FishTail: a decision support tool for assessing the conservation status of stream fish habitats in the NE CSC region
The intent of this webinar is to introduce a decision support tool that displays results of a stream fish habitat condition assessment for current and future time periods in the NE CSC region. To characterize current condition of stream habitats, we developed three indices based on fish species response to land use, water quality impairment, and stream fragmentation by large dams. Using these indices, streams were scored to reflect their risk of habitat degradation. We also classified streams based on current climate and sensitivity of fish species to a suite of water temperature and flow metrics. These relationships were used to assign stream classes based on future climate conditions. This allowed us to identify areas where streams are expected to shift from one class to another and also to quantify the risk of net change in stream classes across the entire region. The FishTail web mapper will allow managers, decision makers, and the public to view, query, and download the results. We believe this information can aid in identifying important places for protection and restoration, as well as quantifying the magnitude of these impacts on fish communities throughout the northeastern and midwestern United States
Wesley Daniel is a Post-doctoral Researcher at Michigan State University and has assessed fish habitat conditions for the nation and conducted regional research on freshwater mussels.
Nick Sievert is a PhD student at the University of Missouri who has conducted research on stream fish vulnerability, freshwater conservation planning, and climate change impacts on aquatic ecosystems.
Jana Stewart is a Geographer with the USGS Wisconsin Water Science Center and has been involved in developing regional databases and applying GIS and statistical methods for use in modeling and characterizing fish species occurrence, habitat, stream temperature and flow for riverine systems of the Great Lakes States.
Co-authors:
Craig Paukert is the Unit Leader of USGS Missouri Coop Unit and has conducted research on large scale conservation planning and climate change.
Dana Infante is an Associate Professor at Michigan State University and has been PI on regional and national scale projects to compile and manage data for characterizing landscape influences on stream fishes and their habitats
Joanna Whittier is a Research Assistant Professor at University of Missouri with experience and knowledge in predictive modeling, conservation planning, and climate change at landscape scales.
