Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units Program: Georgia
Education, Research and Technical Assistance for Managing Our Natural Resources

Georgia Project


Characterization of spatial and temporal variability in fishes in response to climate change

September 2012 - August 2017


Personnel

Participating Agencies

  • Northeast Climate Science Center

Predicting population responses to climate change requires an understanding of how population dynamics vary over space and time. Although variability has historically been viewed as an impediment to understanding population responses to ecological changes, it can provide an important signal, rather than just being viewed as noise. In this project, we will build upon recently completed analyses of fish population data in the Great Lakes basin to help predict how spatial and temporal variation in fish populations may respond to climate change and other important drivers. We suggest that shifting variance structure can be indicative of population-level responses to climate change. Our proposed research will help elucidate the extent to which quantifiable responses in spatial and temporal variability occur in different forms of fish population data.

Research Publications Publication Date
Vidal, T. E., B. J. Irwin, T. Wagner, L. G. Rudstam, J. R. Jackson, and J. R. Bence. 2017. Using Variance Structure to Quantify Responses to Perturbation in Fish Catches. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 146:584-593. [Featured Article] | Abstract April 2017
Wagner, T., S.R. Midway, T. Vidal, B.J. Irwin, and J.R. Jackson. 2016. Detecting unusual temporal patterns in fisheries time series data. Transactions of the American Fisheries Society 145:786-794. | Abstract | Download June 2016
Irwin, B., T Wagner, and J. R. Bence. 2018. Characterization of Spatial and Temporal Variability in Fishes in Response to Climate Change. Project completion report [extended abstract], Northeast Climate Science Center. January 2018
Vidal, T., B. J. Irwin, C. P. Madenjian, and S. J. Wenger. 2019. Age truncation of alewife in Lake Michigan. Journal of Great Lakes Research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jglr.2019.06.006 July 2019
Presentations Presentation Date
Vidal, T. E., B. J. Irwin, and C. P. Madenjian. 2016. Disentangling exogenous drivers of Alewife population dynamics in Lake Michigan. Georgia Chapter Meeting of the American Fisheries Society. Columbus, GA. February 2016
Vidal, T. E., B. J. Irwin, and C. P. Madenjian. 2017. Demographic structure influences how environmental forcing affects Alewife recruitment in Lake Michigan. Meeting of the Southern Division of the American Fisheries Society, Oklahoma City, OK. February 2017
Vidal, T., B. J. Irwin, T. Wagner, L. G. Rudstam, J. R. Bence, and J. R. Jackson. Using variance structure to quantify perturbation induced ecological reorganization. Warnell Graduate Student Symposium, University of Georgia, Athens, GA. February 2015
Vidal, T., C. Jansch, B. J. Irwin, T. Wagner, J. R. Bence, J. R. Jackson, L. G. Rudstam, and W. W. Fetzer. 2014. Using variance structure as statistical indicators of large scale ecological change. Annual meeting of the American Fisheries Society, Québec City, Québec, Canada. August 2014
Irwin, B., T. Vidal, B. Crawford, T. Gancos Crawford, and C. Moore. 2016. Quantitative Consideration of Uncertainty and Variability in Decision Analysis for Conservation and Management of Ecological Systems. Annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America, 7-12 August, 2016, Fort Lauderdale, FL. August 2016
Irwin, B. J. 2017. Spatial and temporal variability in fish populations. Northeast Climate Science Center Regional Science Meeting, Amherst, MA. [Invited (no abstract)] May 2017
Staudinger, M. D., E. Grant, B. Irwin, R. Kraus, D. Krueger, and J. Stewart. 2014. Climate impacts on fish and fish habitats: Case studies from the Northeast Climate Science Center. Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society, August 2014
Irwin, B. J., T. Vidal, T. Wagner, J. R. Bence, J. R. Jackson, L. G. Rudstam, and W. W. Fetzer. 2014. Shifting variance structure as an indicator of large-scale ecological change. Annual meeting of the Ecological Society of America, Sacramento, CA. August 2014