Importance of the height of riparian vegetation for thermal regimes of Atlantic salmon rivers to strategically inform restoration decisions.

Description: The project proposes to model the amount of solar radiation reaching the surface of salmon rivers as a function of basin topography, riparian vegetation characteristics, local stream reach orientation, and solar elevation. Using a similar approach, our group has successfully reproduced the shaded areas of rivers at a given moment (date, time of day) on high-resolution airborne imagery. The project will: 1) integrate the amount of solar radiation received at any point of the river over different time periods (day, week, summer season), 2) identify reaches receiving high amounts of solar radiation, 3) test the hypothesis that these reaches correspond to areas of water warming identified by our group on long temperature profiles obtained from thermal imagery, 4) identity areas where selective reforestation of river banks would have a positive effect on stream temperature by reducing solar radiation, and 5) model the expected effect of selective reforestation on stream temperature.