Chena Fire & Drift Exploratory Data Analysis 2020

Website last updated 2020-10-12 13:51:35 by Benjamin Meyer (bemeyer@alaska.edu)

Headwater tributary of the Chena River in the 2019 Nugget Creek Fire scar. Photo from July 2020.

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Introduction

This document will outline preliminary results from exploratory data analysis from UAF/SFR’s ongoing Chena Fire/Drift 2020 research

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People

Principal Investigator

• Dr. Erik Schoen, UAF (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Erik_Schoen)

Co-Principal Investigators

• Dr. Jason Neuswanger, SFR (http://www.jasonneuswanger.com/)
• Dr. Carol Volk, SFR (https://southforkresearch.org/)
• Dr. Mark Wipfli, UAF (http://people.iab.uaf.edu/mark_wipfli)
• Brian McKenna, TCC

Other Personnel

• Benjamin Meyer, UAF (https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Benjamin_Meyer8)
• Erick De La Rosa, UAF
• Michelle Quillen, UAF
• Will Samuel, UAF
• Justin Hill, SFR
• Debra Lynne, TCC

Useful Links

• Overview of precision drift sampling fieldwork

  • http://www.southforkresearch.org/2020_field_tech.html
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5whZhZUvwdo&feature=youtu.be

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Methods

Study Area

• Map of study area and field sites

  • View map on ArcGIS Online at https://arcg.is/04brTu
  • View coordinates for all sites at http://bit.ly/chenadriftcoordinates

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Field Sampling Effort

When and where did in-situ aquatic ecology data collection occur, and by whom?

• Main stem drift (SFR 2019-2020, UAF 2020)

# Will import from J. Neuswanger Python output results.  B Meyer will use to create/display summary table of sampling efforts here

• Headwaters drift (UAF 2020)

# Will import from J. Neuswanger Python output results.  B Meyer will use to create/display summary table of sampling efforts here

• Juvenile Chinook fishing effort (SFR 2019-2020, UAF 2020)

# Import Excel sheet from Dropbox, "Fishing Data 2020.xlsx".  
# a.) Create simple bar chart of catch by site faceted by week
# b.) Create plot of CPUE vs time for MT and dipnets, faceted by Upper vs. Lower river

• Water temperature logger data, (UAF/SFR 2019 & 2020)

# Import Excel sheet from dropbox, "/Users/bmeyer/Dropbox_auxiliary/Dropbox/Chena_Data_2020/UAF_Data/2020_Logger_Downloads/HOBO_Final_Data".  Create summary figure displaying temporal extent of various loggers and their parameters.

• Hydrolab Sonde turbidity, DO, conductivity, and water temperature data, (UAF 2008, 2009, 2020)

# Import Excel sheet from dropbox, "/Users/bmeyer/Dropbox_auxiliary/Dropbox/Chena_Data_2020/UAF_Data/2020_Logger_Downloads/Hydrolab_Final_Data"
# read in 2020 Hydrolab data in progress

Remote Sensing Data collection

When and where did remote sensing data collection occur, and by whom?

• Drone aerial imagery (UAF/TCC 2020)
  • Drone Footage from 6/29/2020 of Chena Mainstem Drift Sampling [https://drive.google.com/drive/u/0/folders/1xaSedWQSAMwjPAbvkAYaH8gsdCRZUjoZ]

# Summary table of dates & extent of aerial imagery data collected

• Remote sensing of watershed vegetation composition and % of watershed burned (UAF 2020)

# Currently in discussion with potential collaborator(s) Dr. Alison York and Dr. Santosh Pandya

Laboratory Data Collection Effort

How many samples were processed, and what type?

• Coarse fraction

# share in-text result from J. Neuswangers Python output table

• Fine Fraction

# share in-text result from J. Neuswangers Python output table

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Results

Headwaters Tributaries

• Were habitat conditions distinct in recent burn vs. old burn tributaries?

  • Parameters
    • Drift debris density
    • Invertebrate density
    • Prey energy density
    • Water temperature
    • Turbidity
    • Others

Chena Mainstem

• Were habitat conditions distinct in the main stem upstream vs. downstream of the 2019 Nugget Creek fire?

  • Parameters
    • Drift debris density
    • Invertebrate density
    • Prey energy density
    • Water temperature
    • Turbidity
      • Preliminary draft results at https://rpubs.com/bmeyer/sondes2020
    • Juvenile Chinook salmon growth rate
      • Preliminary draft at https://rpubs.com/bmeyer/chenafiredrift_chinookgrowth

# Import  Excel sheet from dropbox, "Fish Datasheet 2020.xlsx".  Create plot(s) of mean FL vs time, a.) all sites combined and b.) by lower vs. upper river c.) by year

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