Anna Sturrock (UC Berkeley) Presentation to the Yuba RMT 06/07/16 Juvenile salmon life history diversity in the Yuba River Anna Sturrock (UC Berkeley) Presentation to the Yuba RMT 06/07/16

Salmon population viability ABUNDANCE POP GROWTH RATE SPATIAL STRUCTURE Freshwater Estuarine Marine DIVERSITY HABITAT CAPACITY AND ENVIRONMENTAL VARIABILITY Graphic courtesy of S. Lindley and T. Williams

Life history diversity expression Yearling Smolt Parr Fry Leave later >75mm 55-75mm <55mm Leave earlier

Life history diversity expression TAKE HOME MESSAGE: IN OUR FOCUS YEAR (outmigration year 2007-08) & MOST TRAPPING YEARS, JUVENILE CHINOOK SALMON MIGRATED PAST HALLWOOD BOULEVARD SMALL (<40mm FL) & EARLY (JAN/FEB) 75% percentile < 40mm http://www.theunion.com/news/obituaries/9732795-113/salmon-fish-river-yuba Campos & Massa (2010) 2007-08 Annual Rotary Screw Trapping Report Lower Yuba River Accord, RMT (2013) Interim Monitoring & Evaluation Report

But who survives? 2009 escapement (2 yr olds)

Otolith isotopes 87Sr/86Sr ISOSCAPE The natural “Black Box” or “Flight Recorder” 87Sr/86Sr ISOSCAPE Hobson, K., Barnett-Johnson, R., and Cerling, T. (2009). Isoscapes: Understanding movement patterns and processes on earth through isotope mapping.

Otolith isotopes Decoding the flight recorder… Adult (ocean) Juvenile (FW) Maternal

Otolith isotopes Decoding the flight recorder… LASER ABLATION MULTI COLLECTOR INDUCTIVELY COUPLED PLASMA MASS SPECTROMETER (LA-MC-ICPMS)

Otolith isotopes Decoding the flight recorder…

Otolith isotopes Decoding the flight recorder…

How are we identifying Yuba-origin fish? Typical method: Mean 87Sr/86Sr value of the otolith material laid down after yolk sac has been used up and exogenous feeding has begun  DFA Sturrock & Johnson (2013) “Contribution of hatchery and natural origin Chinook salmon to the Lower Yuba River” Report to the Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp Program CDFW

How are we identifying Yuba-origin fish? Typical method: Mean 87Sr/86Sr value of the otolith material laid down after yolk sac has been used up and exogenous feeding has begun  DFA “Step method”: If 87Sr/86Sr values in the core prior to exogenous feeding >Yuba River value assume it’s a Yuba-origin fish (could misclassify American and Merced fry outmigrants that have strayed to the Yuba). Sturrock & Johnson (2013) “Contribution of hatchery and natural origin Chinook salmon to the Lower Yuba River” Report to the Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp Program CDFW

How are we identifying Yuba-origin fish? In support : 1. “Step” observed in known Yuba-origin juvenile caught in the Hallwood Blvd RST but no other ref juveniles or CWT fish. 2. “Step” only observed in adults returning to the American and Yuba Rivers (characterized by high river values). Sturrock & Johnson (2013) “Contribution of hatchery and natural origin Chinook salmon to the Lower Yuba River” Report to the Bay-Delta Sport Fishing Enhancement Stamp Program CDFW

Movement reconstructions Smolt outmigrant YOLK American Ocean Delta Lower Sac To show you a little more clearly how this actually looks, here is an isotopic profile measured across the otolith of one adult that left the American River as a smolt. [NOT TO SCALE!]

Movement reconstructions Smolt outmigrant YOLK American Ocean Delta Lower Sac To show you a little more clearly how this actually looks, here is an isotopic profile measured across the otolith of one adult that left the American River as a smolt. [NOT TO SCALE!]

Movement reconstructions Smolt outmigrant YOLK American Ocean Delta Lower Sac To show you a little more clearly how this actually looks, here is an isotopic profile measured across the otolith of one adult that left the American River as a smolt. [NOT TO SCALE!]

Movement reconstructions Fry outmigrant YOLK American Ocean Delta Lower Sac To show you a little more clearly how this actually looks, here is an isotopic profile measured across the otolith of one adult that left the American River as a fry and reared in the Delta. [NOT TO SCALE!]

Movement reconstructions Fry outmigrant YOLK American Ocean Delta Lower Sac To show you a little more clearly how this actually looks, here is an isotopic profile measured across the otolith of one adult that left the American River as a fry and reared in the Delta. [NOT TO SCALE!]

Movement reconstructions Fry outmigrant YOLK American Ocean Delta Lower Sac To show you a little more clearly how this actually looks, here is an isotopic profile measured across the otolith of one adult that left the American River as a fry and reared in the Delta. [NOT TO SCALE!]

Distance from core (μm) Movement reconstructions Size at natal exit Smolt/yearling outmigrant Fry outmigrant Natal Natal Non-natal Ocean Yuba Delta Lower Sac Otolith Sr87/Sr86 Here are a couple of examples of profiles from a smolt and a fry outmigrant, where they remained in the Yuba River for variable lengths of time. And what is neat is that the otolith size has a tight positive relationship with fish size, so we can convert these otolith distances into size at exit. Distance from core (μm) (α fork length)  

Movement reconstructions Size at “natal” exit Fry Parr Smolt Size at outmigration of adults that returned to the American (AME = natural origin; NIH = Nimbus Hatchery), Yuba (YUB), Stanislaus (STA) and Tuolumne (TUO) Rivers. The AME & NIH data are from a draft report written with CFS & SWF, representing unaged fish from escapement 2014 (i.e. could include some 2011 and 2013 outmigrants).

Movement reconstructions Size at “natal” exit Take home message: Fry matter! …especially in the Yuba & American R. But is this pattern because fry strategy more prevalent in the Sac basin, or because fry have better survival in the Sac basin/N delta? And have all these Yuba fry actually left the Yuba?! FRY SURVIVORS! Size at outmigration of adults that returned to the American (AME = natural origin; NIH = Nimbus Hatchery), Yuba (YUB), Stanislaus (STA) and Tuolumne (TUO) Rivers. The AME & NIH data are from a draft report written with CFS & SWF, representing unaged fish from escapement 2014 (i.e. could include some 2011 and 2013 outmigrants).

Movement reconstructions Size at “natal” exit WHERE ARE THEY REARING??

Habitat use reconstructions Movement reconstructions Habitat use reconstructions DEER AND/OR DRY CREEK IDENTIFIED AS REARING HABITATS

Habitat use reconstructions DEER AND/OR DRY CREEK IDENTIFIED AS REARING HABITATS BUT WHERE IS “HABITAT X”?

Clams (Corbicula fluminia) as passive chemical samplers

Clams (Corbicula fluminia) as passive chemical samplers Feather Yuba Yuba Dry Creek Dry Creek Yuba

Clams (Corbicula fluminia) as passive chemical samplers Dry Creek mouth Dry Creek mouth Dry Creek-Yuba confluence Dry Creek-Yuba confluence

Habitat use reconstructions

Habitat use reconstructions i.e. lots of overlap but some fish DEFINITELY reared in Dry/Deer Creek

Supported by data on juvenile habitat preferences TAKE HOME MESSAGE: SMALL JUVENILES OBSERVED IN THE YUBA RIVER WERE CLUSTERED IN THE UPPER REACHES IN CHANNEL MARGINS & LOWER WATER VELOCITIES (i.e. TRIBUTARY MOUTHS WOULD BE IDEAL HABITATS)

FL at exit & time (FL diff) in non-natal habitat Juvenile strategies Large fry & parr FL at exit & time (FL diff) in non-natal habitat Take home message: If you leave the Yuba mainstem small, you still need to rear somewhere else before leaving FW if you want to survive! Small fry FL at FW exit

Where to from here? Other otolith markers (e.g. Sr/Ca, Ba/Ca) to discriminate between Yuba tributaries, Feather and it’s tributaries, Sacramento & Delta? Integrating otolith reconstructions with RST data to estimate survival rates by migratory phenotype. Increased juvenile sampling in the tributaries (and Goldfields?) to identify key rearing habitats. Comparing patterns with other populations, runs, WYT.

Acknowledgements And thank you for listening! The Yuba RMT for supporting this research and having me here today! Rachel Johnson, George Whitman, Justin Glessner, Mike Miller (UC Davis) Sacramento Water Forum & Cramer Fish Sciences for letting me show the LAR data All the carcass survey teams & RST operators (especially Duane Massa & Casey Campos – PSMFC) Water sampling and coordination (especially Gary Reedy & Marianne Pott - SYRCL) JD Wikert, Carl Mesick, Eric Hopson, Doug Threloff (USFWS) Tim Heyne, Gretchen Murphy, Crystal Sinclair, Shelly Schubert and all the scale readers and carcass survey teams at CDFW Stephanie Carlson (UC Berkeley) Jason Wyman (14 Black Poppies) for his wonderful salmon graphic. And thank you for listening! a.sturrock@berkeley.edu

Movement reconstructions Size at “natal” exit Yuba rearing fish that migrated out quickly (left), slowly (middle), or as a yearling (right) Fish that left the mainstem as fry and reared in Dry or Deer creek

Movement reconstructions Size at “natal” exit Fish that reared in the mouth of Deer/Dry Creek (too high for FEA & final dip ruling out Delta) Fry outmigrants that may have reared in the Delta