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Thomas F Turner

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Description: The upper Gila River in New Mexico is one of the few unobstructed rivers in the Colorado River Basin with largely intact native fish populations, including four federally listed and one state listed species.Freshwater systems throughout the West continue to be threatened by human encroachment and water development. Methodologies or decision support tools to evaluate resource management practices that foster an understanding of how fish species adapt to the effects of climate change are critical to future resource management planning.
Hybridization is a well-documented threat to the persistence of native suckers throughout the southwestern United States. The objective of this study was to develop DNA-based genetic markers to assess hybrid status of wild-caught razorback sucker (Xyrauchen texanus) larvae in the San Juan River of northwestern New Mexico, southern Colorado and Utah, USA. Wild-caught sucker larvae were screened via polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for genetic variation at two microsatellite DNA loci encoded in the nuclear genome, and a mitochondrial (mt) DNA marker encoded in the control region of the mitochondrion.
Final Report Executive Summary: The Nature Conservancy and a team of 14 academic partners (the project team) received funding from the Bureau of Reclamation’s WaterSMART program and the Desert Landscape Conservation Cooperative in 2012 to conduct this Gila River Flow Needs Assessment. The assessment describes the existing condition of the Gila River in the Cliff-Gila Valley and examines the potential impacts of CUFA diversion and climate change on the riparian and aquatic ecosystem. The project team was assisted by 35 academic, agency and consulting scientists who have expertise in some aspect of the Gila River’s hydrology and ecology. This larger team of scientists provided input on a review draft of this assessment...
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Metacommunity Dynamics of Gila River Fishes
Freshwater systems are critically imperiled and continue to be threatened by human encroachment and water development. The upper Gila River in New Mexico is one of the last unobstructed rivers in the Colorado River basin with a mostly intact native fish fauna, including two federally listed and one state-listed fish species. Kansas State University will develop methodologies or decision support tools to assess or evaluate current or existing resource management practices to learn and adapt to the effects of climate change on fish species. The researchers will investigate how the connectivity of the Gila River habitat impacts the fish population with respect to the behavior of native and non-native species.
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Executive Summary: Our project combined field surveys of fish communities and habitat characteristics with estimates of population genetic structure to identify and evaluate critical factors influencing fish communities in the Gila River basin of New Mexico. Fish communities were structured along a strong habitat gradient associated with stream size, with distinct differences in the distribution of native and nonnative fishes. Nonnative warm-water species generally occurred in mainstem habitats, whereas coldwater nonnative salmonids occurred in high elevation tributaries. Habitat affinities of native species varied, with some occurring in mainstem habitats and others in tributaries. Several native species, such...
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