THE VALUE OF HABITAT DATA FOR CONSERVING STREAMS WITH CHANGING CLIMATE : PROMOTING GREATER USE FOR MORE EFFECTIVE MANAGEMENT

North America’s rivers and streams support a diversity of fish species that provide significant ecological, socioeconomic, cultural, and spiritual benefits, and the quality and quantity of habitat in streams directly supports fish diversity. Because rivers are products of the landscapes they drain, features of the landscape like land use, geology, and climate control habitat. Based on these relationships, it stands that anticipated changes in climate will lead to changes in stream fishes through changes in habitat. While natural resource management agencies collect habitat data to help conserve streams into the future, stream habitat data are not always used as intended, in part because some managers may have an incomplete understanding of interactions between rivers and the landscapes they drain. To fully address the impacts of climate change on stream fishes, managers must better understand how climate affects stream habitat and incorporate these concepts into management decision-making processes. This thesis addresses that need. In Chapter 1, we identify ways to increase use of stream habitat data by natural resource management agencies to better conserve fishes from current and future stressors. In Chapter 2, we investigate influences of multiple landscape factors on physical stream habitat, including climate factors. Collectively, outcomes of this research offer managers information and strategies for using stream habitat data to conserve stream habitats and the fishes they support with changing climate.