Floodplain habitat provides valuable benefits to juvenile fish, offering shelter from predators and increased nutrient availability and prey abundance. These benefits are especially critical for juvenile anadromous salmonids like Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) and steelhead (Oncorhynchus mykiss) in California’s Central Valley. As they migrate to the ocean, these young fish must traverse a gauntlet of hazards on their journey through the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta. Floodplains give juvenile salmonids an opportunity to avoid predation and grow larger while they fill up on the plentiful food sources found in these habitats.
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