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DETERMINING THE INFLUENCE OF LANDSCAPE AND RESEARCH-SPECIFIC HABITAT VARIABLES ON VARIATION OF THERMAL CHARACTERISTICS OF STREAMS WITHIN WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR WATERSHEDS
Citation:
Snarski, V M., N E. Detenbeck, S L. Batterman, J. C. Brazner, AND D K. Tanner. DETERMINING THE INFLUENCE OF LANDSCAPE AND RESEARCH-SPECIFIC HABITAT VARIABLES ON VARIATION OF THERMAL CHARACTERISTICS OF STREAMS WITHIN WESTERN LAKE SUPERIOR WATERSHEDS. Presented at 34th Annual Meeting of the Minnesota Chapter of the American Fisheries Society, Fargo, ND, March 5-7, 2001.
Description:
As part of a study to develop and test a framework for predicting sensitivity of watersheds to land-use activities, temperatures were monitored in 48 second- and third- order streams on the north and south shores of western Lake Superior. Maximun 21-day average temperatures, which occurred in July to early August in each of the three years of the study (1997-1999), ranged from 12 to 23 degrees C. Multiple linear regression was used to evaluate the relative importance of landscape riparian and instream characteristics at both watershed- and reach-specific scales on stream temperatures. Landscape variables including hydrogeomorphic region, percent water variability; however, various reach-specific variables including flow, measurements of instream and riparian zone shading or factors related to them (channel width, canopy angle and vegetation) were also important. We expect to apply these findings to refine regional assessments of predicted changes in biotic integrity in streams subjected to changes in land-use and climate change.