A Roadmap for Coasters: Landscapes, Life Histories, and the Conservation of Brook Trout

Abstract

There is still much to do in developing informed policy on the issue of migratory (“coaster”) brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis. My purpose in this paper is to provide a summary of research from other programs that may be useful for understanding the dichotomy between coaster and stream-resident brook trout. Great Lakes glacial history, population structure at the watershed level, landscape-scale habitat patterns, the energetics of resident and migratory brook trout, and dichotomous movements of young of year all provide important context for coaster brook trout. I apply a new growth model to literature sources on brook trout life history to scope the potential range of coaster-resident life histories. The results indicate that juvenile growth falls largely into two groups, depending on whether the adult prey field incorporates fish in the diet. Combining ideas on variation in the standard metabolic rate and habitat productivity with a new theory of food web structure from other authors leads to an interesting working hypothesis for coaster brook trout that builds on W. E. Ricker's original observations on brook trout diet over 75 years ago.