Researcher ORCID Identifier
0009-0002-4584-4592
Graduation Year
2024
Document Type
Open Access Senior Thesis
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Environmental Analysis
Reader 1
David Robinson
Reader 2
Donald McFarlane
Terms of Use & License Information
Rights Information
© 2024 Adia F Bennett
Abstract
Human activities in North American watersheds have significantly impacted anadromous fish, causing some species of salmon and steelhead to become threatened and endangered. These fish hold ecological, cultural, and economic importance, yet factors such as habitat destruction, overfishing, pollution, climate change, and hydroelectric dams continue to degrade populations. Dams are particularly harmful to anadromous fish, sparking a recent movement advocating for dam removals. This study uses NOAA’s 2022 Biological Viability Assessment to examine the response of anadromous fish to recent dam removals in the Pacific Northwest. Four populations were selected to analyze due to their interaction with sites that had major dams up until the past 15-20 years. Natural origin spawner estimates were modeled and visually analyzed to study the trends of these populations since the year of dam removal. Two t-tests were conducted to quantitatively assess the consistency in recovery trends. Despite observing similar trajectories in some populations, the quantitative analysis found there was no significant correlation between responses at this time. Several factors may contribute to this inconsistency between datasets and variability in population numbers, such as habitat recovery, dam conditions, geography, ocean conditions, climate change, or natural fluctuations. In conclusion, further time and monitoring are needed to fully understand how anadromous fish populations respond to dam removals and the reasons for these responses. A map was created in conjunction with this paper to visually present the data from the Biological Viability Assessment, which aims to create a more accessible medium to read and analyze the data.
Recommended Citation
Bennett, Adia F., "Improving Accessibility and Understanding: Studying the Impact of Human Activities and Dam Removals on Anadromous Fish Species in the Pacific Northwest" (2024). Scripps Senior Theses. 2383.
https://scholarship.claremont.edu/scripps_theses/2383
Included in
Climate Commons, Environmental Health and Protection Commons, Environmental Indicators and Impact Assessment Commons, Environmental Monitoring Commons, Fresh Water Studies Commons, Hydrology Commons, Natural Resources and Conservation Commons, Natural Resources Management and Policy Commons, Sedimentology Commons
