Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2012MT273B

Student Research Fellowship: Invisible impacts of changing stream conditions: nongame fish assemblage response to changing stream temperatures

Institute: Montana
Year Established: 2012 Start Date: 2012-03-01 End Date: 2013-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $2,000 Total Non-Federal Funds: $840

Principal Investigators: Michael LeMoine

Project Summary: The overall research goal is to understand the composition and changes in cryptic nongame fish species composition associated with increases in temperature. The investigator will address this research goal with two specific research objectives: (1) Define the cryptic species, their distributions, and habitat use by describing currently unknown sculpin species within the Clark Fork River basin (and determine their status as a likely exotic species). (2) Assess potential responses of sculpin assemblages to temperature gradients through determining thermal tolerances and temperature-dependent competition. Link these results with current distributions to explore the vulnerability to these species to changing stream temperatures.