NALCC-supported research published in Journal of Animal Ecology

A project funded in part by the North Atlantic LCC makes an important contribution to the field of ecological modeling by developing a way to estimate the effects of changes in stream flow and temperature on key population rates for eastern brook trout - body growth, movement, and survival. 

The paper published in the Journal of Animal Ecology is one of several recent publications resulting from this work, an example of how the North Atlantic LCC helps to leverage funding to support and disseminate cutting edge conservation research. 

The team of scientists representing the Silvio O. Conte Anadromous Fish Research Center, the U.S. Geological Survey, the USDA Forest Service, and the University of Massachusetts Amherst, developed a model that makes reliable estimates for missing observations in a brook trout dataset collected over an 11-year period, and factors in the most important attributes for the species' population rates. 

Read the abstract: "Robust estimates of environmental effects on population vital rates: an integrated capture-recapture model of seasonal brook trout growth, survival and movement in a stream network"

Full list of publications related to this research:

Letcher, B.H., Schueller, P., Bassar, R., Nislow, K.H., Coombs, J.A., Sakrejda, K, Morrissey, M., Sigourney, S., Whiteley, A.R., O’Donnell, M. , Dubreuil, T., in Press. Robust estimates of environmental effects on population vital rates: an integrated capture-recapture model of seasonal brook trout growth, survival and movement in a stream network, Journal of Animal Ecology

Kanno,Y., Letcher, B.H., Hitt, N., Boughton, D., Wofford, J., and Zipkin, E. in Press. Seasonal weather patterns drive population vital rates and persistence in a stream fish. Global change biology 

Kanno, Y, B. H. Letcher, J.C. Vokoun and E.F. Zipkin, in Press, Spatial variability in survival of adult brook trout within two intensively surveyed headwater stream networks, CJFAS

Zipkin,E., J. Thorson, K. See, H. Lynch, E. Grant, Y. Kanno, R. Chandler, B.H. Letcher, and J. Royle. in Press Modeling structured population dynamics using data from unmarked individuals. Ecology doi:10.1890/13-1131.1

Kanno, Y, B. H. Letcher, J Coombs, and K.H. Nislow, 2014.  Linking fish movement and reproductive history to assess habitat connectivity in a heterogeneous stream network, Freshw. Biol. 59(1): 142-154 doi:10.1111/fwb.12254

Kanno, Y, J.C. Vokoun, and B. H. Letcher, 2014. Paired stream-air temperature measurements reveal fine-scale thermal heterogeneity within headwater brook trout stream networks, River Research and Applications. 10.1002/rra.2677  

Whiteley, A; Coombs, J; Hudy, M; Robinson, Z; Colton, A; Nislow, K; Letcher, BH., 2013.  Fragmentation and patch size shape genetic structure of brook trout populations. CJFAS. 70(5): 678-688, 10.1139/cjfas-2012-0493.