Project -- Pacific Rim Salmon Typology
[ Go Back ]Title: Hierarchical typology of North Pacific Rim rivers and application to wild salmon conservation.
Science Team: Jack Stanford (PI, FLBS), John S. Kimball (Co-PI, FLBS/NTSG), Matt Luck (FLBS/NTSG), Niels Maumenee (FLBS/NTSG), Dan Goodman (MSU), Kyle McDonald and Erika Podest (NASA JPL), Diane Whited (FLBS) .
Funding Agency: Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation
Landsat Image Mosaic of North Pacific Rim Typology Domain
Project Summary: The Typology Project is a remote sensing based classification of salmon producing rivers across the north Pacific Rim. The goal of this work is to produce a decision support system that will assist salmon conservation across the north Pacific rim (NPR), based upon a robust classification (typology) of rivers and river habitats, and aimed at conserving the existing and potential production of salmon in the context of the ocean domains influencing the rivers and salmon that spawn and rear in them. A key component to this study is that salmon productivity in freshwater is linked to complex biologic and hydrogeomorphic pathways that we refer to generally as a shifting habitat mosaic (SHM) (Stanford et al. in press). Specifically, our approach assumes that the greater the biophysical complexity of the river systems, the greater the production potential. Potential correlations between complexity and production will be examined through the use of spatially explicit relational databases including spawner-recruitment data where available.
Water Classification Results for a Portion of the Kitlope Basin, BC Canada
Data is provided through partnership with the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Typology Project utilizes a global Landsat 7 ETM mosaic along with digital elevation data from the Shuttle Radar Topographic Mission (SRTM) and other DEM sources to extract information about the geomorphic complexity of terrestrial aquatic systems that wild salmon depend on for spawning and rearing. Watershed complexity data is then run through a decision support regression tree, SalHab (Salmonid Habitat), under development by the Flathead Lake Biological Station.
SalHab Typology Model Classification Framework
Click to view the Typology Integrated Map Server.
Selected Publications:
Lorang, M.S., D.C. Whited, F.R. Hauer, J.S. Kimball, and J.A. Stanford, 2005. Using airborne multispectral imagery to evaluate geomorphic work across floodplains of gravel-bed rivers. Ecological Applications 15(4), 1209-1222.
Stanford, J. A., M. S. Lorang and F. R. Hauer. 2005. The shifting habitat mosaic of river ecosystems. Verh. Internat. Verein. Limnol. 29(1):123-136.
Whited, D.C., M.S. Lorang, M.J. Harner, J.A. Stanford, F.R. Hauer and J.S. Kimball, 2006. Hydrologic disturbance and succession: Drivers of floodplain pattern. Ecology (In press).
Whited, D.C, J.A. Stanford, and J.S. Kimball. 2001. Application of airborne multi-spectral digital imagery to characterize riverine habitat. Proceedings of the 28th Congress of the International Association of Theoretical and Applied Limnology 28:1373-1380.
Whited, D.C., J. A. Stanford and J.S. Kimball. 2002. Application of airborne multi-spectral digital imagery to characterize riverine habitat under variable hydrologic flows. Regulated Rivers Research & Management 18, 583-594.
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