Table 3 Outcome categories and sub-categories used to measure a change in fish productivity

Growth (576)

Mass (414)

Mass, length; by age class

Condition (125)

Condition (somatic)

Foraging (37)

Foraging success e.g., mean energy intake,  % stomach fullness

Survival (159)

Survival (95)

Survival (beyond age 0)

Mortality (64)

Mortality (beyond age 0)

Performance (individual) (114)

Stress (16)

Sub-lethal stress (only if direct response to altered flow) e.g., vent rate/respiration frequency, glutathione-S-transferase activity, catalase activity, activity of 7-ethoxyresorufin O-deethylase, cortisol/glucose levels

Energy (48)

Activity level, energy expenditure (fish behaviour–movement in high/low flow), costs of swimming, any measure of metabolic rate (e.g., rate of energy expenditure per unit time) or indicator thereof in order to include changes in metabolism (e.g., field metabolism measured in carbon isotope 13)

Swimming (50)

Swimming performance including ability to maintain position in different flows e.g., magnitude of thrust, swim speed/velocity

Migration (474)

Passage (101)

Metrics related to fish passage or success, including probability of migration over a dam or through migration route

Passage (survival) (12)

Studies that consider loss or survival during passage

Speed (83)

Migration speed, net ground speed

Abundance (211)

Abundance or numbers of fish e.g., number of migrants (river entry), or number of successful migrants

Abundance (escapement) (67)

Biological definition of escapement i.e., number of fish in a run/migration that are able to return to the spawning ground or other important habitat, that do not get stopped/removed by any barriers during migration and are available to support the population into future years

Reproduction (332)

Maturation (13)

Adult maturation success

Survival (84)

Redds/nest, egg, larval, fry, age 0, YOY survival (inclusive)

Spawning (106)

Spawning events e.g., number of spawning days, spawning periods, number of spawning adults

Spawning (abundance) (96)

Egg abundance, number of eggs deposited/spawned, egg density during spawning (may include other age groups if directly linked to spawning)

Fecundity (33)

Metrics related to fecundity

Productivity (2402)

Biomass (239)

Metrics related to biomass, yield

Abundance (1031)

Abundance, density, CPUE (total numbers, of just 1 age class), presence/absence, number of eggs when eggs are considered an age class and not part of a spawning event

Abundance (escapement) (1)

Fisheries definition of escapement i.e., the number of fish in a fishery that manage to get out of the fishery (leave the lake and are unavailable to fishers)

Diversity (567)

Diversity, richness, composition

Structure (266)

Age class structure of population (numbers for > 1 age class) or length-frequency distribution i.e., replication is not individuals

Population viability (22)

Population viability, persistence, sustainability, genetic diversity (within species), number of hybrids (if linked to genetic diversity, otherwise hybrids are included like any other fish under abundance)

Recruitment (197)

Recruitment metrics e.g., density of fry recruiting into adult population

Other (79)

E.g., production, turn-over