Q UESTIONS ON THE P ROCESS ? 27 R IVER -S PECIFIC D ISCUSSIONS - - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

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S TATEWIDE T ARGET F ISH C OMMUNITY A SSESSMENT Public Information Meeting February 21, 2018 Prepared for : Presented by : 1 M EETING A GENDA Background on Target Fish Community (TFC) Models Overview of the Process (this presentation)

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SLIDE 1

STATEWIDE TARGET FISH COMMUNITY ASSESSMENT

Public Information Meeting – February 21, 2018

Presented by: Prepared for:

1

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SLIDE 2

MEETING AGENDA

  • Background on Target Fish Community (TFC)

Models

  • Overview of the Process (this presentation)
  • Delineation of Designated Rivers (GIS and Fish

Community Data)

  • Selection of “Reference River” areas with similar

features (GIS)

  • Selection of fish samples collected from Reference

Rivers (GIS)

  • Developing the TFC Models
  • River-Specific Discussions

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SLIDE 3

TFC MODEL DEVELOPMENT

  • Method derived from Bain and Meixler (2000) and

(2005) methods

  • Meant to characterize the relative abundance (percentage) of

species in a river based on data from similar rivers

  • Reference river data are not from “pristine” or “unimpacted”

conditions, but should be from riverine areas that are considered good quality and are not severely degraded

  • NHDES has used these methods previously for the

Souhegan and lower Lamprey River. This project will develop TFC models for 22 Designated River systems

  • The NH Instream Flow Program will use the TFC for

modeling the changes in fish habitat when stream flows

  • change. The model is one element of calculating the

river’s protected instream flows

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SLIDE 4

TFC MODEL DEVELOPMENT – APPLIED TO EACH DELINEATED SEGMENT

Physical Characteristics

  • f a River

Reference River Segments with Similar Characteristics All Fish Community Data from All River Segments with Similar Characteristics Fish Community Data from Reference Rivers

GIS Exercise GIS Exercise Initial Data Screening

Final Fish Community Reference River Dataset

Final Data Screening

Target Fish Community Model

Analyze Dataset

  • Fish community data from reference rivers has been

gathered and initially screened

  • Final screening with be completed in consultation with

NHDES – this will include removal of stocked fish from the datasets and determination of species to be included in the TFC model

WE ARE HERE

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SLIDE 5

DELINEATION OF DESIGNATED RIVERS

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SLIDE 6

DELINEATION OF DESIGNATED RIVERS

  • Goal: Delineate NH Designated Rivers into

segments, if appropriate, based on where fish community shifts are predicted to occur

  • Datasets
  • Fish Sample Data – Do fish community shifts currently
  • ccur?
  • Physical Characteristic Data – Are there locations where

the river changes character dramatically, where fish communities could also shift?

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SLIDE 7

DETERMINING GEOMORPHOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF RIVER SECTIONS THAT DRIVE FISH COMMUNITY STRUCTURE

  • Fish communities in a river can shift due to changes in

river character

  • Though some changes in character may be more likely

to cause a fish community shift, primarily we are looking for a combination of potential factors that would result in a fish community change

  • We can look at this by overlaying data in a “Geographic

Information System” (GIS)

  • Stream Order
  • Watershed Area
  • Gradient
  • Geology
  • Water Chemistry
  • Thermal Regime
  • Predicted Fish Community

Types

  • Ecoregion

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SLIDE 8

EXAMPLE DELINEATION OF A DESIGNATED RIVER – AMMONOOSUC RIVER

  • Do fish community shifts

currently occur along this river?

  • Used Non-Metric

Multidimensional Scaling (NMDS)

  • People typically think in 2-3
  • dimensions. NMDS is a statistical

method that condenses a dataset with many dimensions down to fewer dimensions so that we can see and understand patterns

  • One site (29C) that has a

different fish community than the rest because it is separated from them in the plot

  • 29C is in a far upstream area,

with only Brook Trout present in the sample that was collected

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SLIDE 9

EXAMPLE DELINEATION OF A DESIGNATED RIVER – AMMONOOSUC RIVER

Gradient

  • High and very high

gradient upper section

  • Moderate-high gradient

dominates the midsection

  • Low-moderate gradients

dominate the lower section Also note the location of 29C, which had a different fish community than the

  • ther sites

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SLIDE 10

EXAMPLE DELINEATION OF A DESIGNATED RIVER – AMMONOOSUC RIVER

Stream Order

  • Primarily 3rd Order

upper section

  • 4th Order midsection
  • 5th Order lower section

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SLIDE 11

EXAMPLE DELINEATION OF A DESIGNATED RIVER – AMMONOOSUC RIVER

Watershed Size

  • Primarily headwater and

creek in upper section

  • Primarily small river in

midsection

  • Medium tributary river

in lower section

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SLIDE 12

EXAMPLE DELINEATION OF A DESIGNATED RIVER – AMMONOOSUC RIVER

NHDES Predicted Fish Community Types

  • Along-river types
  • Surrounding watershed

types can also influence what fish species would also be present in a river section

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SLIDE 13

EXAMPLE DELINEATION OF A DESIGNATED RIVER – AMMONOOSUC RIVER

Soils

  • In this case, there was

no soil data for the upper watershed areas

  • No clear shift in soils

along river

  • Did not determine that

a potential delineation based on soil type shifts

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SLIDE 14

EXAMPLE DELINEATION OF A DESIGNATED RIVER – AMMONOOSUC RIVER

Shifts in Geology Shifts in Water Chemistry

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SLIDE 15

EXAMPLE DELINEATION OF A DESIGNATED RIVER – AMMONOOSUC RIVER

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SLIDE 16

DELINEATION OF DESIGNATED RIVERS

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  • 37 Delineated Segments
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SLIDE 17

REFERENCE RIVER AND FISH COMMUNITY DATA SELECTION

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SLIDE 18

TFC MODEL DEVELOPMENT – REFERENCE RIVER SELECTION

Physical Characteristics

  • f a River

Reference River Segments with Similar Characteristics

GIS Exercise

Characteristic Class Description Size Class 2 Small River Elevation Class 3 800 - 1,700 feet Gradient Class 4 Moderate-High Chemical Class 1 Low Buffered (Acidic) Temperature Class 1 Cold Level III Ecoregion 58 Northeastern Highlands

  • Characteristics from the Northeast Aquatic

Habitat Classification Layer (TNC) – Dataset spans the entire Northeast

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SLIDE 19

TFC MODEL DEVELOPMENT – REFERENCE RIVER FISH COMMUNITY SAMPLES

Physical Characteristics

  • f a River

Reference River Segments with Similar Characteristics All Fish Community Data from All River Segments with Similar Characteristics

GIS Exercise GIS Exercise

  • Fish Community Sample

Data

  • Electrofishing datasets
  • Obtained for NH, ME, VT,

MA, CT, RI, and NY

  • Combined and uploaded

to a GIS

  • In GIS, a tool was

developed to select samples along the reference river segments

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SLIDE 20

TFC MODEL DEVELOPMENT – REFERENCE RIVER FISH COMMUNITY SAMPLES

Physical Characteristics

  • f a River

Reference River Segments with Similar Characteristics All Fish Community Data from All River Segments with Similar Characteristics

GIS Exercise GIS Exercise

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SLIDE 21

All Fish Community Data from All River Segments with Similar Characteristics Fish Community Data from Reference Rivers

Initial Data Screening

  • Initial Data Screening
  • Low/Very Low Cumulative Disturbance

Index (National Fish Habitat Disturbance Index Layer)

  • Watershed (HUC4) if possible, to narrow

geographic range – In this case, the CT River watershed was the selection area

  • Sufficient sample data (n>50 fish/sample,

more than one sample/river)

  • Data collected 1990 and later

TFC MODEL DEVELOPMENT – REFERENCE RIVER FISH COMMUNITY SAMPLES

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SLIDE 22

EVALUATING SAMPLE SIZES TO DEVELOP ROBUST TFC MODELS

  • We need to make sure that we have enough data for

each delineated segment to develop the TFC models

  • Evaluation of Sufficiency
  • Within-River (for each reference river) – are there enough

sites along a reference river to accurately characterize the community?

  • Among-River (for each TFC model) – are there enough

reference rivers to develop an accurate model?

  • Statistical Tool – MultSE
  • Way of visualizing that, if we added more information, would

the fish community change?

  • Look for low values, flattening out, and/or low variability

(more detail on upcoming slides)

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SLIDE 23
  • Initial Data Screening – Within-River Data Sufficiency Analysis
  • Does each reference river have enough sample data for adequate fish community representation?
  • St. Johns and Israel River would have benefitted from more samples, but they were kept due to

moderate MultSE values (as opposed to high MultSE values). Keeping them in the dataset was deemed preferable to searching for additional reference rivers from watersheds farther away

TFC MODEL DEVELOPMENT – REFERENCE RIVER FISH COMMUNITY SAMPLES

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  • Reference rivers

selected for the Ammonoosuc River

  • Middle Delineated

Segment

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SLIDE 24
  • Initial Data Screening – Among-River Data Sufficiency Analysis
  • Are there enough reference rivers for development of a TFC model?
  • These five rivers provided low MultSE values, narrow confidence intervals, and an

asymptotic relationship indicating that additional reference rivers is not necessary

TFC MODEL DEVELOPMENT – REFERENCE RIVER FISH COMMUNITY SAMPLES

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  • Reference rivers

selected for the Ammonoosuc River

  • Middle Delineated

Segment

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SLIDE 25
  • All initially-screened data from reference rivers
  • Finalization of these data will be completed prior to development of the TFC model by:
  • Removing stocked species from reference river data
  • Removing species not found in the watershed (if reference river data were collected from other

watersheds)

  • Removing species that are not to be included in the TFC model, per NHDES instruction (i.e. non-native

species)

TFC MODEL DEVELOPMENT – REFERENCE RIVER FISH COMMUNITY SAMPLES

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SLIDE 26

SUMMARY

  • Completed:
  • Delineation of Designated Rivers into segments based on

physical changes and fish community shifts

  • 37 delineated segments in total
  • Selection of segments of rivers (reference rivers) with similar

physical characteristics to the Designated River segments

  • Selection of fish community data from reference river areas

with low/very low disturbance indices

  • Initial screening of reference river fish community data
  • Next steps
  • Final screening phase of the reference river fish community

dataset

  • Apply the Bain and Meixler (2005) methods to the final data

to develop the TFC model

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SLIDE 27

QUESTIONS ON THE PROCESS?

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SLIDE 28

RIVER-SPECIFIC DISCUSSIONS

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  • Delineation Results for Designated Rivers
  • Reference River Selection Results for Designated

River Segments

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SLIDE 29

REFERENCES

Bain, M.B. and M.S. Meixler. 2000. Defining a target fish community for planning and evaluating enhancement of the Quinebaug River in Massachusetts and Connecticut. New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Cornell University, 2000. Bain, M.B. and M.S. Meixler. 2005. Defining a target fish community for planning and evaluating river rehabilitation. Manuscript submitted to Environmental Biology of Fishes in April 2005. Anderson, M.J. and J. Santana-Garcon. 2015. Measures of precision for dissimilarity-based multivariate analysis of ecological communities. Ecology Letters 18: 66-73.

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