Effect of Summer Floods and Spatial-Temporal Scale on Growth and Feeding of Juvenile Atlantic Salmon in Two New Brunswick Streams

Abstract
The objectives of this study were (1) to determine how summer floods influenced the feeding, growth, and energy reserves of juvenile Atlantic salmon Salmo salar, and (2) to describe the short-term spatial and temporal variation in feeding and growth. Age-0 and age-1 Atlantic salmon were collected from two New Brunswick streams during the growing seasons of 1992 and 1993. Changes over time were monitored from samples collected at the beginning, middle, and end of 10-d periods. For each year-class, two control periods of relatively constant discharge were compared with two summer floods of a discharge magnitude that would occur once every 2-3 years on average. Feeding rates were measured by weighing the gut contents of sampled fish, and short-term changes in growth were assessed using the RNA:DNA ratio. The results showed that fine-scale spatial units (20 m in length) may be more important than large spatial differences (upstream versus downstream reaches) in explaining variation in feeding and gro...

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