Climate change has led to earlier spring blooms for wildflowers and ocean plankton but the impacts on salmon migration are more complicated, according to new research.
Climate change has led to earlier spring blooms for wildflowers and ocean plankton but the impacts on salmon migration are more complicated, according to new research.
In a new study, published in the journal Nature, Ecology & Evolution, Simon Fraser University (SFU) researcher Sam Wilson led a set of diverse collaborators from across North America to compile the largest dataset in the world on juvenile salmon migration timing. The dataset includes 66 populations from Oregon to B.C. to Alaska. Each dataset was at least 20 years in length with the longest dating back to 1951. Only wild salmon, and not salmon from hatcheries, were included.
Sam Wilson, a postdoctoral researcher in the Salmon Watersheds Lab at SFU and lead author on the review, says, “Field scientists from many different organizations work really hard to collect data on the migration of smolts, day after day, year after year. Bringing this data together really showcases the importance of long-term monitoring.”
Read more at Simon Fraser University
Image: A school of juvenile salmon that have been intercepted during their migration. They will be counted, measured, and released. (Credit: Sam Wilson, Simon Fraser University)
