Forests and Fish in the Southeastern US

The future of Southern forests will be shaped by a variety of influences such as urbanization, land ownership changes, bioenergy development, insect and disease outbreaks, invasive species, and climate change.  Stream and riverine habitats in forested areas of the Southeastern US embedded in this economically, culturally, and ecologically diverse landscape where human and other influences have the potential to influence the diversity, abundance, health, and distribution of aquatic organisms. The effects of such influences are pervasive and difficult to predict, let alone manage.

In the last few decades the South has recovered from large-scale deforestation to become one of the most productive and biologically diverse forest regions in the world. However, certain forest communities are becoming increasingly rare, along with a variety of aquatic species. Thus, major concern for biodiversity will necessarily focus on a relatively small fraction of the forested landscape which, in contrast with western Forestlands, lies largely in the hands of private forest owners who own the vast majority of forest communities and habitats. 

We examine how changes in attributes of future forests may influence the habitats and viability of representative aquatic species.