Numbers of juvenile coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) in streams are reduced substantially in winter compared to those that occur in summer. Most of this reduction occurs early in autumn with the onset of the first seasonal freshets. Stream sections containing adequate winter habitat in the form of deep pools, log jams, and undercut banks with tree roots and debris lost fewer fish during freshets and maintained higher numbers of coho in winter than sections without these habitat characteristics. These features provide shelter and reduce stream velocities. Microhabitats occupied by coho juveniles in winter after logging were unchanged from those described before logging — all microhabitats were characterized by low water velocities (≤ 0.3 m/s). Up to 48% of the coho population inhabiting stream sections with adequate shelter remained there by midwinter (Jan. 3). This percentage was typical of stream sections where at least some trees remained after logging. Streamside trees stabilized the banks and prevented their collapse. In contrast, two of three study sections that had been clear-cut logged had unstable banks which collapsed during winter freshets. Almost no coho remained in these sections in winter. Many coho emigrate from the main stream to seek the shelter of low-velocity tributaries and valley sloughs concurrent with the decline of coho populations in Carnation Creek during autumn and early winter. This seasonal shift in distribution reverses in the spring when large numbers of coho reenter the main stream. Fish overwintering in these sites have a high apparent survival rate. Before logging a 4-yr mean of 169 ± 44 coho entered one tributary (a slough called 750-m site) in autumn. Of these numbers entering, 72.2% came out in spring. During and after logging, an annual mean of 288 coho entered the same site. The apparent survival rate during and after logging was 67.4%, essentially unchanged from the prelogging value. Logging has neither reduced the numbers of coho juveniles that enter such sites in autumn to overwinter, nor reduced the numbers leaving these sites to reenter Carnation Creek in spring.

We used natural variation in sockeye salmon (Oncorhynchus nerka) spawner biomass among sites and years in three undisturbed, forested watersheds in interior British Columbia to test the hypotheses that salmon were a major source of particulate organic matter inputs to the streams and that carcass biomass determined stream-water nutrient concentrations and epilithic algal production. Sockeye carcasses were retained at the spawning sites, primarily (75–80%) by large woody debris (LWD) or pools formed by LWD. The abundance and distribution of sockeye salmon determined stream-water nutrient concentrations and epilithic chlorophyll a concentrations during late summer and early fall when most primary production occurred in the oligotrophic streams. Periphyton accrual rates were elevated at sites with high salmon biomass. Peak chlorophyll a concentration increased with increasing carcass biomass per unit discharge above a threshold value to reach maxima 10-fold greater than ambient levels. Epilithic algae were dominated by a few common, large diatom taxa. Salmon carcasses were the dominant source of particulate organic carbon in low gradient stream reaches. Nutrient budget modeling indicated that most of the salmon-origin nutrients were exported from the spawning streams or removed to the terrestrial ecosystem; diffuse impacts may extend over a much larger area than simply the sites used for spawning.

The Carnation Creek project is a long-term study of the effects of forestry practices on a small coastal watershed (11 km 2 ) located in southwestern Vancouver Island. Initiated in 1970, this pretreatment versus post-treatment case study consists of 5 years of preharvest, 6 years of duringharvest, and now, 34 years of postharvest research. Forty-one percent of the watershed was clearcut from 1976 to 1981. One tributary sub-basin (1.1 km 2 ) was left as an unharvested reference drainage. Riparian treatments varied from clearcuts to a variable-width buffer. Fish population responses to logging have been complex, and specific to species and life stages. Stream warming due partly to riparian harvest increased the growth and survival of juvenile coho salmon and elevated smolt production by 65% for nearly three decades. These relatively short-term thermal benefits offset the effects of riparian clearcutting which included accelerated bank erosion, streambed scour, loss of stable in-stream wood, and sediment movement downstream. Landslides in 1984 greatly amplified these effects but took more than 20 years to propagate downstream to reduce fish habitat complexity and increase streambed instability and sediment transport over the entire portion inhabited by anadromous salmon. These delayed impacts have surpassed the thermal-related benefits for coho salmon. Fry-to-smolt overwinter survival has declined from a mean of 50% between 1982 and 2004 to 15% since 2005. Coho salmon smolt production has consequently been reduced to below prelogging levels. Results show that forestry-related alterations may take decades to fully develop and persist for decades longer without watershed and stream channel restoration.

Stream channel morphology forms the template upon which hydraulic aspects of aquatic habitat are created, yet spatial and temporal variability in habitat imposed by changing morphology is not well understood. This paper presents a conceptual model linking sediment supply patterns to spatial and temporal variability in channel form and aquatic habitat. To evaluate this model, change over time in three habitat variables is quantified using a 2D hydrodynamic modeling approach. A 45‐year record of topographic data from Carnation Creek, a catchment in coastal British Columbia, is used for the flow modeling. Using the Nays2DH modeling platform, water depths and velocities are simulated in eight channel segments located at different positions relative to locations of historical colluvial input using seven flow levels ranging from 3% to 400% of mean annual discharge (0.02 to 3.31 m 3s −1). Results indicate that habitat availability changes through time as a result of sediment supply‐driven changes to channel morphology and wood loads, but patterns in habitat vary as a function of dominant channel segment morphology. Spatial and temporal variability in morphology also influences the relationship between habitat availability and river discharge, leading to non‐stationary habitat‐discharge rating curves. When habitat areas are predicted by applying these curves to daily flow series spanning annual dry seasons, over 50% of the variance in cumulative seasonal habitat area can be explained by year‐to‐year changes in channel morphology and wood loading, indicating that changing morphology is an important factor for driving temporal habitat variability. This variance is related to the morphological variability of a channel segment, which in turn is associated with the segment position relative to zones of colluvial input. Collectively, these results suggest that variability in habitat is impacted by channel morphology, and can be evaluated partly on the basis of a channel's sediment supply regime. © 2019 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

No abstract