Atlantic Salmon

- To test this hypothesis my experimental approach would be testing different bodies of water or testing one and just testing different areas while tracking the fish.

The procedure for this experiment followed the steps as shown in the flow chart (Figure 1) and will be expanded upon here. The oxygen-measuring probe in the test chamber was first turned on and required 10 minutes to warm up. During this time, two empty containers had 200mL of fish water added to them and then each was weighed using a scale that was tared to zero before use. Two pairs of goldfish were then collected from the large tank #1 in the lab room using the fish net provided, and one pair was placed in each container. Then, the containers were reweighed separately and the original weights were subtracted from the new weights in order to determine each pair of goldfish’s weight. Two trials were conducted and in each trial, each goldfish pair was subjected to two conditions, first a control condition where no factors were introduced, followed by an experimental condition where they were exposed

In the North Pacific there are five species of salmon. Each kind of salmon is known by different names like, Chinook (king), sockeye (red), coho (silver), chum (dog), and pink (humpback). These are all valuable, but the Chinook or King Salmon were the prize of the Columbia River system. In the late 1800s about 2,500,000 cans of salmon nearly filled a cannery store and storage rooms in Astoria, Oregon. Fresh, salted, dried, and smoked were the only options for preserving and eating salmon before the spread of canning technology in the mid 1800s.

Salmon are both an indicator and keystone species to the survival of ecosystems in the Pacific Northwest. A healthy salmon species implies healthy waterways with little pollution, and an abundance of native plants and animals, as well as thriving estuaries that effectively filter pollutants. Salmon are a vital food source for predators, and carry key nutrients to plants surrounding the rivers and lakes where they spawn. Along with environmental stability, a healthy salmon population contributes to a multi-million dollar industry of thousands of workers along the Pacific

Anadromous salmonids, which travel between freshwater and saltwater, is an example of how habitat loss can change evolutionary patterns. Dams constructed for hydroelectric power generation are blocking the access for these fishes, but culverts and river engineering have also reduced the amount of habitat that anadromous fishes can use (Furniss et al. 1991; NRC 1996). These results suggest that loss of habitat will alter evolutionary patterns in salmonid populations.

Trophic cascades are powerful forces that have a pronounced effect on ecosystems. They occur when predation causes shifts in prey dynamics that indirectly lead to enhanced survival in the next lowest trophic level. Walleye fishing bans at Lac la Biche coinciding with a restocking effort have led to a large recovery of walleye populations. The increase in populations of a high trophic level predator should cause shifts in a lower trophic level species (yellow perch) prey preferences from fish towards invertebrate prey. 576 yellow perch stomach collected from 2009 - 2013 by Alberta Environment and Sustainable Resource Development were sent to MacEwan University for processing/analysis. Yellow perch stomachs will be measured (dry weight, empty weight), and prey items will be removed identified and weighed. Sampling procedure differs depending on the type of prey item removed from the stomach (fish, macro and micro invertebrates). Length and weight measurements will be taken for fish and macro invertebrates; whereas, micro invertebrates will be sub sampled until 50-100 individuals can be identified. Data will be analyzed using multi

The methodological approach during this experiment was started by going to different parts of the Tidal Creek every season throughout the year for testing. Every trip to the Tidal Creek would require a collection of the designated species that were being experimented on. The species collected would then be identified and separated. After this was done, they would be measured

Salmon are born in an area away from the coast, they will then migrate away. About 4-5 years later, the salmon will make a treacherous journey back to the exact spot where they were hatched. The salmon will return to this area (temperate rainforest) because of the large supply of fresh water. This is because eggs can only survive in freshwater. It is said that there is small bits of iron in the brains of salmon that act as a compass to steer them towards the north and to their birthplace. After 2 months of travelling through open sea, the salmon will arrive at the coast. This is when their journey becomes a lot riskier, as only 4/1000 salmon will reach their birthplace. Many species, such as the bald eagle and salmon shark, will feed on the

The procedure for this task was the following: teams were separated into three sections. Each section was responsible for collecting three rocks from their section of the creek. The first rock was collected and with the forceps, the organisms that were in the rock were collected and put in the Haier tray. After collecting all the organisms found in the rock, the stopwatch was set for 15 minutes; within this time we identified the invertebrates. As a guide we used the aquatic entomology text by McCafforty (1981), to helps us identify the organisms. Data was recorded from the identification of the organisms in the laboratory notebook. After finishing counting and classifying the organisms of the first rock, we proceeded with the second and third rock. The controls for this part of the experiment depended on the organisms found in the creek, because some of the organisms indicated if the water was in a good condition or not. After the data for this task was collected, all the teams exchanged their results. Then we put everything in its place and we headed back to the class, making sure that none of the materials were left behind. When we got to the laboratory, we washed our hands with soap to make sure that our hands were clean from the

In figure 1, it shows the time spent in each patch and results show that time spent varied drastically between each patch. Overall, the longest time spend was in patch 2, where there was the greatest food supply. In addition, in patch 2, related fishes spend more time than unrelated ones, further confirming that kinship was significant. In figure 2, the percentage of foraging was lower than non-kin meaning that the food was greatly shared between the kin pair than the non-kin. This figure shows that subordinated ingested more larvae when paired with kin than non-kin. In figure 3, without the dominant, subordinate spent more time in the best feeding patch and they increased food sharing with the dominant kin and increased foraging benefits the dominant kin fish was absent in comparison to when the non-kin dominant was absent. In figure 4, over a period of 3 days, results show that subordinate kin fishes that we paired with dominant kin fishes spend more time in these patches and slowly increased their food intake compared to those non-kin pairs when dominant is absent. Overall, subordinates gained kin advantages such as an increase in food intake and food sharing when paired with a relative. In addition, it shows that even with the kin dominant fish present, foraging and food intake were higher in the pair of kin fishes than those in

The objective of this experiment is to investigate the relationship between the birds and bears who have caught a fish, at the McNeil River Falls. I have only chosen pictures that have both a bear and a bird present, then analyzed the pictures and grouped them by whether the bear has a fish and another group with bears who don’t have a fish. My hypothesis is that birds gather in groups of 4 or greater to bears who have caught a fish compared to bears who do not have fish.

Introduction: The study is being done to test how the rats ability to socialize, interact between other rats. Relevant background

The process of bubble-net feeding is like a game of football, where members specialize in an specific factor of the bubble feeding. Bubble-feeding techniques are interesting because the techniques used depend on who the lead of the blowing bubbles which allow the group to capture the school of fishes ( Kelsey 2008: 57-58). The leaders of the bubble-feeding groups can be either male or female. Often times, humpback whales have been observed pairing up with specific individuals during the summer bubble net feeding. The humpback whales that stay with the same group seem to develop more efficient and successful techniques (Kelsey 2008:59). Humpbacks whales ability to form reciprocal bonds outside of kinship is demonstrated through their their formation of partner or group bubble net feeding for the entire summer, even through different decades, with non-related humpback whales (Kelsey 2008: 59). Yet, the relationships between humpback-whales are not always harmonious, when two different bubble-feeding groups collaborate together there are often tensions and competitions has the individual humpback-whales renegotiate their role within their group( Kelsey 2008: 60). Furthermore, when two groups are feeding in the same area, if on humpbacks from one group think that the other group is more successful in catching they may easily drop their alliance with their group in order to join what they think of being more successful bubble net feeding (Kelsey 2008:60). One of the reasons for the group patterns for bubble-net feeding over the summer and not the winter might be that during the summer since there are predictable and abundant schools of fish (Kelsey

A two was ANOVA was used to determine butterflyfish populations, with time and site as the two fixed factors. The formula wi = ui/pi was used to which prey types were avoided or preferred, where ui = proportional use of each prey type, and pi = availability of said prey in the habitat, and calculated with a confidence interval of

Similarly, the study of individual differences has a rich history situated in the areas of behavioral genetics, sociobiology, behavioral ecology, developmental psychology, personality theory, and studies of learning and cognition. Each area has its own goals, associated techniques, and levels of explanation. The study of behavioral variation during early development, for instance, has been documented primarily by psychologists studying proximate mechanisms in laboratory animal models, whereas the study of different adult morphs using the adaptationist perspective has been dominated by behavioral ecologists examining natural populations. A more complete description of individual differences requires an integrative study of the mechanisms that guide intraindividual flexibility and the associated adaptive fine tuning of behavioral types. It is through this integration that researchers can make predictions about the response of different individual phenotypes, groups, populations, and species to novel