Geology topics

Jennifer B. Rogers

Publications and source records attributed to Jennifer B. Rogers.

3 recordsLinked to original sources

USGS2025

Watershed forest cover and habitat restoration can offset some negative impacts of climate change on freshwater fishes and mussels

Many species of freshwater fishes and freshwater mussels have experienced population declines over the past century due to threats including habitat degradation, overexploitation, species invasion, and climate change. Management actions may offset climate-related changes to biodiversity, although identifying appropriate strategies is challenging. Our goal was to identify the impacts of climate change on freshwater biota (i.e., fish and mussel) distribution and management actions that may offset the climate change impacts across the northeastern United States. We used land use, geography, stream temperature, and streamflow variables to predict species distribution in a baseline scenario, climate change scenario, and several climate change plus land use management scenarios. We found climate change negatively impacted (i.e., reduced the probability of occurrence of) coldwater fishes and reduced the relative occurrence probability of fluvial specialist and coolwater fishes compared to other species. Increasing watershed forest cover best offset these negative impacts and minimized the predicted transition from coldwater fish dominance to warmwater fish dominance in coldwater habitats; however, no intervention fully offset the negative impacts of climate change on vulnerable fish groups (i.e., coldwater and fluvial specialist fishes). Climate change negatively impacted all vulnerable groups of mussels (e.g., lotic species, drying intolerant) and mussel species richness. Combining multiple management interventions (e.g., increase forest cover, dam removal, etc.) had the greatest potential to offset the negative impacts of climate change for freshwater mussels and fishes. This study provides managers a comparison of management interventions across a landscape to combat the impacts of climate change on biota in streams and rivers.

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, ↗

USGS2025

Catchment prioritization for freshwater mussel conservation in the Northeastern United States based on distribution modelling

Freshwater mussels are critical to the health of freshwater systems, but their populations are declining dramatically throughout the world. The limited resources available for freshwater mussel conservation necessitates the geographic prioritization of conservation-related actions. However, lack of knowledge about freshwater mussel spatial distributions hinders decision making in this context. In this study, we assessed the distribution of twelve native freshwater mussel species across six Northeastern states (Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Vermont, New Hampshire, and Maine) in the United States using data collected from lentic and lotic environments by eight state agencies. We first modeled individual distributions using a maximum entropy (MaxEnt) model and then compiled distribution models to assess the distribution of freshwater mussel species richness. We also determined geographic prioritization for three conservation-related actions: species surveys, land protection, and population restoration of species of high conservation concern. We found that the percent of catchments predicted to have species occurrence (based on a probability threshold) varied across species, with Elliptio complanata (Eastern elliptio) predicted to occur in the greatest percent of available catchments (33.92%) and Alasmidonta heterodon (Dwarf wedgemussel) expected in the smallest percent (5.30%). The predicted overall species richness within our modeled catchments ranged from zero to all twelve species, with an average of two species per catchment. Although conservation priorities vary depending on the conservation action of interest, we found some areas of consistent importance including much of Maine and the southern reaches of the Connecticut River. An improved understanding of freshwater mussel distribution in a landscape framework will enable managers to implement more precise and efficient conservation interventions for these essential aquatic species.

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, ↗

USGS2025

Climate and land use drivers of freshwater fish biodiversity in the northeastern United States

Freshwater habitats can sustain high biodiversity, but habitat degradation, species invasion, and overexploitation have imperiled freshwater species. The multiple threats to freshwater habitats and changing stream characteristics due to climate change make it challenging to identify the drivers of fish vulnerability, especially given that the importance of drivers may vary by the biodiversity endpoint. The goals of this study were to 1) describe freshwater (lotic) fish biodiversity across northeastern states in the United States, and 2) identify geographic, climate, and land use drivers of fish biodiversity, toward improving freshwater fish conservation. We predicted habitat suitability for 53 fish species using survey data and corresponding geographic, climate, and land use data. After model fitting, we grouped species using a traditional approach based on traits and a new approach using modeled streamflow and stream temperature to create clusters. We found that climate and land use vulnerable groups did not always have similar geographic patterns or relationships to the climate or land use variables, suggesting that biota vulnerable to changing conditions may be overlooked by reliance on predefined guilds to set conservation goals. Biodiversity groups that were vulnerable to climate variables were also related to land use variables that can be used to identify restoration opportunities. This approach may be useful for managers interested in holistic freshwater management under changing stream conditions.

Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, ↗