Mitigation of Marinederived nutrient loss in the BoisePayetteWeiser subbasin'

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Mitigation of Marine-derived nutrient loss in the
Boise-Payette-Weiser subbasin.
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• Dr. Kaathleen Kavanagh, University of Idaho
• Dr. Charles Robbins, Washington State University
• Dr. Mark Wipfli, Pacific Northwest Research
  Station
• Gregg Servheen, Idaho Department of Fish and Game

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Why are we interested?
Wild (non-hatchery) anadromous fishes have
declined sharply in Idaho.
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Background

• Assuming each carcass (FW) is 3.03 nitrogen
  (Larkin and Slaney 1997), over 3 million
  kilograms of nitrogen (N) were carried into the
  Columbia basin each year. (with a lot of
  assumptions-3kg/ha yr deposited in riparian
  areas.)

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Background

• Historically, anadromous fish represented a gross
  input of 103 million kilograms of organic
  material in the form of fish carcasses into the
  Columbia Basin each year. (Gresh et al. 2000).

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Salmon Drive a Positive Feedback
Ocean Ecosystem
Freshwater Ecosystem
Terrestrial Ecosystem
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Salmon link ocean and land-based ecosystems
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Nutrients carbon leach from salmon carcasses
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Estimated contributions of salmon carcasses to
the N-cycle.
Source
N kg ha-1 year-1
Salmon carcasses (in riparian areas)
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Wet deposition in central Idaho
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Dry deposition in central Idaho
lt0.5
N-fixation(closed canopy forest, few N-fixers)
0.1
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Can ecosystem productivity and nutrition be
restored ?
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Hypothesis

• Salmon and steelhead contributed measurable and
  benefitting quantities of marine-derived
  nutrients to aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems
  in the subbasin.

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Nutrient Treatments

• Salmon carcasses
• surplus to hatchery needs
• Salmon analogs
• manufactured and fish-derived

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Treatment Areas

• Historic salmon use
• Bull trout distribution
• Grazing
• Replication

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Aquatic Monitoring Objectives Understand the
effects of nutrient applications on 3 different
trophic levels with the aquatic system.
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Upper Trophic Level Fishes biomass, density,
marine isotope levels
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Mid Trophic Level - Invertebrates density, mass,
marine isotope levels
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Lower Trophic Level Biofilm mass, chlorophyll
a, marine isotope levels
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Vegetative Monitoring ObjectiveUnderstand the
effects of nutrient treatment applications on
riparian conifers.
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Why conifer foliage?

• N is major limiting nutrient.
• When N is limiting, N translocation and retention
  increases.
• Provides an historic context on the contribution
  of salmon carcasses after salmon have been
  eliminated.

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Study design
Collect current year, sun-grown conifer foliage
along transects perpendicular to treated and
control stream reaches.
Mainstem
Tributary
Bankside
Adjacent Upslope
Upslope
Transects
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Stream-Riparian Linkages
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Nutrient inputs from aquatic to terrestrial.

• Nutrient from anadromous fish (salmon
  steelhead) carcasses through
• Ground water
• Deposition
• Predators

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Terrestrial Monitoring ObjectiveQuantify
contribution of nitrogen from treatments within
terrestrial food chain
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Cooperators Washington State University Un
iversity of Idaho Pacific Northwest Research
Station USFS Boise National Forest
Rocky Mountain Research
Station Idaho Department of Fish and Game