From land to sea,
climate change affects everyone,
including fish and their habitats.
Cold water species like trout
and salmon are particularly vulnerable to the effects of a warming climate.
Hi, I'm Seth Wenger
Associate Professor of Ecology at University of Georgia.
I led the team that developed an approach called Multiple Population Viability Analysis,
which combines fish population estimates, crowdsource
spatial distribution information, and NASA's satellite datasets to project
cold water fish populations into the future.
The analysis uses high resolution stream data and satellite imagery
to estimate abundance and other population characteristics
of species like cutthroat trout and bull trout.
The remote sensing data from satellites like Landsat and MODIS,
along with other NASA products like
like NLDAS-2, were essential for allowing us to forecast the extinction
risk of trout populations under future climate conditions across large regions.
Trout Unlimited and partners use the tool
to model information about Lahontan cutthroat trout and their habitat.
This tool relies on satellite data characterizing habitat quality,
other models of flow and temperature, and field collections
of fish to estimate the dynamics of populations over time.
When combined with other information, including genetic status,
model outputs are showing where cutthroat trout could be resilient
under climate change or with certain restoration activities.
Five years after the project was completed,
they are guiding where federal agencies
are investing resources into actions like removing non-native trout,
managing populations to improve genetic health, or reconnecting streams.
We at the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service use this tool
to help direct investments in regional and local trout conservation efforts.
In addition, we often use this tool during the consultation process
to better determine impacts
of new federal activities on existing trout populations.
The USGS and the U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service, in collaboration with many of our partners,
are currently incorporating this tool under the Conservation Efforts Database
Module for cutthroat trout.
Since that conservation efforts database captures
any and all conservation actions related to cutthroat trout
and the habitats it depends on,
It can then be used to inform and support management decisions.
Soon we intend to incorporate all this information into USGS’ resist,
accept, direct triad to prioritize future trout conservation
actions with climate change taken into account.
MPVA has proven to be a valuable tool for supporting conservation
of cutthroat trout and other vulnerable fish species.
With active collaboration with its end users, including government agencies
and nonprofits.
It demonstrates how science can be effectively translated
into on the ground applications.