Graduation Date
Spring 2026
Document Type
Thesis
Program
Master of Science degree with a major in Natural Resources, option Fisheries
Committee Chair Name
Darren Ward
Committee Chair Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Second Committee Member Name
Andre Buchheister
Second Committee Member Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Third Committee Member Name
Alison O'Dowd
Third Committee Member Affiliation
Cal Poly Humboldt Faculty or Staff
Keywords
Coho salmon, Salmonid, Habitat, Restoration, Validation monitoring, Monitoring, Multistate model, PIT tagging, Growth, Overwinter survival, Movement, Prairie Creek, Population
Subject Categories
Fisheries
Abstract
Despite the decline of coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch), Prairie Creek, a tributary of Redwood Creek in northern California, remains a coho salmon stronghold. The restoration of juvenile coho rearing habitat was identified as a recovery objective in this watershed by the National Marine Fisheries Service. Among the restoration projects addressing this objective are an ongoing project on Prairie Creek and its tributary Skunk Cabbage Creek, and a prior effort on Strawberry Creek (a tributary of Redwood Creek’s estuary). Standard monitoring methods for assessing project success have limitations and may be improved by measuring salmon use of restored habitats through time and the impacts of these habitats on salmon growth. This study employed a mark and recapture field effort from October 2023 through July 2025 and modeled the mark-recapture data to determine: a) when restoration sites were occupied by juvenile coho, b) how they impacted juvenile coho survival, and c) how they impacted juvenile coho growth rates. Movement estimates tracked expected fall and spring movement pulses and spring and quantified the proportion of the population that used the restored habitats. Approximately 11% of tagged coho used restoration sites in the first year of the study, and approximately 5% used these same restoration sites in the second year. Survival estimates in restoration sites were broadly similar to estimates from upstream tributary habitat in protected old growth forest. Growth estimates varied by site and year, but generally showed a pattern of faster growth in restoration sites relative to the population at large. Monitoring coho salmon use of restoration sites produced useful indicators to validate the role of these sites in supporting population recovery.
Citation Style
APA
Recommended Citation
Adamson, Carter Perez, "Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch) response to habitat restoration through space and time: Monitoring growth, survival, and movement in a restored habitat network" (2026). Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects. 2556.
https://digitalcommons.humboldt.edu/etd/2556
Included in
Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons, Population Biology Commons, Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons