Nick Burgos
University of California Los Angeles
Research Mentor: Steve Rubin
Project: Evaluating juvenile Salmon and forage fish use of eelgrass through video
This summer I had the amazing opportunity to conduct research at the USGS Western Fisheries Research Center under my mentor, Steve Rubin. My project evaluated juvenile salmon and forage fish use of eelgrass through video, a continuation of investigations on eelgrass ecology in Skagit Bay. Channelization and diking have modified the flow of the Skagit River, altering sediment deposition and eelgrass distribution. Eelgrass is known to provide food and refuge for multiple fish species, but there is limited data that quantifies these functions. Understanding how fish use eelgrass can help us identify the impact of these habitat changes, and video recordings offer a useful tool in observing their abundance and behavior.
We achieved this using GoPro cameras, and early work involved preparing structures to hold these cameras and methods to quantify relative abundances and behaviors through video. After selecting sites according to netting samples from the previous year, we deployed our cameras three times over the course of one month. The second half of my summer focused on analyzing videos from both unvegetated and eelgrass containing sites, and finding out what they could tell us about how different fish species use eelgrass.
Video data supported that fish use eelgrass habitat differently from unvegetated habitat, but not always in the way we expect. In the case of Chinook salmon, video revealed relatively greater use of unvegetated habitat. Netting revealed that Chinook caught in eelgrass were fast growing but consumed non-eelgrass related prey (adult insects), so video results may be early evidence for the hypothesis that they feed elsewhere and spend more time in eelgrass for other benefits such as anti-predatory cover. Forage fish differed from Chinook, showing that fish use of eelgrass is not clear cut and our understanding of it can benefit from video sampling.
Finally, I also had the opportunity to gain valuable field sampling experience for multiple ongoing projects at USGS. This included taking light measurements that help evaluate the impact of artificial light at night as well as Northern pikeminnow tracking in Lake Washington. This summer gave me incredible insight into the research process and fisheries ecology, and I am so grateful for Steve Rubin, Dave Beauchamp, Tessa Code, Marshal Hoy, and everyone at CICOES and USGS for making it possible!
Project Introduction
Research Poster
