Report: Interagency stream temperature database and high-resolution stream temperature model for British Columbia
A pilot project (Year 2
Dates
Acquisition
2017
Citation
Porter, M., M. C. Morton1, Nelitz, M., K. Kellock M., Leslie-Gottschligg, K. Chezik and E. Jones. 2017. Interagency stream temperature database and high-resolution stream temperature model for British Columbia: A pilot project (Year 2). Prepared for Pacific Salmon Foundation by ESSA Technologies Ltd.
Summary
Water temperature plays a fundamental role in structuring freshwater ecosystems. It influences the physiology and behavior of fish through all life history stages, affecting growth, survival and distribution of individuals and populations, as well as species interactions within fish communities (Caissie 2006). Moreover, evidence suggests that changing climate conditions have led to warming of streams across western North America and future projections suggest that warming will continue for the foreseeable future (Isaak et al. 2010; Isaak et al. 2012). Such thermal changes can lead to fragmentation of freshwater habitats across the landscape, especially for vulnerable species such as bull trout and Pacific salmon. Managers of aquatic [...]
Summary
Water temperature plays a fundamental role in structuring freshwater ecosystems. It influences the physiology and behavior of fish through all life history stages, affecting growth, survival and distribution of individuals and populations, as well as species interactions within fish communities (Caissie 2006). Moreover, evidence suggests that changing climate conditions have led to warming of streams across western North America and future projections suggest that warming will continue for the foreseeable future (Isaak et al. 2010; Isaak et al. 2012). Such thermal changes can lead to fragmentation of freshwater habitats across the landscape, especially for vulnerable species such as bull trout and Pacific salmon. Managers of aquatic ecosystems across the Great Northern and North Pacific Landscape Conservation Cooperatives need to consider the implications of climate change and other stressors on their management actions (e.g., riparian management, flow management, aquatic connectivity, habitat restoration, aquatic species conservation). Yet in British Columbia broad-scale planning efforts are, at present, only possible by using crude climate surrogates like air temperature or elevation, which can be weakly correlated with stream temperatures (Wenger et al. 2011). In British Columbia a regulatory tool is available that allows managers to designate “Temperature Sensitive Streams” (TSS) to protect critical fish-bearing streams that could be altered by stream heating due to forest harvesting in riparian and upslope areas as well as climate change (Reese-Hansen et al. 2012). This regulatory tool, however, has had limited application and its use could be enabled by more reliable information on stream temperature conditions to support decision making. Spatial statistical models for river networks like those that have been developed previously by the NorWeST stream temperature project for the Pacific US have potential for providing a stronger base of information and potentially could be used with existing stream temperature data and data collected in the future to develop consistent, high spatial resolution predictions for streams and river reaches within BC regions.
