Migration timing metrics of 11 Atlantic salmon populations in Eastern Canada
Data files
Feb 20, 2026 version files 4.06 KB
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Becketal_2025_runTiming.csv
969 B
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README.md
3.09 KB
Abstract
This dataset contains migration timing metadata for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations across 11 rivers in eastern Canada, spanning the regions of Labrador, Newfoundland, and the Maritimes. For each site, the dataset includes geographic coordinates, the Julian day at which 5 % and 95 % of the cumulative annual run was reached, and the run-timing modality (unimodal or bimodal). Populations vary widely in migration timing, with early runs beginning as early as day 145 and late runs extending beyond day 288. Bimodal populations, found primarily in the Maritimes, display two distinct peaks in migration timing, whereas unimodal populations in Labrador and Newfoundland have a single, more continuous run. These data provide baseline information on spatial variation in run timing and migration modality in North American Atlantic salmon, enabling integration with genetic, environmental, and climate projections to investigate the ecological and evolutionary drivers of migration phenology.
Dataset DOI: 10.5061/dryad.p5hqbzm1h
Description of the data and file structure
Population-level run timing data for Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) were compiled from daily counts at fishways, counting fences, or traps over a ~28-year period (1994–2021) for 11 rivers across the Maritimes, Newfoundland, and Labrador regions of Atlantic Canada. Data included counts of small (< 63 cm fork length) and large (≥ 63 cm) salmon, which were combined for analysis due to similar run-timing patterns. For each population, early run timing (Julian day at 5 % cumulative run), late run timing (95 % cumulative run), and run-timing modality (single or multiple peaks) were calculated from the aggregated multi-year counts. These metrics were used for downstream genomic association analyses.
Files and variables
File: Becketal_2025_runTiming.csv
Description:
Population-level migration timing metrics for 11 Atlantic salmon (Salmo salar) populations across the Maritimes, Newfoundland, and Labrador regions of eastern Canada. Each row represents a population, with geographic coordinates, run-timing descriptors, and modality classification. These data were derived from multi-year fishway, counting fence, or trap records (1994–2021).
Variables
- SiteCode: Abbreviation for each monitoring site
- Region_edit: Geographic region in Atlantic Canada where the site is located (Maritimes, Newfoundland, or Labrador)
- River: Name of the river where counts were recorded.
- Latitude: Approximate latitude of monitoring location in decimal degrees
- Longitude: Approximate longitude of monitoring location in decimal degrees
- perc5_cumjday: Julian day when 5 % of the cumulative annual run had entered the river
- perc95_cumjday: Julian day when 95 % of the cumulative annual run had entered the river
- Modality: Run-timing pattern classification — unimodal (single peak) or bimodal (two distinct peaks) within the annual migration.
Code/software
No custom scripts were used to analyse this data.
Access information
Genomic data was derived from the following sources:
- Bradbury, I. R., Lehnert, S. J., Kess, T., Van Wyngaarden, M., Duffy, S., Messmer, A. M., Wringe, B., Karoliussen, S., Dempson, J. B., Fleming, I. A., Solberg, M. F., Glover, K. A., & Bentzen, P. (2022). Genomic evidence of recent European introgression into North American farmed and wild Atlantic salmon. Evolutionary Applications, 15(9), 1436–1448. https://doi.org/10.1111/eva.13454
- Lehnert, S. J., Bentzen, P., Kess, T., Lien, S., Horne, J. B., Clément, M., & Bradbury, I. R. (2019). Chromosome polymorphisms track trans-Atlantic divergence and secondary contact in Atlantic salmon. Molecular Ecology, 28(8), 2074–2087. https://doi.org/10.1111/mec.15065
And can be accessed at https://doi.org/10.5061/dryad.hdr7sqvfc