0000000000697830
AUTHOR
Jukka Syrjänen
Redds of brown trout in the deep channels of a hydroelectric power station
Changes in habitat structure, benthic invertebrate diversity, trout populations and ecosystem processes in restored forest streams: a boreal perspective
SUMMARY 1. Most Finnish streams were channelised during the 19th and 20th century to facilitate timber floating. By the late 1970s, extensive programmes were initiated to restore these degraded streams. The responses of fish populations to restoration have been little studied, however, and monitoring of other stream biota has been negligible. In this paper, we review results from a set of studies on the effects of stream restoration on habitat structure, brown trout populations, benthic macroinvertebrates and leaf retention. 2. In general, restoration greatly increased stream bed heterogeneity. The cover of mosses in channelised streams was close to that of unmodified reference sites, but a…
Ecology, fisheries and management of wild brown trout populations in boreal inland waters
Eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems is an increasing problem, especially threatening small and shallow freshwater lakes. While the extreme inputs of nutrients (phosphorus and nitrogen) can nowadays be reduced and controlled rather efficiently, additional measures to reverse eutrophication may be needed. These often involve biomanipulation, typically mass removal of cyprinid fish. However, the success of biomanipulations has many times been limited or short lived. The reasons for this are not well known, perhaps because the more subtle impacts of biomanipulation on the ecosystem-wide processes of lakes have not been thoroughly studied. Natural abundance stable isotopes may provide a cost-ef…
Synthesis of habitat restoration impacts on young-of-the-year salmonids in boreal rivers
River restoration offers the potential to enhance biological integrity, often measured as fish population changes. We used a meta-analytical approach to synthesize density responses to in-stream habitat restoration by young-of-the year (YOY) brown trout and Atlantic salmon in 28 rivers (overall 32 restoration projects) in Finland. We also examined which local and watershed-scale factors most influenced restoration success. Finally, we conducted an expert survey to obtain an independent estimate of a sufficient density enhancement for restoration to be considered successful. Despite strong context-dependency, habitat restoration had an overall positive effect on YOY salmonid density. When co…
Kalavarojen kestävä käyttö : suunnittelu ja toteutus
The relationship between stocking eggs in boreal spawning rivers and the abundance of brown trout parr
Abstract Stocking with eggs has been widely used as a management measure to support degraded salmonid stocks. In Finland, Atlantic salmon and both sea-migrating and lake-migrating brown trout are stocked as eggs, alevins, fry, parr, and smolt, whereas trout are also stocked as mature fish. The aim of this stocking is to improve catches and to support collapsed spawning stocks. We assessed the success of stocking with brown trout eggs in a study of 17 Finnish boreal forest rivers, of which 9 were subject to egg stocking. All rivers contained some naturally spawning trout. In 16 rivers, including non-stocking years and unstocked rivers, egg stocking did not increase the total (wild and stocke…
Keski-Suomen taimenseuranta vuonna 2015
Risk assessment of gypsum amendment on agricultural fields: Effects of sulfate on riverine biota
Gypsum (CaSO4 ∙ 2H2 O) amendment is a promising way of decreasing the phosphorus loading of arable lands, and of thus preventing aquatic eutrophication. However, in freshwaters with low sulfate concentrations, gypsum-released sulfate may pose a threat to the biota. To assess such risks, we performed a series of sulfate toxicity tests in the laboratory and conducted field surveys. These field surveys were associated with a large-scale pilot exercise involving spreading gypsum on agricultural fields covering 18% of the Savijoki River catchment area. The gypsum amendment in such fields resulted in about fourfold increase in the mean sulfate concentration for a 2-month period, and a transient, …
Effect of river restoration on life-history strategies in fish communities
Assessments of river restoration outcomes are mostly based on taxonomic identities of species, which may not be optimal because a direct relationship to river functions remains obscure and results are hardly comparable across biogeographic borders. The use of ecological species trait information instead of taxonomic units may help to overcome these challenges. Abundance data for fish communities were gathered from 134 river restoration projects conducted in Switzerland, Germany and Finland, monitored for up to 15 years. These data were related to a dataset of 22 categories of ecological traits describing fish life-history strategies to assess the outcome of the restoration projects. Restora…
Redd Counting for Monitoring Salmonids in Finnish Inland Waters
During recent years, systematic redd counting has been used as a monitoring method of wild Brown Trout Salmo trutta spawning stocks, both resident and lake-migrating, in the Lake District in Southern Finland. Counting is done by wading and viewing with an aqua-scope, and is related to channel microhabitat measurements, to estimation of gravel origin, to regression between redd length and female length, to regression between female length and egg number in redd, and to parr density. This produces valuable information about spawning environment, spawning stocks, and stock-recruitment ratio for management of stream-spawning fishes and river channels. Number of trout redds and of female spawner…
Kestävyyttä tukevat hallintokäytännöt – vapaa-ajankalastajien näkemyksiä Järvi-Suomen taimen- ja järvilohikantojen hoidosta ja kalastuksen säätelystä
Vapaa-ajankalastus on Suomessa hyvin suosittua ja sitä harjoitetaan kaikilla järvialueilla. Kalastuksen kohteena on yleensä useita kalalajeja ja käytössä on useita eri kalastustapoja, hyvin yleisesti myös verkkoja. Vapaa-ajankalastus muodostaa uhan useiden lajien kestävyydelle ja erityisesti se estää uhanalaisen järvilohen ja vaarantuneen järvitaimenen kantojen palautumisen. Nämä lajit taantuivat vesivoiman rakentamisen seurauksena.
 Suomen sisävesien hallinto on yhdistelmä keskusjohtoista ja alueellista hallintoa, jossa eri kalastajaryhmien osallistuminen on muodollisesti järjestetty. Käytännön päätöksenteko on keskittynyt paikallisille maanomistajille. Tähän mennessä kalastajien sää…
Stream salmonids as opportunistic foragers: the importance of terrestrial invertebrates along a stream-size gradient
Terrestrial invertebrates have been reported to be positively selected by stream salmonids. We assessed the impor- tance of terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates to salmonid diets in 25 streams in Finland, with the hypothesis that terrestrial prey would be important in only the smallest forest streams. Several measures of prey availability were used, including pro- portional abundance in benthic or drift samples, compared with a trait-based approach, to predict diet composition. Across all 25 streams in autumn, blackfly and caddis larvae were the most important prey items. Terrestrial invertebrates were of moderate importance in all streams, including the smallest. Pure availability predict…
Tutkimus ja seuranta
Kalavarojen käyttö ja hoito pysyvät kestävällä pohjalla, kun päätökset perustetaan mahdollisimman luotettavaan ja ajantasaiseen tietoon. Tietoa tarvitaan toiminnan kaikissa vaiheissa, mutta erityisesti silloin, kun asetetaan tavoitetilaa ja osatavoitteita sekä myöhemmin, kun on aika arvioida toimenpiteiden tuloksellisuutta. Tässä luvussa esitellään alueelliseen käyttöön soveltuvia tiedonhankintamenetelmiä sekä annetaan ohjeita aineistojen keruuseen ja tulosten tulkintaan. nonPeerReviewed