EBTJV Project Overview

Riparian planting tool

Brook trout habitat patch layer

Riparian Planting Tool

Purpose To help locate & prioritize locations where tree

plantings would be most beneficial Data

Canopy cover layer (30 M raster) Solar radiation layer (30 M raster) NHD+ Stream layer w/ 100 M buffer

End Product Web-based GIS tool

Riparian Planting Tool

Web-tool features User-specified threshold values

% Canopy cover <= 70%

% Rank of solar radiation >= 75%

User-specified spatial extent Select based on various geographic & hydrologic layers

Maryland Brook trout habitat patch

Makes ranking of solar radiation values more relevant

Data

Frostburg

Frostburg

Frostburg

Frostburg

Riparian Planting Tool

Currently developing web-tool Will be housed on Appalachian LCC website

Suggestions for new/improved features

Habitat Patch Layer

Purpose To update initial brook trout assessment performed at

the sub-watershed scale to the catchment scale Data

NHD+ Catchment layer State trout sampling data Dams/Lakes layer

End Products Brook trout habitat patch layer NHD+ catchment layer w/ trout occurrence labels

Current Patch Layer

Current patch layer completed for PA south

Requested data from remaining states in April

State Data

State Responded to Request Sent DataConnecticut Yes Yes

Maine No NoMassachusetts No No

New Hampshire Yes YesNew York Yes Yes

Ohio Yes YesRhode Island No No

Vermont No No

Habitat Patch Layer

Currently writing script to automate process Speed up analysis/reduce error

Patches more numerous in northern states Reproducable Enable retrospective analysis

Produce patch layers through time Quantify patch loss

Establish framework for future analyses Occupancy models

Catchments assigned probability of having brook trout

Field Testing

Determine if “patch” is appropriate scale Do large patches contain multiple populations

Sample patches over range of sizes Explain patch effective number of breeders (Nb) by patch

size

Patch Size & Populations

10,880 Ha1,217 Ha3,807 Ha

Sampled Patches

Size range 509 to

11,570 Ha

Used sub-sampling strategy detailed in Whiteley et al 2012

Patch Size (Ha)

0 2000 4000 6000 8000 10000 12000

Nb

0

50

100

150

200

250

R2 = 0.49p < 0.001

R

Preliminary Patch Nb Results

Habitat remediation/Stable Summer flows

Sympatric with Rainbow trout

VA Patches

Patch Size (HA)

0 10000 20000 30000 40000

PC

A1

-2

0

2

4

6

6

10

21

22

24

26

2955

5661

63

64

65

66

78

88

90

91

114

126

142

143

174

177

179

221

229

233

234

242

244

247

250

252

256

261

265

276

293

295297

298

311313

315

318

333

400

403

411

423

432

440

441

Sampled PatchesPrioritized PatchesUnsampled Patches

Field Testing Conclusions

Patch proper scale for brook trout management Layer for entire brook trout range in development

Nb predictive model appears feasible Outliers have reasonable explanations Continue to add patches & develop model

Acknowledgements

Matt Burak, Maili Page & Gonzalo Mendez conducted genetic analyses

The following organizations provided financial assistance or volunteer support:

James Madison UniversityGeorge Washington and Jefferson National ForestVirginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries U.S. Forest Service, Northern Research Station University of Massachusetts Amherst U.S. Geological Survey, Leetown Science CenterConte Anadromous Fish Research Laboratory

Nb vs. Abundance

Population Monitoring

Genetics Nb – Effective number of breeders

Combines number of parents and family size Lower values = fewer parents and/or skewed family sizes

Family Mom Dad1 91 912 1 13 1 14 1 15 1 16 1 17 1 18 1 19 1 1

10 1 1Nb = 9.8

Family Mom Dad1 10 102 10 103 10 104 10 105 10 106 10 107 10 108 10 109 10 10

10 10 10Nb = 99.5

Family Mom Dad1 10 102 10 103 10 104 10 105 10 10

Nb = 49.5

2012 Patch Sampling

Patch Ha Occupied Thirds Rainbow Trout NLWC 1275 3 No 58EC 1591 2 No 74

CSR 1703 0 Yes 0GR 1979 2 No 76LS 1991 3 No 75

NFBR 2703 2 No 75SC 4074 1 Yes 14

LPWC 4233 1 No 65PR 4932 1 Yes 59

SBC 5188 1 Yes 75NBC 5368 0 Yes 0NFTR 11577 3 No 73

Brook Trout Patches

Virginia Patches (n = 331)Average size = 1,541 haMedian size = 855 ha

Nb-to-Ne relationship

Used two FG YOY samples (2004, 2010) Temporal Ne (Wang & Whitlock 2003)

Estimated Ne: 201.1

Single-sample estimated Nb: 111.6 Ne = g x Nb= 1.91 x 111.6 = 213.2

g from Letcher et al. 2007

Sampling Strategies for Estimating Brook Trout Effective Population SizeJason Coombs – University of Massachusetts

Andrew Whiteley – University of Massachusetts

Mark Hudy – U.S. Geological Survey

Zachary Robinson – University of Massachusetts

Amanda Colton – U.S. Forest Service

Ben Letcher – U.S. Geological Survey

Keith Nislow – U.S. Forest Service