Quantifying the effects of post-surgery recovery time on the migration dynamics and survival rates in the wild of acoustically tagged Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar smolts
Abstract Background The experimental effects of surgically implanting fish with acoustic transmitters are likely to have negative effects on survival and behaviour. Measuring the extent of these negative effects is important if we wish to extrapolate inferences from tagged animals to un-manipulated...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
BMC
2021-01-01
|
| Series: | Animal Biotelemetry |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-020-00228-6 |
| _version_ | 1818615860622786560 |
|---|---|
| author | J. Daniels E. B. Brunsdon G. Chaput H. J. Dixon H. Labadie J. W. Carr |
| author_facet | J. Daniels E. B. Brunsdon G. Chaput H. J. Dixon H. Labadie J. W. Carr |
| author_sort | J. Daniels |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Abstract Background The experimental effects of surgically implanting fish with acoustic transmitters are likely to have negative effects on survival and behaviour. Measuring the extent of these negative effects is important if we wish to extrapolate inferences from tagged animals to un-manipulated animals. In this study, we examine the effect of surgery and post-tagging recovery time on the survival and migration rate of acoustically tagged wild Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) smolts through freshwater, estuarine and ocean phases of migration. Four treatment groups were used: pre-smolt captured in the fall that overwintered in a hatchery and were tagged either 75 days prior to release (winter hatchery) or within 24 h prior to release (spring hatchery) and smolt captured during the spring smolt run, tagged 24 h prior to release and released during the day (day-released) or night (night-released). Results The spring hatchery treatment group served as a reference treatment group such that recovery time (comparison to winter hatchery treatment) and hatchery effects (comparison to day-released and night-released treatments) could both be discerned. The hatchery effect increased migration rate, whereas short recovery times and captivity in a hatchery negatively affected survival. These effects were most pronounced within the first 5 days and/or 48 km downstream post-release, however, the residual recovery time effects appeared to persist during the transition from the estuary into salt water. Conclusions Even with smolts originating from the wild and spending relatively little time within the hatchery environment, post-release survival was still negatively affected. Migration speed was faster for hatchery smolts, but is likely only due to their larger size. Recovery time effects were most prominent during the initial migration period in freshwater and again in the transition from the estuary to saltwater which may be due to added stress during these transitional zones. As surgery-related bias will likely never be completely removed from telemetry studies, it is important to quantify and account for these effects in situ when making inferences on the un-manipulated component of the population. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-16T16:40:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-20173ac2868246e4a7837d83888fdc53 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2050-3385 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-16T16:40:37Z |
| publishDate | 2021-01-01 |
| publisher | BMC |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Animal Biotelemetry |
| spelling | doaj.art-20173ac2868246e4a7837d83888fdc532022-12-21T22:24:19ZengBMCAnimal Biotelemetry2050-33852021-01-019111410.1186/s40317-020-00228-6Quantifying the effects of post-surgery recovery time on the migration dynamics and survival rates in the wild of acoustically tagged Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar smoltsJ. Daniels0E. B. Brunsdon1G. Chaput2H. J. Dixon3H. Labadie4J. W. Carr5Atlantic Salmon FederationAtlantic Salmon FederationFisheries and Oceans CanadaWilfrid Laurier UniversityMiramichi Salmon AssociationAtlantic Salmon FederationAbstract Background The experimental effects of surgically implanting fish with acoustic transmitters are likely to have negative effects on survival and behaviour. Measuring the extent of these negative effects is important if we wish to extrapolate inferences from tagged animals to un-manipulated animals. In this study, we examine the effect of surgery and post-tagging recovery time on the survival and migration rate of acoustically tagged wild Atlantic Salmon (Salmo salar) smolts through freshwater, estuarine and ocean phases of migration. Four treatment groups were used: pre-smolt captured in the fall that overwintered in a hatchery and were tagged either 75 days prior to release (winter hatchery) or within 24 h prior to release (spring hatchery) and smolt captured during the spring smolt run, tagged 24 h prior to release and released during the day (day-released) or night (night-released). Results The spring hatchery treatment group served as a reference treatment group such that recovery time (comparison to winter hatchery treatment) and hatchery effects (comparison to day-released and night-released treatments) could both be discerned. The hatchery effect increased migration rate, whereas short recovery times and captivity in a hatchery negatively affected survival. These effects were most pronounced within the first 5 days and/or 48 km downstream post-release, however, the residual recovery time effects appeared to persist during the transition from the estuary into salt water. Conclusions Even with smolts originating from the wild and spending relatively little time within the hatchery environment, post-release survival was still negatively affected. Migration speed was faster for hatchery smolts, but is likely only due to their larger size. Recovery time effects were most prominent during the initial migration period in freshwater and again in the transition from the estuary to saltwater which may be due to added stress during these transitional zones. As surgery-related bias will likely never be completely removed from telemetry studies, it is important to quantify and account for these effects in situ when making inferences on the un-manipulated component of the population.https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-020-00228-6Acoustic telemetryExperimental effectsCaptivity effectsTagging effectsRecovery time |
| spellingShingle | J. Daniels E. B. Brunsdon G. Chaput H. J. Dixon H. Labadie J. W. Carr Quantifying the effects of post-surgery recovery time on the migration dynamics and survival rates in the wild of acoustically tagged Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar smolts Animal Biotelemetry Acoustic telemetry Experimental effects Captivity effects Tagging effects Recovery time |
| title | Quantifying the effects of post-surgery recovery time on the migration dynamics and survival rates in the wild of acoustically tagged Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar smolts |
| title_full | Quantifying the effects of post-surgery recovery time on the migration dynamics and survival rates in the wild of acoustically tagged Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar smolts |
| title_fullStr | Quantifying the effects of post-surgery recovery time on the migration dynamics and survival rates in the wild of acoustically tagged Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar smolts |
| title_full_unstemmed | Quantifying the effects of post-surgery recovery time on the migration dynamics and survival rates in the wild of acoustically tagged Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar smolts |
| title_short | Quantifying the effects of post-surgery recovery time on the migration dynamics and survival rates in the wild of acoustically tagged Atlantic Salmon Salmo salar smolts |
| title_sort | quantifying the effects of post surgery recovery time on the migration dynamics and survival rates in the wild of acoustically tagged atlantic salmon salmo salar smolts |
| topic | Acoustic telemetry Experimental effects Captivity effects Tagging effects Recovery time |
| url | https://doi.org/10.1186/s40317-020-00228-6 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jdaniels quantifyingtheeffectsofpostsurgeryrecoverytimeonthemigrationdynamicsandsurvivalratesinthewildofacousticallytaggedatlanticsalmonsalmosalarsmolts AT ebbrunsdon quantifyingtheeffectsofpostsurgeryrecoverytimeonthemigrationdynamicsandsurvivalratesinthewildofacousticallytaggedatlanticsalmonsalmosalarsmolts AT gchaput quantifyingtheeffectsofpostsurgeryrecoverytimeonthemigrationdynamicsandsurvivalratesinthewildofacousticallytaggedatlanticsalmonsalmosalarsmolts AT hjdixon quantifyingtheeffectsofpostsurgeryrecoverytimeonthemigrationdynamicsandsurvivalratesinthewildofacousticallytaggedatlanticsalmonsalmosalarsmolts AT hlabadie quantifyingtheeffectsofpostsurgeryrecoverytimeonthemigrationdynamicsandsurvivalratesinthewildofacousticallytaggedatlanticsalmonsalmosalarsmolts AT jwcarr quantifyingtheeffectsofpostsurgeryrecoverytimeonthemigrationdynamicsandsurvivalratesinthewildofacousticallytaggedatlanticsalmonsalmosalarsmolts |