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Impacts of Watershed Fragmentation and Restoration on Fish Habitat, Migration and Production in Great Lakes Tributaries |
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Project Manager: Edward S. Rutherford, University of Michigan
Phone: (734)663-3554 ext.104
E-mail: edwardr@umich.edu
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Natural System and Location:
Our natural system includes tributaries to the Great Lakes, and our analysis is being conducted at University of Michigan and Worcester Polytechnic University.
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Hypothesis/Goal:
We hypothesize that anadromous fish production has been reduced through habitat fragmentation caused by dams, and that fish production could be increased through restoration of natural flows, temperatures or fish passage.
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Restoration Strategy:
Use regression and simulation models to quantify the potential for increased fish production under various restoration scenarios (temperature and flow modification, fish passage) in selected tributaries representing the range of flow variability in the Great Lakes. Identify the river types and fishes that would benefit most from proposed restoration scenarios. The University of Michigan will model the impact of dams on fish habitat, density, and production and create an analytical tool for predicting impacts of dams on watersheds. The team will quantify the amount of habitat and production that is lost from fragmentation and that can be gained through restoration. The dammed sites in this project are the same as the Ohio DNR project and the other University of Michigan project sites.
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Progress to Date:
Developing regression model of fishes to predict, from habitat features, the biomass and recruitment of anadromous fish species. Adding Michigan dam site locations to database to analyze fish distributions and biomass as a function of proximity to dams. Will incorporate substrate data from Ohio DNR project to test and verify model on Michigan Rivers later this spring
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Anticipated Outcomes/Environmental Affects:
Not documented
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| URL: salar.wpi.edu/salmod/indexsalmod.htm |
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