Digital Commons Network^™

An Investigation Of Spatial And Temporal Variability In Several Of Montana's Reference Streams: Working Toward A More Holistic Management Strategy, Kathryn Elizabeth Makarowski

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

Water temperature is a physical property that fundamentally affects stream ecology and is considered an important water quality parameter from scientific and legal view points. On global, catchment and reach scales, anthropogenic activities have substantially altered natural stream temperature regimes, impairing these systems’ ability to maintain ecological integrity. Thermal degradation often can be attributed to a variety of human activities, and global climate change, which has been accelerated by the demands of an exponentially expanding human population, will play a central role in defining stream temperature regimes in the future. Natural spatial and temporal variability in stream temperatures adds to …