Relationships between juvenile salmon, Salmo salar L., and invertebrate densities in the River Tana, Norway

Juvenile salmon density was related to invertebrate density in 13 streams within the River Tana, northern Norway. There were only small, nonsignificant, differences in benthic density between streams with and without juvenile salmon. All streams with a high density of juvenile salmon had low benthic densities at the stream mouth. Juvenile salmon were not found, or were in very low densities, in streams where the benthic density at the stream mouth was as high or higher than that in the stream. A multiple regression model showed that parr density was related negatively to benthic density at the stream mouth, water velocity and pH, and positively to benthic density within the stream and the proportion of the substratum covered by moss. The amount of overhanging cover in the different streams explained 93% of the variation in the drift density of terrestrial invertebrates in August. The highest densities of juvenile salmon were found in streams with riparian vegetation, and were thus associated with an abundant supply of drift food, especially terrestrial invertebrates.