Ecology 6th Edition by Charles Krebs

Exercise 6

Pacific salmon grow to adult size in the ocean and move into freshwater streams and lakes to spawn and die. In the process they transport nutrients from ocean ecosystems to freshwater ecosystems. These returning salmon are eaten by bears and other predators, bringing some of these nutrients into the terrestrial ecosystem. Discuss how you might measure the impacts of this nutrient transport system both for aquatic and for terrestrial ecosystems within the geographic range of Pacific salmon. Helfield and Naiman (2006) discuss this issue.