine DigitalCommons@UMaine Electronic Theses and Dissertations Fogler Library Fall 12-2020 Responses of Juvenile Atlantic Salmon to Competition and Environmental Change: Implications for Performance in Maine Streams Nicole C. Ramberg-Pihl University of Maine, nicole.edu Follow this and additional works at: https://digitalcommons.edu/etd Part of the Behavior and Ethology Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Ramberg-Pihl, Nicole C., "Responses of Juvenile Atlantic Salmon to Competition and Environmental Change: Implications for Performance in Maine Streams" (2020). Electronic Theses and Dissertations.edu/etd/3258 This Open-Access Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by DigitalCommons@UMaine. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations by an authorized administrator of DigitalCommons@UMaine.
For more information, please contact um. RESPONSES OF JUVENILE ATLANTIC SALMON TO COMPETITION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: IMPLICATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE IN MAINE STREAMS By Nicole Ramberg-Pihl B. Plymouth State University, 2009 M. Plymouth State University, 2012 A DISSERTATION Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Ecology and Environmental Science) The Graduate School The University of Maine August 2020 Advisory Committee: Hamish Greig, PhD, Associate Professor of Stream Ecology, Advisor Stephen Coghlan, PhD Associate Professor of Freshwater Fisheries Ecology, Advisor Mike Kinnison, PhD, UMaine System Trustee Professor Jasmine Saros, PhD, Professor, School of Biology and Ecology Joseph Zydlewski, PhD, Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and Professor of Fisheries Science Copyright 2020 Nicole Ramberg-Pihl All Rights Reserved ii RESPONSES OF JUVENILE ATLANTIC SALMON TO COMPETITION AND ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE: IMPLICATIONS FOR PERFORMANCE IN MAINE STREAMS By Nicole Ramberg-Pihl Dissertation Advisor: Dr.
Hamish Greig and Dr. Stephen Coghlan An Abstract of the Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy (in Ecology and Environmental Sciences) August 2020 New England’s climate is changing faster than that of any other region in the continental United States. Over the last century, Maine has experienced an increase in annual temperature of approximately 1.48oC along with a 15 percent increase in annual precipitation. Temperature and precipitation play vital roles in shaping the ecology of freshwater environments.
Therefore, changes in regional climate could undermine the structure and stability of Maine’s freshwater systems as they currently exist. Maine currently harbors the last wild populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the United States. Atlantic salmon were once abundant in Maine streams, but suffered dramatic declines due to several factors including deforestation, overfishing, and the construction of dams. In 2000, Atlantic salmon were listed as a Federally Endangered species.
As juveniles, salmon spend 1 to 3 years in Maine streams before smolting. However, salmon face several threats as juveniles in Maine streams, including changes in climate as well as competition from introduced or invasive species which could outcompete salmon for resources. iii This dissertation examines these impacts on juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) and the stream food webs in which they are embedded by (1.) Using temperature-controlled microcosm experiments to investigate the potential for climate-driven warming to exacerbate the effects of competition between native and invasive species from different thermal guilds. The results suggest that non-native smallmouth bass (Micropterus dolomeiu) have the potential to outcompete Atlantic salmon as waters continue to warm.) Running dynamic regression models to analyze the relationship between juvenile Atlantic salmon condition, temperature, and precipitation for 9 streams across 4 drainages over a 16-year period.
The results suggest that the impacts of climate change on salmon growth may vary by stream and spatial scale.) Conducting an instream mesocosm experiment to investigate the food-web implications of interactions between omnivorous crayfish and predatory Atlantic Salmon. These results suggest that strong bottom-up processes occur when crayfish are present, whereby increased algal growth could promote the availability of macroinvertebrates important to salmon diet. iv DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my husband and my family, who have always encouraged me to reach for the stars. v ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my advisors Hamish Greig and Steve Coghlan for their guidance in navigating the waters of my degree and their overall help while completing my research.
I have learned so much from you both. I would like to thank my committee members Joe Zydlewski, Mike Kinnison, and Jasmine Saros for their insight and support. Thank you to the combined Greig and Klemmer (Gremmer) lab for brainstorming ideas and providing feedback on my work. A special thank you to Chase Gagne for offering assistance identifying aquatic invertebrates and being a great officemate, it has been quite an excellent adventure.
Amanda Klemmer thank you for your advice in R. Dennis Anderson and Tamara Levitsky, this work would not have been possible without either of your help preparing for each field season as well as helping to complete trials by working in the lab. Thank you to the many people who worked on the salmon project in the Aquaculture Research Center, Mitch Paisker, Dan Perry, Cassidy Biggos, Tyson Porter, and Spencer Kelly. Thank you to Isaac Shepard for collaborating on preliminary experiments, Keegan Feero who worked on the Sunkhaze experiment, as well as Brad Erdman for volunteering his help in the field.
Neil Greenberg and Bobby Harrington from the Aquaculture Center, thank you for offering your expertise and time to help maintain our tanks. Thank you to Debbie Bouchard for helping assess the condition of our fish. Thank you to Zach Sheller and Kyle Winslow from the Wild Salmon Resource Center as well as Green Lake Hatchery for providing us with Atlantic salmon. Ernie Atkinson from the Department of Marine Resources, thank you for sharing your knowledge of Atlantic salmon in Maine.
Pam Wells, thank you for providing access to Sunkhaze Stream for my work. I would also like to thank the NSF IGERT Fellows and my specific IGERT cohort for their support and feedback throughout the program. Susan Elias, thank you for your advice regarding research analyzing large datasets. Thank you to the Downeast Salmon Federation.
I would also like to acknowledge my funding agencies, Maine Sea Grant, the US National Science Foundation Adaptation to Abrupt Climate Change IGERT program, the Atlantic Salmon Federation, and USDA – Hatch (MAFES) ME0-21607 to Greig and ME0-8367-0H to Coghlan. In-kind support was provided by the U. vi Geological Survey Maine Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. Mention of trade names or commercial products does not imply endorsement by the U.
This work was conducted under the University of Maine Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC) protocols number A2016-06-01. Lastly, I would like to thank my family for their support. Gatsby, Sparxx, Stardust, and Spyro, for always being there when I got home from a long bout in the field or lab. My husband, Brandon, for his encouragement to pursue my dreams.
My brother for taking my mind off work and reminding me to have a good time. Mom and Dad, thank you for instilling in me a sense of adventure that has led me to explore the world around me. For this I am forever grateful. vii TABLE OF CONTENTS DEDICATION.
vi LIST OF TABLES. xi LIST OF FIGURES. CHAPTER 1 General Introduction. 1 Climate Change in Freshwaters and Effects on Biota.
1 Atlantic Salmon and Threats they Face in Maine. CHAPTER 2 Unraveling the Impacts of Competition and Warming on Juvenile Atlantic Salmon (Salmo Salar) Performance in Maine Streams. CHAPTER 3 Interannual Variability in Temperature and Precipitation Have Stream-Specific Impacts on Juvenile Atlantic Salmon Condition in Maine Streams. 34 Data Acquisition and Filtering.
34 Dynamic Regression Models. 38 Annually Averaged Temperature and Precipitation. 38 Seasonally Averaged Summer Temperature and Precipitation. CHAPTER 4 Bottom-up Effects of Norther Crayfish, Faxonius virilis, Increase Atlantic Salmon, Salmo Salar, Prey in Maine Rivers.
69 Leaf Litter Decay Rate. 72 Salmon and Crayfish Stomach Contents. 74 Cobble Invertebrate Samples. 74 Leaf Pack Invertebrate Samples.
75 Salmon and Crayfish Stomach Content Samples. 75 Algal Biomass and Leaf Litter Decay Rate. 76 Responses in Cobble Substrate. 77 Responses in Leaf Packs.
CHAPTER 5 General Conclusion and Implications. 90 General Conclusion and Implications. 93 APPENDICES Mean Abundance of Invertebrates Found in Sunkhaze Samples. Mean abundance (number of individuals per family) of invertebrates found in the cobble samples by treatment.
Mean abundance (number of individuals per family) of invertebrates found in the leaf pack samples by treatment. 112 BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR. 113 x LIST OF TABLES Table 2. Results of GLM analysis examining the main and interactive effects of competition and temperature on salmon and bass feeding behavior before and after food addition to tanks.
Results of zero-inflated poisson model examining the main and interactive effects of competition and temperature on salmon and bass aggression before and after food addition to tanks. The nine streams and four drainages included in our analyses. Overview of dynamic regression models and the variables included in each model. Total count of Atlantic salmon individuals included in analyses by stream and life stage.
Range of Atlantic salmon length (cm), mass (g), and condition factor by stream. Results of dynamic regression Model 1-4 at the stream level, examining the relationship between annually averaged temperature (oC), precipitation (cm), and Atlantic salmon condition (Loge+1) between 1999 and 2015. Results of dynamic regression Models 1-4 at the drainage level as well as all streams combined, examining the relationship between annually averaged temperature (oC), precipitation (cm), and Atlantic salmon condition (Loge+1) between 1999 and 2015. Results of dynamic regression Models 1-4 at the stream level, examining the relationship between seasonally averaged summer temperature (oC), precipitation (cm), and Atlantic salmon condition (Loge+1) between 1999 and 2015.
Results of dynamic regression Models 1-4 at the drainage level as well as all streams combined, examining the relationship between seasonally averaged summer temperature (oC), precipitation (cm), and Atlantic salmon condition (Loge+1) between 1999 and 2015. Results of the partialRDA analysis examining community composition (condition on experimental block) and GLM analyses examining richness and evenness for invertebrates sampled in the cobble substrates. Results of the RDA analysis examining community composition and GLM analyses examining richness and evenness for invertebrates samples in the leaf packs. MANOVA results testing the effect of salmon presence on the percentage of Algal cells, amorphous detritus, coarse plant detritus, and invertebrate material found in crayfish stomach samples.
Mean abundance (number of individuals per family) of invertebrates found in the cobble samples by treatments. Mean abundance (number of individuals per family) of invertebrates found in the leaf pack samples by treatments. 112 xii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 2. Hypothetical performance curves of two interacting species under varying scenarios as temperatures change.
Timeline outlining the standard events of a typical trial during the microcosm experiment. Overall mean feeding for juvenile ATS and SMB over the 10 minute period pre- and post-feeding (+ 1 Standard Error). Mean feeding (+ 1 SE) observations of juvenile ATS and SMB at 18oC and 21oC. Overall mean aggressive encounters observed for juvenile ATS and SMB over the 10 minute period pre- and post-feeding (+ 1 Standard Error).
Aggressive encounters observed for juvenile ATS and SMB at 18oC and 21oC both pre- and post-feeding. Geographic location of all streams included in our dynamic regression models. Average annual temperature (Panel A) and seasonally averaged summertime (June, July, and August) temperatures (Panel B) for Bangor and State of Maine between 1999 and 2015. Histograms of juvenile Atlantic salmon length by stream for individuals included in the analyses.
Average annual temperature (oC), precipitation (cm), and Atlantic salmon condition (Loge +1) factor for Dennys River between 1999 and 2015. Average annual temperature (oC), precipitation (cm), and Atlantic salmon condition (Loge +1) factor for East Machias River between 1999 and 2015. Average annual temperature (oC), precipitation (cm), and Atlantic salmon condition (Loge +1) factor for Seavey Stream between 1999 and 2015 .