Spatial Hydro-Ecological Decision System (SHEDS)
Go to the Product(s)
The following tools all live on the Spatial Hydro-Ecological Decision System website:
- Interactive Catchment Explorer visualization tool for catchment characteristics and model predictions
- Stream Temperature Database of regional stream temperature data contributed by state agencies and organizations
- Stream Temperature Model predicting daily stream temperature based on catchment characteristics and weather conditions
- High Resolution Catchment Delineation GIS layers representing hydrologic catchments and flowlines spanning the Northeast region of the United States
- Northeast Brook Trout Occupancy Model looking at the effects of landscape, land-use, and climate variables on the probability of Brook Trout occupancy in stream reaches
Additional Resources
Technical description
The objective of this effort was to develop tools to assist managers in protecting and restoring streams for brook trout and other aquatic resources in the face of threats such as climate change and development. The project included developing stream temperature, stream flow, and brook trout occurrence models for headwaters of the Northeast, including projections of the potential effects of climate change. The investigators worked closely with decision makers such as state water resource agencies to ensure the tools are useful.
Project components:
1. Hierarchical modeling framework to account for multiple scales and sources of uncertainty in climate change predictions, and to forecast local (catchment scale) population persistence of brook trout.
2. Statistical models to predict stream flow and temperature based on air temperature and precipitation as a function of local environmental conditions.
3. Incorporation of climate change forecasts into population persistence models using ‘envelope’ of downscaled global circulation data on precipitation and air temperature.
Case Studies and News Stories
"Search Party: In Maine, Partners Find Common Ground in Cold Water" - U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Open Spaces blog
Project Contact(s):
Ben Letcher, Research Ecologist, U.S. Geological Survey
LCC Staff Contact(s):
Scott Schwenk, Science Coordinator
| Resource Type: | Fish |
|---|---|
| Conservation Targets: | Freshwater aquatic |
| Conservation Framework: | Assumption-based Research |
| Threats/Stressors: | Climate Change, Development/Urban Growth, Water quality and supply |
| Conservation Action: | Habitat and natural process restoration, Species management |
