- Learning to use the Egg to Fry model
We recommend learning the methods and controls of this tool with simple experiments. Use the upload and input methods to do trivial tests using one or a few redds in simple temperatures or gradients. Compare modern years to historic years.
Also, consider only adjusting one control at a time in order to track how the model is responding to each change.
- Temperature and redd counts format
Both upload and input formats are multi-column, comma separated variables.
Day-of-year is first column. Blocks of days can be condensed with format: "first_day:final_day" Subsequent columns are
values at different river positions identified by River Kilometer. When this condensed format is used, temperature values can also be specified in this condensed method as "value1:value2" which will interpolate
between these two values for the range of days found in the first column.
Column name format MUST be: "RKMxxx" where xxx is numeric. E.g.Day,RKM483,RKM479,...
At @ site, 2 years worth of temperature values are required
due to the calendar-year-spanning life history of Winter Run Chinook Salmon.
If you Upload data, it will be placed in the text area as input values awaiting "Run".
"Plot days" and "RKM range" control plotting
of temperature heatmap and timeseries.
TCrit is the temperature below which there is no temperature induced mortality.
"Crit period" is the critical number of days prior to and including hatch day when temperature exposure is computed.
- Temperature computation, use and display
If a single timeseries is uploaded, then the temperatures are used at all locations. If two or more timeseries are uploaded,
the model uses the river kilometer of the known temperatures to interpolate (linearly) the temperature at the unknown site.
The temperature "landscape" varies spatially and temporally with specific temperatures for each redd location.
The timeseries of temperatures at the gauges, upload sites, and/or redd locations are shown on the graph. Superimposed on this graph
is depiction of the redds within the gravel at three different stages: pre-hatching, the critical period (just prior to hatch),
and post-hatching as alevin.
- Density by Reach vs. Density by RKM
The redds are placed in one of the designated reaches defined by spawning area survey boundaries, OR at any River Kilometer (RKM) of interest.
Density is computed on a reach by reach basis using the number of redds and the length of the reach. Below is the length and default
RKM location of eah reach. In recent years the upper three reaches are occupied and the fourth reach rarely so.
Reach 1: Keswick to ACID dam (5.5 Km) use RKM483
Reach 2: ACID dam to Hwy44 (3.3 Km) use RKM479
Reach 3: Hwy44 to Airport Rd. (19.7 km) use RKM470
Reach 4: Airport Rd. to Balls Ferry (12.8 km) use RKM445
Reach 5:: Balls Ferry to Battle Crk (7.7 km) use RKM440
Reach 6: Battle Crk to Jellys Ferry (8.0 km) use RKM430
Reach 7: Jelly Ferry to Bend Br. (14.5 km) use RKM415
Reach 8: Bend Br. to RBDD(23.5 km) use RKM395
For reference, sites of interest and river kilometer are shown below:
| Site | RKM | RMile |
|---|
| Keswick dam | 486 | 302 |
| KWK gauge | 485 | 301.4 |
| ACID dam | 480.5 | 298.6 |
| SAC gauge | 478.3 | 297.2 |
| Highway44 | 477.2 | 296.5 |
| CCR gauge | 469.9 | 292 |
| Airport Road | 457.5 | 284.3 |
| BSF gauge | 444.4 | 276.1 |
| BND gauge | 414 | 257.2 |
Use of lower reaches is rare in recent years. Redds in the database more than 94 kilometers downstream of KWK are ignored.
- Carrying capacity
The Beverton-Holt density-dependent component of mortality is based on local density on a per-kilometer by-reach basis (Anderson 2018).
Density dependence is considered a localized phenomena. Dewatering in marginal habitat and/or super-positioning of redds is the proximal cause of egg and alevin mortality during the in-gravel
residence, so only the local density matters. (The alternative is that the density of post-gravel fry is important after they begin swimming freely).
Carrying capacity is computed as redds/kilometer per reach. The sum of all the redds in the reach and the
length of the reach are used to find the average density.
Martin et al. 2016b used 9107 for the entire river's carrying capacity but is blind to the spatial distribution of the redds.
When selecting the stage-indepndent method, the entire river is considered the 'reach' and all the redds are summed.
- Redds vs. carcasses
Currently, the method available to use these carcass data is to convert them to redds outside of the model, place in a properly formatted file,
and upload or paste into the Redds' "Input or upload" area. Although carcasses are used to enumerate redds in the field,
there are two problems with application to this model: neither the time of redd completion, nor the location of the redd are known.
- Colors in the tables
Red fonts in the results tables depict when a redd was exposed according to the user-selected criteria: the critical temperature,
the nature of exposure (all incubation vs. just-before hatching), the duration of the exposure (a few days near hatching or the entire incubation period), and exposure calculation.
- Exposure and temperature-related mortality calculation
IF "Stage-independent mortality" is selected, then when the temperature rises above Critical Temperature (T-crit) on any day
for each individual redd, mortality is computed.
IF "Stage-dependent mortality" is selected, then when the temperature rises above T-crit during the "Crit days" prior to hatching,
mortality is computed. Mortality is always computed
on a daily basis.
See links to more details and methods below "--Further Information--" at the bottom of the Fish Model page.