Summary
My research of my first chapter is based upon a funded grant from the Northwest Climate Adaptation Science Center (NW CASC). The project is built upon a multi-dimensional framework that facilitates collaboration amongst state, tribal, and academic groups. My contribution includes the development of a spatially-explicit, multispecies individual-based model that can be used to understand the interactions between two invasive species: smallmouth bass and rusty crayfish. The life history of both species and their interactions are parameterized by values derived from literature and basin-specific data. Because of the spatially-explicit nature of the model, we will be able to investigate population dynamics on a river-reach scale. This structure and integrated climate scenarios provide an opportunity to understand the implications these invaders have for endangered Chinook and threatened steelhead in the system over time. Additionally, the model will serve as a tool for managers to more efficiently allocate their limited resources by prioritizing areas of concern. For example, predation of crayfish on bass nests is a density-driven interaction and has the potential to reduce the recruitment of bass in an area of high crayfish density. If this area also functions as prime rearing habitat for steelhead, then managers can functionally reduce or modify their efforts in that section of river.
Read more about this project from our collaborators at the Computational Ecology Group.
SciComm
WDAFS 2023 - Boise, Idaho: Towards a better understanding of invasive crayfish impacts on salmonids
ESA 2023 - Portland, Oregon: Density-driven interactions between two invaders with implications for endangered salmon
