Recent research in the western US and by the RWU has demonstrated that while trout tend to remain within a small home range for the majority of the year, seasonal movements for spawning or dispersal of young can be extensive. We need to examine the mechanisms responsible for initiating these punctuated movements to identify potential bottlenecks for dispersal and colonization.

Global change, including possible changes in temperature regime, hydrologic processes, and land use are of particular concern for trout populations at the margins of their range. In the southern Appalachians, where changes may further marginalize suitable habitat for trout, we need to understand how climate change and habitat interact to fragment and isolate trout populations. Recently developed GIS datasets and models for predicting effects of temperature changes will be extended to evaluate potential effects of other global changes.

Roads are both sources of sediment and principal avenues for recreational access to trout streams. Recreational settings further indicate access and suitability of areas for anglers. Datasets developed by the RWU and others (including the Southern Appalachian Assessment), will be analyzed using GIS and coupled with knowledge of angler behavior to produce a regional analysis of trout distribution.

Field research conducted by the RWU during the past several years has produced datasets that will be statistically analyzed to determine the relations between trout distribution and abundance and various habitat factors, including characteristics of individual habitat units, streams, and whole watersheds.

Stream macroinvertebrate communities are indicators used in monitoring by the Forest Service and State and other agencies. These monitoring programs are based on knowledge about macroinvertebrate species' tolerances and the stressors presented by various land use and human activities. But little is known about how community structure varies in streams with different forest type and age structure, size, and other characteristics of forested watersheds. This study will analyze the large body of data collected by personnel of the George Washington and Jefferson National Forest to determine the utility of macroinvertebrates for validation monitoring.

At least half of the fish species typically found in coldwater streams are not amenable to identification or enumeration by standard techniques because they occupy interstitial spaces on the streambed or in cover or are cryptically colored. In addition, circumstances such as the presence or likely presence of threatened species or need for inventory in proclaimed wilderness areas either severely limit or preclude the use of standard techniques such as electrofishing. We need to develop alternative sampling methods that yield statistically reliable results that minimize risk to target species.

The importance of travel corridors and proximity of complementary habitat units is relatively unknown. Efforts to reconstruct degraded habitat for brook trout must provide not only for specific seasonal microhabitat needs but also for access among the suite of available microhabitats at appropriate times of the year. This research will identify the role of habitat juxtaposition in the process of microhabitat selection by individual trout.

This research will focus on identifying specific ways that trout use CWD in streams. This research will address how CWD benefits trout: through increased reproduction, growth, and immigration or decreased intra- and interspecific interaction of individuals, energetic costs, and angling success.

The transport and deposition of management generated fine sediment has drastically altered the composition of gravel patches in many coldwater streams. Trout in particular depend on accumulations of the correct size gravel for spawning. This research will examine the availability of gravel that is appropriate for use by spawning trout and will relate recruitment of swim-up fry from stream reaches having different configurations of spawning habitat.