Plumb, J. and C. M. Moffitt. 2015. Re-estimating temperature-dependent consumption parameters in bioenergetics models for juvenile Chinook salmon. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 144:323–330.
Abstract
Researcher have has cautioned against the borrowing of consumption and growth parameters from other species and life stages in when making bioenergetics growth model projections. In particular, temperature dependent consumption in the Wisconsin bioenergetics model for Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytsha produced estimates of maximum consumption (Cmax) at lower temperatures than measured in published laboratory feeding trails. In this paper So, we used published and unpublished data from laboratory feeding trials for three stocks of subyearling Chinook salmon: the Snake/Columbia River, the Nechako/Fraser River, and the Big Qualicum River to estimate and adjust parameters for temperature dependence in Cmax used in the Wisconsin bioenergetics model. Our data included growth measures from Initial fish size ranged fish ranging from 1.5 to 7.2 g, and at temperatures that ranged from 14 to 26°C. We estimated parameters for temperature dependence in Cmax based on relative differences in food consumption and then used bootstrapping techniques to estimate the error about the parameters. We found that the Wisconsin model The current parameters values greatly under estimated the observed data at temperatures between 17 and 21 °C. Estimation of consumption parameters and model selection confirmed that the Cmax should be shifted by about 4°C relative to the current bioenergetics model. We conclude the adjusted parameters for Cmax should produce more accurate predictions from the bioenergetics models for subyearling Chinook salmon.