A program of the Southwest Fisheries Science Center’s Fisheries Ecology Division.
The Landscape and Seascape Ecology Team are ecologists, earth and water scientists, and geographers working to elucidate the linkages between habitat and anadromous fish that spawn in California. Our approach to this uses principles and methods from fish and stream ecology and biology, landscape, ecosystem, community, and population ecology with climatology, oceanography, hydrology, and geomorphology. One aspect of our research is documentation of spatial and temporal patterns in biota and the environment. We use field surveys, remote sensing, GIS, field experiments, tagging, capture-recapture studies, and statistical and process-based modeling in various combinations. Our work seeks to explain how and why fish populations have declined and recovered in the past, identify resilient and sensitive habitats, and guide habitat restoration and species recovery efforts in the future.
Our team activity works with decision-makers, inside and outside of NOAA Fisheries, to inform Pacific salmonid management, recovery, and conservation efforts. Team members lead the effort for assessing the viability of salmon throughout California and developing measures and standards to evaluate viability and extinction risks of ESA-listed salmon and steelhead populations. We are leading the effort to develop, evaluate, and implement monitoring techniques and approaches that inform the management, conservation, and recovery of salmon throughout California. Current projects include efforts to understand the ecological outcomes of dam removal, scientific support informing short- and long-term mitigation actions, and monitoring to support the recovery and conservation of ESA-listed species and salmon populations that contribute to commercial, tribal, and recreational fisheries.
Our Team
Team Leader: Nate Mantua
