Stream hydrology and a pulse subsidy shape patterns of fish foraging

Abstract

1. Pulsed subsidy events create ephemeral fluxes of hyper-abundant resources that can shape annual patterns of consumption and growth for recipient consumers. However, environmental conditions strongly affect local resource availability for much of the year, and can heavily impact consumer foraging and growth patterns prior to pulsed subsidy events. Thus, a consumer's capacity to exploit pulse subsidy resources may be influenced by antecedent environmental conditions, but this has rarely been shown in nature and is unknown in aquatic ecosystems. 2. Here, we sought to understand the importance of hydrologic variation and a salmon pulse subsidy on the foraging and growth patterns of two stream salmonids in a coastal southeast Alaska drainage. 3. To do this, we sampled fish stomach contents at a high temporal frequency (daily–weekly measurements) and analyzed fish consumption rates in relation to streamflow and pulse subsidy resource availability. We then explored the influence of interannual hydrologic variation on access to pulse subsidy resources (i.e. whether fish exceeded an egg consumption gape limit) in a bioenergetic simulation. 4. Prior to Pink Salmon spawning, Dolly Varden and Coho Salmon displayed distinct and nonlinear flow-foraging relationships, where forage for both species consisted primarily of macroinvertebrates. During this time period, consumption maxima coincided with baseflow and the highest observed flow conditions, and consumption minima were observed at severe low-water and intermediate flow values. After salmon spawning began, forage was not significantly related to flow and consisted primarily of salmon eggs. Further, consumption rates increased overall, and foraging patterns did not appear to be affected by flow in either species. Bioenergetic simulations revealed that patterns of interannual hydrologic variation may shift Coho Salmon growth trajectories among years. 5. Together, our results suggest that access to marine pulse subsidy resources may depend on whether antecedent hydrologic conditions are suitable for juvenile salmonids to grow large enough to consume salmon eggs by the onset of spawning.