Effect of Droughts on Chinook Salmon

How Do Droughts Affect the Chinook Salmon Population?

Presenter: Matthew Akulow

Co-Presenter(s):
Finley MacDonell, Joseph Bickford

Presenter Status: Undergraduate student

Academic Year: 20-21

Semester: Spring

Faculty Mentor: Martha Shott

Department: Biology

Funding Source/Sponsor: Class Project

President's Strategic Plan Goal: Sustainability and Environmental Inquiry

Screenshot URL: https://drive.google.com/uc?id=1RQ5S0oga3KpEUakBqywjWzvqtNhVJPZ7

Abstract:
California, due to a lack of rain, has experienced extreme drought over the past several years. We performed a case study to determine the effect of drought on California Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) We used online databases including Scopus and One-Search. The search terms we used are “drought,” and “salmon,” and “populations,” “chinook salmon,” and “population,”  and “California,” and “drought,” and “chinook salmon.” We found that droughts do have adverse effects on Chinook salmon populations such as a lower survival rate when traveling from freshwater to saltwater. We hope our research will raise awareness about the effect of drought on Chinook salmon, and the necessity of managing these populations to prevent further declines and possible extinction.