Stream and ocean hydrodynamics mediate partial migration strategies in an amphidromous Hawaiian goby
[1];
[5];
- Center for Limnology University of Wisconsin Madison Wisconsin USA, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Mill Creek Washington USA
- Department of Life Sciences Texas A&,M University–Corpus Christi Corpus Christi Texas USA
- Centre for Regional and Rural Futures Deakin University Waurn Ponds Victoria Australia
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Tulane University New Orleans Louisiana USA, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Tennessee Knoxville Tennessee USA, Environmental Sciences Division Oak Ridge National Laboratory Oak Ridge Tennessee USA
- Department of Oceanography School of Ocean and Earth Science and Technology (SOEST), University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa Honolulu Hawaiʻi USA, Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, NOAA/NMFS, NOAA IRC Honolulu Hawaiʻi USA
- Pacific Islands Fisheries Science Center, NOAA/NMFS, NOAA IRC Honolulu Hawaiʻi USA
- Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology Tulane University New Orleans Louisiana USA, Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology University of Tennessee Knoxville Tennessee USA
- Center for Limnology University of Wisconsin Madison Wisconsin USA, Department of Natural Resources and the Environment Cornell University Ithaca New York USA
Abstract Partial migration strategies, in which some individuals migrate but others do not, are widely observed in populations of migratory animals. Such patterns could arise via variation in migratory behaviors made by individual animals, via genetic variation in migratory predisposition, or simply by variation in migration opportunities mediated by environmental conditions. Here we use spatiotemporal variation in partial migration across populations of an amphidromous Hawaiian goby to test whether stream or ocean conditions favor completing its life cycle entirely within freshwater streams rather than undergoing an oceanic larval migration. Across 35 watersheds, microchemical analysis of otoliths revealed that most adult Awaous stamineus were freshwater residents (62% of n = 316 in 2009, 83% of n = 274 in 2011), but we found considerable variation among watersheds. We then tested the hypothesis that the prevalence of freshwater residency increases with the stability of stream flows and decreases with the availability of dispersal pathways arising from ocean hydrodynamics. We found that streams with low variation of daily discharge were home to a higher incidence of freshwater residents in each survey year. The magnitude of the shift in freshwater residency between survey years was positively associated with predicted interannual variability in the success of larval settlement in streams on each island based on passive drift in ocean currents. We built on these findings by developing a theoretical model of goby life history to further evaluate whether mediation of migration outcomes by stream and ocean hydrodynamics could be sufficient to explain the range of partial migration frequency observed across populations. The model illustrates that the proportion of larvae entering the ocean and differential survival of freshwater‐resident versus ocean‐going larvae are plausible mechanisms for range‐wide shifts in migration strategies. Thus, we propose that hydrologic variation in both ocean and stream environments contributes to spatiotemporal variation in the prevalence of migration phenotypes in A. stamineus . Our empirical and theoretical results suggest that the capacity for partial migration could enhance the persistence of metapopulations of diadromous fish when confronted with variable ocean and stream conditions.
- Research Organization:
- Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), Oak Ridge, TN (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- Grant/Contract Number:
- DE‐AC05‐00OR22725; AC05-00OR22725
- OSTI ID:
- 1879603
- Alternate ID(s):
- OSTI ID: 1879604; OSTI ID: 1883973
- Journal Information:
- Ecology, Journal Name: Ecology Vol. 103 Journal Issue: 11; ISSN 0012-9658
- Publisher:
- Wiley Blackwell (John Wiley & Sons)Copyright Statement
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
Similar Records
Spread of an introduced parasite across the Hawaiian archipelago independent of its introduced host
Environmental indicators of habitat quality in a migratory freshwater fish fauna