You are here:
Simulating Fish Assemblages in Riverine Networks: Response to Habitat in the Willamette Watershed
Citation:
Rashleigh, B., Joe Ebersole, A. Brookes, G. Boxall, D. White, AND J. Bolte. Simulating Fish Assemblages in Riverine Networks: Response to Habitat in the Willamette Watershed. Presented at Joint Aquatic Science Meeting, Portland, OR, May 18 - 23, 2014.
Impact/Purpose:
The modeling approach provides a heuristic tool for identifying critical data gaps for projecting the effects of future landscape scenarios on fish assemblages.
Description:
We describe a modeling approach for simulating assemblages of fish in riverine landscapes. The approach allows a user to determine the scale and extent of river networks within which fish populations reproduce, move, and survive in response to both environmental drivers and assemblage interactions. We describe an application for the response of two species to channel gradient, flow, or temperature in the Willamette River basin of Oregon, a region where human population and water demand are expected to grow substantially over the next 50 years. Predictions reasonably mimic observed assemblage patterns and trends at watershed to regional scales. By explicitly defining fish population responses to environmental factors such as streamflow and temperature, and interaction weights accounting for predation and competition, the approach provides a heuristic tool for identifying critical data gaps for projecting the effects of future landscape scenarios on fish assemblages. Results provide testable hypotheses regarding species distributions within the basin and projected responses to climate change, water consumption, and hydropower management.