RAPID: Systematic Quantification of River-bed Gravel Characteristics that Promote Salmon Spawning

RAPID：系统量化促进鲑鱼产卵的河床砾石特征

• 批准号: 0956289
• 负责人: Clifford Riebe
• 金额: $ 6.75万
• 依托单位: University of Wyoming
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2009
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2009-09-01 至 2011-08-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0956289&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: RAPID; Systematic; Quantification; River; bed

Populations of Pacific salmon species have declined sharply in many rivers of the western US. Reversing these declines is a top priority and multimillion- dollar-per-year expense of many river restoration projects. To help restore salmon populations, managers often inject spawning-sized gravel into rivers. However, there is little quantitative understanding of how bed coarsening affects salmon spawning, and there little mechanistic basis concerning what the salmon actually need for spawning. Furthermore, there is little quantitative basis for determining where added gravel would be most suitable. The proposed project seeks to provide such a basis by systematically quantifying the upper, particle-size limits of spawning gravel for pink and chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus gorbuscha and O.tshawytsha). The work is founded on a series of mechanistic hypotheses about the spawning suitability of natural gravels and it will explore these hypotheses quantitatively with new measurements of fish size, redd dimensions, flow velocity, and grainsize characteristics of the bed for spawning pink and chinook salmon, the smallest and largest of the Pacific salmon species. This project focuses on rivers where salmon returns are high and substrate is coarse: the Puyallup River system (Puget Sound), where pink salmon are expected to return in exceptionally high numbers in fall 2009, and the Trinity River (coastal California), where 2009 fall-run chinook salmon are expected to return in high numbers. Because the lead time to the peak of spawning is short, a rapid response field effort will capitalize on this coincidence of large runs of salmon in coarse reaches of river. Strong relationships are expected between fish size and largest particle moved and between redd building success and percent coverage of immovable particles.This project will contribute to increased efficiency of gravel augmentation projects and improve the long-term efficacy of many river restoration efforts. By promoting effective river restoration, this project may help improve the survival outlook for some of the threatened and endangered species of Pacific salmon. The project cultivates an ongoing collaboration between the academic investigator and members of the ecosystem restoration consulting industry.

在美国西部的许多河流中，太平洋鲑鱼的数量急剧下降。扭转这些下降是许多河流恢复项目的首要任务和每年数百万美元的费用。为了帮助恢复鲑鱼的数量，管理人员经常向河流注入产卵大小的砾石。 然而，很少有定量的了解如何床粗化影响鲑鱼产卵，也很少有关于鲑鱼产卵实际需要的机械基础。此外，几乎没有定量依据来确定在何处添加砾石最合适。拟议项目旨在通过系统地量化粉红鲑鱼和奇努克鲑鱼（Oncorhynchus gorbuscha和O.tshawytsha）产卵砾石的颗粒大小上限来提供这样一个基础。这项工作是建立在一系列的机械假说的产卵适合天然砾石，它将探索这些假设定量与新的测量鱼的大小，redd尺寸，流速，和粒度特征的床产卵粉红色和奇努克鲑鱼，最小和最大的太平洋鲑鱼物种。该项目侧重于鲑鱼回归率高、底质粗糙的河流：普亚卢普河系统（普吉特湾），预计2009年秋季粉红鲑鱼将大量回归; Trinity河（加州沿海），预计2009年秋季奇努克鲑鱼将大量回归。由于产卵高峰期的提前时间很短，快速反应的实地工作将利用这一巧合，大规模运行的鲑鱼在粗糙的河段。鱼的大小和移动的最大颗粒之间以及redd建设的成功和不可移动颗粒覆盖率之间预计有很强的关系，该项目将有助于提高砾石增加项目的效率，并改善许多河流恢复工作的长期功效。通过促进有效的河流恢复，该项目可能有助于改善一些受威胁和濒临灭绝的太平洋鲑鱼物种的生存前景。 该项目培养了学术研究人员和生态系统恢复咨询行业成员之间的持续合作。