3.5 | M. cerebralis habitat correlations

Myxospore counts (±S.E.) for O. mykiss averaged 12,268 (±9333) myxospores per fish, ranging from 0 to 109,233 myxospores per fish across the sites, whereas S. trutta averaged 11,123 (±4744) myxospores per fish, ranging from 0 to 134,678 myxospores per fish. Myxospore count did not appear to have an effect on the change in salmonid fry numbers within a site between July and October, with the intercept model as the top model (w intercept = 0.72, w change = 0.28). In addition, the measured habitat variables appeared to have little effect on myxospore count, with the intercept model being the top model of the set. Nonetheless, models containing individual habitat covariates appeared in models with a ΔAIC c ≤ 2.24. D 50 (cumulative AICc weight = 0.40) had a negative effect on myxospore count, suggesting that myxospore counts decreased with an increase in D 50. Although depth, velocity and temperature appeared in weighted models within the set (cumulative AIC c weights = 0.26, 0.24 and 0.24, respectively), no effect on myxospore count was observed for these three variables.