TY - JOUR
T1 - Stable isotope analysis of marine feeding signatures of Atlantic salmon in the North Atlantic
AU - Dempson, J. Brian
AU - Braithwaite, Victoria A.
AU - Doherty, Denis
AU - Power, Michael
N1 - Funding Information:
We thank the many people who helped obtain and process samples for analysis, including D. W. Doidge, Nunavik Research, the staff of the Ballyshannon Hatchery, the Marine Institute of Ireland, Dave Reddin, George Furey, Milton Shears, Bruce Short, and Garnet Clarke, all of Fisheries and Oceans Canada, and Nilo Sinnatamby. Tony Bowdring and Neila Cochrane kindly provided the map used in Figure 1. Critical comments by G. Power, Dave Reddin, and Geoff Veinott improved an early draft of the manuscript. Support for the work was provided in part by the Electricity Supply Board of Ireland, an International Governance of High Seas Fisheries Canadian Science Programme grant, and an NSERC Canada grant to MP.
PY - 2010/1
Y1 - 2010/1
N2 - Differences in the marine feeding of three geographically distinct populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the North Atlantic (Conne River, Newfoundland; Koksoak River, Ungava Bay, Québec; River Erne, northwest Ireland) were examined using analyses of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen (δ13C and δ15N) and contrasted with isotope signatures obtained from a sample of salmon of unknown origin captured in the Labrador Sea. Although the overall range of δ13C and δ15N values (δ13C: from -22.42 to -19.37; δ15N: from 10.70 to 13.38) was similar to that reported by others, significant differences were found among populations and between different sea-age life-history groups. Reported differences in marine feeding between populations from the Northeast and Northwest Atlantic corroborated the stable isotope results. A surrogate measure of lipid content, the C:N ratio, was also compared among 1-sea-winter salmon. The highest levels were associated with the Koksoak River, suggesting that Subarctic populations may require higher energy reserves to contend with their longer migrations and more-severe environmental conditions.
AB - Differences in the marine feeding of three geographically distinct populations of Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) in the North Atlantic (Conne River, Newfoundland; Koksoak River, Ungava Bay, Québec; River Erne, northwest Ireland) were examined using analyses of stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen (δ13C and δ15N) and contrasted with isotope signatures obtained from a sample of salmon of unknown origin captured in the Labrador Sea. Although the overall range of δ13C and δ15N values (δ13C: from -22.42 to -19.37; δ15N: from 10.70 to 13.38) was similar to that reported by others, significant differences were found among populations and between different sea-age life-history groups. Reported differences in marine feeding between populations from the Northeast and Northwest Atlantic corroborated the stable isotope results. A surrogate measure of lipid content, the C:N ratio, was also compared among 1-sea-winter salmon. The highest levels were associated with the Koksoak River, suggesting that Subarctic populations may require higher energy reserves to contend with their longer migrations and more-severe environmental conditions.
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U2 - 10.1093/icesjms/fsp227
DO - 10.1093/icesjms/fsp227
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:73549104807
SN - 1054-3139
VL - 67
SP - 52
EP - 61
JO - ICES Journal of Marine Science
JF - ICES Journal of Marine Science
IS - 1
ER -