Senior Project Advisor

Kathryn Sobocinski

Document Type

Project

Publication Date

Spring 2023

Keywords

estuarine, restoration, juvenile chinook salmon, Puget Sound, Ecopath with Ecosim, mass balance

Abstract

Historical anthropogenic modifications have been documented to have negative effects on the estuarine environments of Puget Sound. Over the last three decades there has been an increase in efforts to restore these estuarine environments through both passive and active means. This increase in restoration has been predicted to have positive effects on survival of juvenile Chinook salmon, which is an ecologically and culturally important species in the Salish Sea. The goal of this project was to use Ecopath with Ecosim to create a mass-balanced food web model of a generalized restored estuary to help further understanding of the potential effects of restoration practices on the diet matrices and biomass estimates of juvenile Chinook salmon and juvenile Chinook salmon prey. The model consisted of 8 functional groups: 1 primary producer group, 3 invertebrate groups, 2 fish groups, 1 bird group, and 1 detrital group. Biomass, abundance, and demographic data was obtained from the literature or from individual stock assessments conducted for principal ecosystem components. The model created is a vast simplification of a true estuary within Puget Sound and would benefit from the addition of more functional groups to fully understand the impact of restoration on juvenile Chinook salmon, and juvenile Chinook salmon prey.

Department

Environmental Sciences

Type

Text

Rights

Copying of this document in whole or in part is allowable only for scholarly purposes. It is understood, however, that any copying or publication of this document for commercial purposes, or for financial gain, shall not be allowed without the author’s written permission.

Language

English

Format

application/pdf

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