Leveraging High Performance Computing to Quantify Landscape Change, Hydrology, and Temperature on Fish and Aquatic Macroinvertebrates
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Arkansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit is leveraging high performance computing resources at the University of Arkansas and through the Google Search Engine to quantify the influence of hydrology, water temperature, and landscape change on fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates.
The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) Arkansas Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit is leveraging high performance computing resources at the University of Arkansas and through the Google Search Engine to quantify the influence of hydrology, water temperature, and landscape change on fish and aquatic macroinvertebrates. There is a great opportunity to develop and expand this approach to address important natural resource questions at local, regional, and national scales.
Stream hydrology and temperature are among the most influential regulators of life-history traits and community structure of aquatic organisms. Hydrologic and thermal gradients strongly affect individual fitness and ultimately species success by imposing fundamental constraints on behavior, metabolic rates, reproduction, growth, and ecological interactions. Stream hydrology and water temperature are also among the most frequently altered components of lotic systems due to human activities and other environmental disturbance. Despite their critical role in sustaining native aquatic biodiversity, few studies have examined the cross-scale influence of hydrology and water temperature on freshwater biota using a multi-species and flow regime analytical framework.
