Digital Commons Network^™

Comparing Commonly Used Aquatic Habitat Modeling Methods For Native Fishes, Eryn K. Turney

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Water resources are managed for a variety of human needs, including agriculture, industrial and municipal consumption, hydropower generation, and recreation. There has been a recent push to incorporate habitat needs of aquatic wildlife into water management models alongside these other uses, particularly as competition for limited water resources in a changing climate has reduced instream flow and contributed to declining native fish populations. Habitat models are used to estimate species distributions and differentiate between suitable and unsuitable habitat based on variables important to a given species, but are not usually incorporated into water management models. Because there are many ways …

Big Fish And More Of Them: Salmonid Habitat Availability, Quality, And Use Across Multiple Scales Within A River-Reservoir System, John S. Mclaren V

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Reservoirs and their associated rivers provide water for agricultural and municipal uses, ecological benefits for fish and wildlife, and associated recreational activity. However, in the Greater Yellowstone Ecosystem climate change and population growth are putting pressure on water quality and supply, potentially damaging the unique and economically important coldwater trout habitat that these systems support. In this study, the author investigates the impact of changing water quality and supply on trout habitat quality, quantity, and selection to assist conservation goals in the Henry’s Fork Watershed in eastern Idaho. The study found that higher availability of cold-water refuge habitat in Island …

Factors Affecting Gunnison Sage-Grouse (Centrocercus Minimus) Conservation In San Juan County, Utah, Phoebe R. Prather

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Due to loss of habitat, Gunnison sage-grouse (Centrocercus minimus) currently occupy 8.5% of their presumed historical range. One population survives in Utah, occurring in San Juan County. The Gunnison Sage-grouse Rangewide Conservation Plan and the San Juan County Gunnison Sage-grouse Conservation Plan recommended management strategies to address identified conservation threats to the Utah population. I addressed three conservation strategies identified in the plans: 1) creation and enhancement of brood-rearing areas; 2) assessment of habitat conditions within the Gunnison Sage-grouse Conservation Area; and 3) prevention or reduction of perching events by avian predators on distribution line power poles.

From 2007-2009, I …