Hello, I have introduced myself before, but that was about 6 months ago. Quickly, I am a PhD candidate at the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry in Syracuse, New York. I am interested in the contributions of fish production from the nearshore areas (including coastal wetlands) of Lake Ontario to the open water system.
Presently I am employed as a research assistant evaluating the impacts of a flow control device on the Irondequoit Creek (Lake Ontario tributary). I would like to give the operators of the flow control device (which would be in place only at high flow times) a model that would simulate critical "times" for fish passage based on temperature. The USGS has a gauging station on the creek so temperature data will "always" be available.
At first I was going to simply overlay known spawning "times" for species that utlilze this creek and wetland. This would yield a static picture of fish utilization. My collegue suggested using temperature as a forcing function so that the model could predict critical periods. He pointed out that time has little meaning to fish and that temperature represent a "real" biological cue. He then suggested the use of "degree days" which incorporates the temporal dimension into temperature. However, I cannot find useful references relating degree days to fish spawning. Does anyone have any information/citations on degree days especially related to spawning in fishes?
Thanks in advance
Darran L. Crabtree State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry Syracuse, New York 13210 315-470-6949 [log in to unmask]
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