Oregon Chapter of the American Fisheries Society 53rd Annual Meeting February 28 – March 3, 2017 Bend, OR ABSTRACTS Show Me the Data: Explaining Science with Pictures Kelsey Adkisson ODFW [email protected] Graphics can help convey scientific ideas more efficiently than words, to broad audiences. They help make science more accessible by increasing readership and information retention, and reduce messaging noise. We will cover some examples of science visualization, along with a few tips and tools to entice even the most ardent non-artists to embark on this visual journey. How to Tell and Share Your Story Digitally Timothy Akimoff ODFW [email protected] Co-author: Richard Hargrave With handheld devices capable of shooting, editing and distributing high definition video, audio, photographs and graphics, everyone has the ability to connect their work to the constituents to whom it matters. Telling your story in an age where newspapers, television and radio presences are shrinking is more important than ever. We will discuss the tools and techniques to improve your storytelling for the press and through social media. Live Streaming Demonstration Timothy Akimoff ODFW [email protected] The most powerful tool in your social media arsenal is the live stream. Social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook put limits on how much of your audience you can reach with a single post. But live streaming has no limits. Learn how, with a very simple and inexpensive setup consisting of an Android or iPhone, a tripod and a simple microphone, you can reach more than half a million people by live streaming your work. Using Models to Address Data Gaps Related to the Invertebrate Host of the Salmonid Parasite Cerantonova shasta Julie Alexander OSU [email protected] Co-authors: Nicholas Som Damon Goodman Nicholas Hetrick Jerri Bartholomew Infectious diseases caused by parasites that have life cycles involving multiple hosts are often poorly understood. However, models can be useful tools for improving our understanding of complex systems. Salmonid population declines in the Klamath River, CA have been attributed to Ceratonova shasta, a myxozoan parasite that alternately infects Manayunkia speciosa (freshwater polychaete) and salmonids (obligate hosts). There is interest in using flow manipulation as a tool to mitigate the effects of disease on salmon by reducing polychaete host abundance in the Klamath River. However, water is a limited and contentious resource in the Klamath River Basin, so evaluating the efficacy of actions that alter water availability is not only warranted, but necessary. The aims of this study were to predict the distribution of polychaete hosts in three sections of the Klamath River’s infectious zone, a section of river characterized by elevated densities of C. shasta. Two-dimensional hydraulic models (2DHM) were developed for each of three river sections using topographic survey data, water surface elevation profiles, stage-discharge relationships, and spatial maps of substrate. The 2DHMs were used to describe hydraulic variation (predict depth, velocity, and shear stress) and stratify polychaete sampling locations across gradients of depth and velocity within substrate classes. Benthic samples collected in July 2012 were used to build predictive models of polychaete distribution. Our results show that polychaete distribution is associated with substrate, as well as depths and velocities predicted from the 2DHMs during the previous water year’s peak discharge. We evaluated model performance against independent datasets collected in other water years, including a high magnitude flood. Our results suggest that manipulating the hydrograph may influence distribution of polychaete hosts. This in turn may influence C. shasta prevalence in polychaetes and risk of infection in salmonids. Our study provides a tool that allows us to predict how polychaete distribution may respond to flow modification at the study sites and evaluate the potential efficacy of proposed flow management scenarios to affect polychaete hosts. A Clackamas Bull Trout Reintroduction Update at the End of Phase One Chris Allen USFWS [email protected] Co-author: Steve Starcevich Marshall Barrows Brian Davis Mike Meeuwig Jack Williamson A reintroduction of bull trout to the Clackamas River was initiated by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife in 2011, and the sixth consecutive year of transfers concluded in 2016. A total of 2,835 individuals have been translocated, among those 2,382 juveniles age one and two, 370 subadults, and 83 adults. Donor stock for the project has been comprised of wild fish from tributaries of the Metolius River and Lake Billy Chinook in central Oregon. Bull trout have been documented spawning in several tributaries of the upper Clackamas River each year since the reintroduction began and redd counts have continued to increase annually. PIT tag histories suggest over 60% of adult-aged fish migrating past arrays in a key spawning tributary in 2016 were out planted as juveniles, providing strong evidence for juvenile survival to maturity. While too soon to state overall project success, preliminary indicators provide reason for optimism. This presentation will provide a brief summary of project results to date. Incorporating Climate Science and Uncertainty: Oregon's Strategy for Non-Game Fishes Kara Anlauf-Dunn ODFW [email protected] Co-author: Meryl Mims Shaun Clements Climate change will most certainly impact all native fish species in Oregon; however, the degree to which a species is vulnerable is uncertain. Recognizing the potential for impacts, there is a need to incorporate potential climate effects into the management and conservation of these species. To more adequately manage the needs of native non-game fish species in the face of a changing climate, the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) is developing a more quantitative, transparent, and adaptive modeling approach to research and monitoring. The new approach uses knowledge of the limiting factors, threats, and the magnitude of their effect on persistence to categorize habitat for protection or provide restoration guidance. For Oregon’s native non-game species, historic and contemporary data are being used to model vulnerability to environmental change as a function of climate sensitivity, exposure to threats, and adaptive capacity. Rarity and traits-based approaches were used based on the premise that rarity (e.g., species range size and climate sensitivity) and traits (e.g., life history, morphology, and behavior) are indicators of vulnerability to environmental change or other stressors. The exposure to threats such as land development, habitat fragmentation, and climate change within and around the species’ range will then be evaluated. A number of different climate scenarios and projections will be incorporated to give a range of plausible futures and uncertainties for these species. Using these results, species status will be categorized based on taxonomy, functional diversity, rarity, geography, and exposure. Knowledge about the effects of climate change on species and their habitats will help ODFW better manage the species in their charge and develop tools to better respond to habitat mitigation needs at the appropriate spatial and temporal scales. Developing a Statewide eDNA Monitoring Program for Aquatic Species Jamie Anthony ODFW [email protected] Co-authors: Trevan Cornwell Staci Stein Shaun Clements ODFW’s fish monitoring programs provide information that is critical for conservation and harvest management in Oregon. A number of tools have been identified as having high potential to help ODFW improve the cost effectiveness and value of information provided by ODFW’s monitoring as well as expanding the scope of the monitoring to species not currently covered. The use of environmental DNA (eDNA) is one of the tools that shows considerable promise. eDNA has become the focus of significant attention given the potential to more cheaply and rapidly gather information about a target species than traditional methods. However, eDNA is currently being broadly applied with, in many cases, little understanding of how to interpret the resulting data. This poses problems in making the correct decisions about land-use, instream activities, or species management. In the absence of supporting information, the utility of information gathered from eDNA sampling is somewhat limited. A positive result may not be informative of distribution or abundance of species as we do not yet know the relationship between where/when/and how much DNA is shed by the animal/s and the subsequent recovery of DNA. Similarly, without supporting information, a negative result cannot be taken as proof of the absence of a species. The presence of eDNA in a given sample of water is influenced by both biological processes (production by the target organism and consumption by bacteria) and physical processes (transport, storage, and degradation). The utility of eDNA as a statewide monitoring tool will be influenced by the degree to which temporal and spatial factors influence these processes, and therefore the need to also measure co-variates. Our goal is to use eDNA to measure presence/absence and abundance (or biomass) of fish species in Oregon. To achieve this, we first need to understand how to interpret the detection or non-detection of eDNA in a water sample. Our initial focus will