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Spatial Models of Salmonine Growth Rates in Lake Ontario
Author(s) -
Goyke Andrew P.,
Brandt Stephen B.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1993)122<0870:smosgr>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - predation , oncorhynchus , salvelinus , trout , chinook wind , environmental science , habitat , predator , apex predator , biomass (ecology) , context (archaeology) , range (aeronautics) , bioenergetics , fishery , ecology , ecosystem , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , paleontology , materials science , composite material , mitochondrion , microbiology and biotechnology
Salmonine growth rate potential, a bioenergetic measure of environmental quality, was modeled for chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha and lake trout Salvelinus namaycush in Lake Ontario. Spatial distributions of predator and prey were measured along a cross‐lake transect during spring, summer, and fall with a 120‐kHz, dual‐beam acoustic system. A geographic information system provided the platform to create high‐resolution maps of observed acoustic (prey and predator biomass densities), biological (energetic parameters), and physical (temperature) variables, and to model salmonine growth rate potential in a spatially explicit context. Predators and prey occupied only a small percentage of the available habitat: 0.3–14.7% and 8.7–25.9%, respectively. A range of 3% to 27% of the habitat sampled, depending on the species and season, was able to support positive salmonine growth. Predator distributional overlap with regions of positive growth potential was nearly 50% in summer, 72% in fall, and 71% in spring for chinook salmon and 58% in summer, 77% in fall, and 72% in spring for lake trout. Predator overlap with prey was slightly higher (about 1–12%) than that of positive growth rate regions. We contend that spatially explicit bioenergetic models are useful tools for examining habitat use, predator–prey interactions, and ecosystem production in such spatially complex aquatic systems.