Continental-scale variability in the feeding ecology of juvenile Chinook salmon along the coastal Northeast Pacific Ocean

Trophic interactions within and among species vary widely across spatial scales and species’ ontogeny. However, the drivers and implications of this variability are not well understood. Juvenile Chinook salmon Oncorhynchus tshawytscha have a wide distribution, ranging from northern California to the eastern Bering Sea in North America, but it is largely unknown how their feeding ecology varies and changes with ontogeny across this range. We collected juvenile Chinook salmon and zooplankton using standardized protocols along the coastal Northeast Pacific Ocean. Using a combination of stomach contents and stable isotopes of nitrogen (δ15N) and carbon (δ13C) to characterize feeding ecology, we found regional differences in prey utilization by juvenile Chinook salmon. With growth and ontogeny, juvenile salmon in all regions became equilibrated with oceanic isotopic values. There were regional differences in the δ13C values of juvenile Chinook salmon that may correspond to regional differences in sea surface temperature. There were also regional differences in stable isotope-derived trophic level, and these estimates differed from those derived from stomach contents, possibly due to the different periods over which these metrics integrate. Dietary niche width, as indicated by stable isotopes, corresponded to the expected dietary diversity from stomach contents, combined with the isotopic variability seen in baseline values. Our results indicate strong geographic and ontogenetic differences in feeding ecology of juvenile Chinook salmon. These differences are likely influenced by a combination of ocean-entry date, ocean-entry size, ontogeny, growth rates and regional conditions.