Transferability of habitat suitability criteria of juvenile Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar)

We constructed generalized habitat criteria for juvenile Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar) based on four river- specific suitability indices for depth, water velocity, and substrate to assess whether habitat criteria for juvenile Atlantic salmon are transferable across rivers. We first tested whether salmon are more likely to occupy higher-quality habitats than generally available in a stream reach based on these composite criteria. We then repeated the same procedure using the river-specific criteria of this study and the generalized habitat suitability criteria of Heggenes. As expected, the river-specific criteria were generally the most effective ones in predicting fish habitat use. However, both of the two generalized criteria also transferred fairly well to the test sites. Viewed across salmon size-classes ( 9 cm), the river-specific criteria passed the test in ten of eleven cases (91%), and the two generalized criteria passed in nine (82%) of eleven. Thus, it appears that with respect to summertime habitat criteria for juvenile Atlantic salmon, criteria transference is conceivable at least on a regional scale, and perhaps even on a more "universal" scale. Resume : Nous avons elabore des criteres generaux pour evaluer l'habitat de jeunes saumons de l'Atlantique (Salmo salar) d'apres quatre indices de qualite specifiques a des cours d'eau particuliers et bases sur la profondeur de l'eau, la vitesse du courant et le substrat dans le but de determiner si ces criteres pouvaient s'appliquer a d'autres rivieres. Nous avons d'abord verifie si les saumons etaient plus susceptibles de se retrouver dans les habitats de qualite superieure definis par ces criteres composites que dans les habitats generalement disponibles dans la section de riviere. Nous avons repete l'operation a l'aide de des indices specifiques a une riviere et des criteres generaux de qualite de l'habitat de Heggenes. Tel que prevu, les indices specifiques etaient les plus efficaces pour predire l'utilisation de l'habitat par les poissons. Cependant, les deux series de criteres generaux convenaient assez bien aux sites experimentaux. Appliques aux classes de taille de saumons ( 9 cm), les criteres specifiques aux rivieres se sont averes adequats dans dix (91 %) des onze cas et les deux series de criteres generaux dans neuf (82 %) cas. Il apparait donc que l'on puisse transferer d'un cours d'eau a l'autre les criteres de qualite de l'habitat des jeunes saumons de l'Atlantique en ete, au moins dans une meme region et peut-etre meme a une echelle plus « universelle ».

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