Pacific salmon carcasses: Essential contributions of nutrients and energy for aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems

Pacific salmon and other anadromous salmonids represent a major vector for transporting marine nutrients across ecosystem boundaries (i.e., from marin e to freshwater and terrestrial ecosystems). Salmon carcasses provide nutri ents and energy to biota within aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems through various pathways. in this paper we review and synthesize the growing number of studies documenting this process in different localities. We also discu ss the implications for maintaining the nutrient feedback system. Our findi ngs show that future management will need to view spawning salmon and their carcasses as important habitat components for sustaining the production of fish as well as other salmon-dependent species within watersheds.