Transcript Research Priority 1 - Eastern Brook Trout Joint Venture

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 Two day workshop at USGS Leetown Science Center
 Objective: develop a 5-year plan of USGS research
activities to address key science questions related to
brook trout conservation and management in the
Chesapeake Bay watershed.
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USGS LSC
 Bill Palmisano, Steve Faulkner, Tim King, Than Hitt, Kelly
Maloney, Ben Letcher, John Young, Bruce Taggart,Vicki
Blazer
USGS Reston
 Mark Hudy, Scott Phillips, Pete Murdoch, Glenn Holcomb,
Cora Roig-Silva
USGS VA WSC
 Kurt McCoy, Dave Nelms
USFWS
 Jennifer Greiner, Michael Slattery, Bridgette Costanzo, Callie
McMunigal
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Focused discussion coalesced around three broad
themes:
 The relative importance of evolutionary and ecological
processes in regulating brook trout ecology and
population dynamics
 The conceptual strengths and weaknesses of
alternative methodological approaches to assess trends
in population viability
 Specific priorities and strategies to address partner
needs and advance scientific understanding of brook
trout sustainability, resilience, and restoration
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Research approach
 Refine and develop patch-prioritization tools (PPTs) based on
patterns of abundance which precede changes in occupancy and
should generate a more sensitive indicator compared to occupancy
Products and benefits
 Help managers assess metrics of brook trout abundance and identify
areas for brook trout conservation and restoration
(a) maps of potential brook trout habitat distributions within the Bay
(b) probabilities of brook trout occupancy and abundance in
response to simulated future scenarios of climate change, land use,
and invasive species
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Research approach
 Nested sampling design for air/stream temperature and fish
 Fine-scale sampling nested within coarse-scale sampling among watersheds
 Geologic evaluation, groundwater contribution to streamflow using
hydrograph separation techniques
Products and benefits
 Refine the PPTs described above by enabling estimates of brook trout
habitat availability, occupancy, and abundance across spatial scales from
reaches to catchments
 Provide important new information on the role of groundwater for brook trout
habitat and sensitivity to climate change
 Provide a framework to evaluate the optimal spatial and temporal sampling
designs for brook trout monitoring programs
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Research approach

Sequence brook trout genome using a combination of state-of-the-art "next generation" technologies,

Generate comparative gene expression profiles from deep sequencing (RNA-Seq) to identify genes
exhibiting baseline (control) differential expression in brook trout representing the three major life
history forms (salter, coaster, and riverine) across the latitudinal and elevational distributions within
the Chesapeake Bay Watershed
Products and benefits

New assessment tools of population vulnerability based on adaptive potential (evolvability)

Incorporate evolutionary changes in physiological/metabolic and immunological systems into
mechanistic models of species distributions

Incorporate heritable variation, selection intensity and demographic effects on genetic variance into
mechanistic models

Assembled and annotated genome sequences, the entire mitochondrial genome sequence, single
nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs), and new microsatellite markers for brook trout will be made
available

Improved understanding of the functional differences among ecophenotypic variants for the brook
trout
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Research approach

Combine baseline distributional data with occupancy models developed in RP1 to
develop region-wide assessments of pre-shale gas development conditions

Develop stressor-response relationships and metrics to predict responses to
disturbances associated with shale-gas development

Gradient or paired designs (e.g., BACI studies) to determine the changes in water
availability, water quality, brook trout populations, macro-invertebrate communities and
periphyton communities for headwater streams that can be attributed to shale-gas
development
Products and benefits

Provide improved understanding of brook trout threshold responses to shale gas
development

Help industry and resource managers identify areas of greatest conservation value
and provide a tool to estimate the cumulative impact of proposed shale-gas
development on brook trout headwater ecosystems

Improve precision of PPTs developed in Research Priority 1
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Research approach
 A battery of biomarkers, ranging from necropsy-based organism level to
molecular, have been developed for use on a number of fish species in the
Chesapeake Bay watershed
 Histopathology, in combination with expression of genes for immune
function, endocrine disruption, oxidative damage and various contaminantinduced enzymes, can be very powerful for assessing overall health
 Comprehensive assessments for general and reproductive brook trout health
will be conducted using these tools in collaboration with other brook trout
studies, especially those related to changes in land use (e.g.,
unconventional oil and gas) and climate
Products and benefits
 Detect sublethal effects of endocrine disruptors, emerging and legacy
contaminants on brook trout health and reproduction.
 Identify potential pathogens/parasites that may affect brook trout abundance
 Provide information on the current health of brook trout populations and
science-based approaches for monitoring programs
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