FISHTAIL: A decision support mapper for conserving stream fish habitats of the Northeast Climate Science Center (NECSC) region, extended to the Mississippi Basin for use in conservation planning applications such as the Gulf Hypoxia Initiative.
Assessing current and future condition of fluvial habitats
Human landscape disturbances occurring throughout the Northeast U.S. that include urbanization, agriculture, and dams have multiple effects on the region’s streams which support economically and socially valuable stream fishes. Changes in climate are expected to cause additional changes in stream habitats, including changing water temperatures, which will potentially alter future stream fish assemblages. To manage streams for current human disturbances as well as future changes, managers need region-wide information for decision-making and development of proactive management strategies. Our project helps to meet that need by integrating results of a current condition assessment of stream habitats based on fish response to human landscape disturbances, water quality impairment, and fragmentation by dams with estimates of which stream habitats may change in their ability to support current fish assemblages with changing climate. This decision support mapper, FISHTAIL, will allow users to evaluate how fish may respond to current and future condition of fish habitats so managers can better protect and conserve stream fishes.
Users of FISHTAIL have the capability of viewing a variety of information to support decision making, which can be displayed for different spatial units such as the stream reach or large watersheds; views of information can be tailored to the entire study region, individual states, or ecoregions; and results can reflect response of groups of species or key species of interest to management. Types of information that can be displayed with FISHTAIL include:
Current condition of fish habitats: An index characterizing stream fish response to urban and agricultural land use as characterized by the 2011 National Land Cover Dataset;
An index characterizing stream fish response to river fragmentation by large dams;
An index characterizing stream fish response to water quality impairment as reflected by measures of nitrogen and phosphorus loads to streams as well as estimated nitrogen and phosphorus fertilizer use in stream catchments.
Future condition of fish habitats: An index characterizing the likelihood of stream habitat to change in ability to support thermally and hydrologically sensitive fish species with projected changes in climate;
Locations of protected lands throughout the NECSC region; and fish habitat condition scores developed for streams of the conterminous United States in support of the National Fish Habitat Partnership 2015 Assessment
