Project Description
Individual-based models (IBMs) represent a powerful tool to advance modeling of California fishes by providing insight to a variety of environmental and management scenarios that may impact population dynamics. This project seeks to initiate the development an IMB of green sturgeon in central California that can be used to simulate effects of changing climate and water management on population dynamics, habitat use, and movement. The team proposes to take the first substantial steps toward an IBM of green sturgeon movement, population dynamics, and responses to water management in the Sacramento River mainstem and tributaries, Delta, and San Francisco Estuary by:
- Developing the model framework and assessing data needs for each model component and whether these needs can be met by existing datasets;
- Designing water management and environmental change scenarios for model simulation guided by policy and practice of water management and species conservation;
- Generating a full-length research proposal suited to federal and California funding opportunities
Ultimately, this approach could benefit the extensive conservation and management efforts already underway for fishes in this region.
Team Members
| Erin Tracy | University of California, Davis – Department of Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology |
| Scott Colborne | Michigan State University – Quantitative Fisheries Center |
| Nann Fangue | University of California, Davis – Department of Wildlife, Fish, & Conservation Biology |
| John Kelly | California Department of Fish & Wildlife – Fisheries Branch Sturgeon Coordinator |
| Sarah Yarnell | University of California, Davis – Center for Watershed Sciences |
| Fran Bellido-Leiva | University of California, Davis – Center for Watershed Sciences |
| Karrigan Börk | University of California, Davis – School of Law |
| Jonathan Walter | University of California, Davis – Center for Watershed Sciences |
Project Dates
April 2023 – April 2024
News Release
https://watershed.ucdavis.edu/news/new-synthesis-incubator-green-sturgeon-IBM