2022 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Virtual Conference

March 13 - 15, 2022

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5/24/2021 | 2:00 PM - 3:30 PM | FRESHWATER BIODIVERSITY OF THE LIME HILLS ECOREGION OF BRISTOL BAY, ALASKA | Virtual Platform

FRESHWATER BIODIVERSITY OF THE LIME HILLS ECOREGION OF BRISTOL BAY, ALASKA

The Kvichak and Nushagak watersheds support some of the largest sockeye salmon runs in Bristol Bay, which is the largest wild sockeye salmon producing region in the world. These valuable fishery resources are under threat from climate change and potential massive-scale mining. A probabilistic survey was conducted in 2015 in 40 wadeable streams of the Lime Hills Ecoregion, which includes the upper parts of the Nushagak and Kvichak watersheds on State lands open to mineral development and including the Pebble Prospect. Data collection included stream physical and chemical conditions, in addition to sampling fish, macroinvertebrate, and diatom communities. Ten sites from the 2015 survey were sampled annually through 2019 to provide a five-year dataset of inter-annual variation in taxonomic persistence and stability. A total of 12 fish species, 120 macroinvertebrate genera, and 312 diatom species were identified in wadeable stream habitats. We used these data to model biodiversity patterns in response to environmental conditions across the study area.This is the first probabilistic dataset of freshwater biological diversity for this region and provides an important baseline against which future changes can be measured.

Biodiversity
Monitoring
Conservation

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Presenters/Authors

Rebecca Shaftel (), Alaska Center for Conservation Science at University of Alaska Anchorage, rsshaftel@alaska.edu;