HR: 14:30h
AN: NB13B-05 [Abstracts]
TI: Quantifying the Importance of Marine-derived Nutrients in Atlantic Coast Streams Using Stable Isotopes: Prospects and Challenges.
AU: * Jardine, T
EM: tjardine@unb.ca
AF: Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick,
Loring Bailey Hall, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3 Canada
AU: * Jardine, T
EM: tjardine@unb.ca
AF: Canadian Rivers Institute, Loring Bailey Hall, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3 Canada
AU: Roussel, J
EM: jean-marc.roussel@rennes.inra.fr
AF: INRA, Laboratoire d'Ecologie Aquatique, Rennes cedex, France
AU: Roussel, J
EM: jean-marc.roussel@rennes.inra.fr
AF: Canadian Rivers Institute, Loring Bailey Hall, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3 Canada
AU: Gray, M
EM: gray2@cc.umanitoba.ca
AF: Department of Zoology, University of Manitoba, Winnipeg, MB Canada
AU: Gray, M
EM: gray2@cc.umanitoba.ca
AF: Canadian Rivers Institute, Loring Bailey Hall, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3 Canada
AU: Mitchell, S
EM: smitchel@stfx.ca
AF: Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick,
Loring Bailey Hall, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3 Canada
AU: Mitchell, S
EM: smitchel@stfx.ca
AF: Canadian Rivers Institute, Loring Bailey Hall, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3 Canada
AU: Cunjak, R
EM: cunjak@unb.ca
AF: Department of Biology, University of New Brunswick,
Loring Bailey Hall, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3 Canada
AU: Cunjak, R
EM: cunjak@unb.ca
AF: Canadian Rivers Institute, Loring Bailey Hall, Fredericton, NB E3B 5A3 Canada
AB:
Ecologists have long recognized the importance of essential elements, particularly nitrogen, delivered by anadromous fishes
to nutrient poor streams of the Pacific coast. On the Atlantic coast, this process is less widespread but still potentially
important. Due to distinct gradients in stable isotope signatures between freshwater and the sea, stable isotope analysis
(SIA) offers a mechanism of identifying areas that receive large influxes of marine nutrients in the form of excreta, eggs,
carcasses, and young-of-the-year fishes, and the possibility of quantifying such fluxes. However, there are a variety of
limitations in using this approach that must be considered. The purpose of this talk will be to describe some of these
limitations using original data from three river systems on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. We present interactions
between anadromous fishes (Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar and blueback herring, Alosa aestivalis) and freshwater consumer
groups (the sculpins Cottus cognatus and C. gobio, and several benthic invertebrate species). Interpretation of isotope
patterns can be confounded by variable baseline signatures, reproductive status of consumers, and spawner densities. The
successful use of SIA in determining the importance of marine-nutrients to Atlantic coast streams requires awareness of
natural and man-made patterns of isotope ratios, as well as life history characteristics of stream-dwelling organisms.
DE: 4870 Stable isotopes
DE: 9810 New fields (not classifiable under other headings)
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly