Stream assessments for monitoring, watershed planning, and groundwork for future freshwater productivity improvement

We seek to assess/monitor streams in the Exploits River watershed. We will evaluate spatial variability in temporal changes in water temperatures and water chemistry (related to productivity). Abundance of juvenile salmon food will be quantified in sections of each stream, to provide baseline data on available diet, potential productivity, and spatial variability within the watershed. Juvenile salmon densities will be surveyed to provide baseline data for long-term monitoring, and quantify spatial variation within the watershed for the purposes of watershed planning (higher densities areas would be more valuable).

Baseline data collected in this project have long-term value (eg., climate change), but we also intend to use it in the medium-term to evaluate the effectiveness of interventions to improve freshwater productivity. Data collected from the monitoring in the current grant allows for the comparison of before/after conditions in control/test streams for this plan.

Project Contact:

Dr. Craig Purchase
cfpurchase@mun.ca

Dr. Shawn Leroux
sleroux@mun.ca