Redd site selection and spawning habitat use by fall chinook salmon: The importance of geomorphic features in large rivers

Journal Article · Tue Sep 01 04:00:00 EDT 1998 · Environmental Management

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1007/s002679900137· OSTI ID:655410

Geist, D R ^[1]; Dauble, D D ^[1]

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1. Pacific Northwest National Lab., Richland, WA (United States). Ecology Group

Knowledge of the three-dimensional connectivity between rivers and groundwater within the hyporheic zone can be used to improve the definition of fall chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) spawning habitat. Information exists on the microhabitat characteristics that define suitable salmon spawning habitat. However, traditional spawning habitat models that use these characteristics to predict available spawning habitat are restricted because they can not account for the heterogeneous nature of rivers. The authors present a conceptual spawning habitat model for fall chinook salmon that describes how geomorphic features of river channels create hydraulic processes, including hyporheic flows, that influence where salmon spawn in unconstrained reaches of large mainstem alluvial rivers. Two case studies based on empirical data from fall chinook salmon spawning areas in the Hanford Reach of the Columbia River are presented to illustrate important aspects of the conceptual model. The authors suggest that traditional habitat models and the conceptual model be combined to predict the limits of suitable fall chinook salmon spawning habitat. This approach can incorporate quantitative measures of river channel morphology, including general descriptors of geomorphic features at different spatial scales, in order to understand the processes influencing redd site selection and spawning habitat use. This information is needed in order to protect existing salmon spawning habitat in large rivers, as well as to recover habitat already lost.

• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE Bonneville Power Administration, Portland, OR (United States)
• DOE Contract Number: AC06-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 655410
• Journal Information: Environmental Management, Journal Name: Environmental Management Journal Issue: 5 Vol. 22; ISSN EMNGDC; ISSN 0364-152X
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

13 HYDRO ENERGY
COLUMBIA RIVER
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS
GROUND WATER
HABITAT
HYDROELECTRIC POWER PLANTS
MATHEMATICAL MODELS
MIGRATION
SALMON