Developing and Testing a Spatially-Explicit, Science-Based, Decision-Support Tool for Making
Riverscape-Scale Management Decisions: How Dams Affect Fish Communities, a Threatened Native Stream Fish (the Neosho Madtom), and Select Tributary Fish Species
Investigators
Jane Fencl, M.S. Student
Sean Hitchman, Ph.D. Student
Dr. Joe Smith
Dr. Martha Mather
Eric Johnson, KDWPT
|
Project Supervisor
Dr. Martha Mather
|
 |
|
Completion
December 2015 |
Funding
Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism |
Status
On-going |
Location
Neosho River, Kansas |
Cooperators
Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism
Kansas State University |
Objectives
Develop and test a spatially-explicit, decision-support tool for managing human impacts in stream and river networks
Quantify how dams and scale affect fish communities in and threatened / endangered fish species
Assist in developing protocols for assessing dam removals
Collect pre and post-removal data for Correll Dam
|
Progress and Results
Managers need science-based tools to assess how human activities impact resources. Useful tools need to be based on rigorous, current science, yet they also need to address specific problems relevant to environmental managers. Consequently, an effective decision-support tool should (i) translate existing scientific insights into the spatial-temporal scales, specificity, and precision needed to address real-world management problems, (ii) identify future information needs, and (iii) help management agencies efficiently allocate their time, manpower, and funding resources. Stream fish distribution is influenced by many factors other than dams. Although fragmentation by dams is a reasonable focus for developing a lotic decision-support tool, a broad range of other ecological conditions (such as habitat, temperature, discharge, and the biotic community) must also be included. This research will advance riverscape scale understanding of the structure and function of aquatic ecosystems. In addition, managers will be able to place their management actions in a synthetic, landscape-scale, multiple-stressor context. Both graduate students have written proposals for their research that meet the standards of the KSU Division of Biology BIO 863, a course required of all incoming graduate students. We have met with KDWPT and other regional experts to discuss the fish community of the Neosho River. The graduate students have completed first aid, MOCC training, and attended an NSF- sponsored aquatic GIS course at St. Louis University. We are in the process of evaluating (a) which sampling gear will be most effective, (b) the most effective scale for sampling and (c) size of the dam footprint. We have hosted researchers from Missouri who demonstrated the mini-Missouri trawl and determined that this gear is suitable for comparing fish communities above and below dams.
|
| |
|
|
