Sherry P. Wollrab

• Crowd-sourcing techniques to amass large data sets for use in multi-scale applications such as NorWeST
• Spatial database management for research on climate change effects on stream temperature dynamics
• Establishment of stream temperature monitoring networks and methods to quantify long-term temperature trends and increase efficiency of data collection
• Application of eDNA techniques to determine rangewide bull trout distribution
• Technology transfer of applied science tools and procedures

Isaak, Daniel J.; Wenger, Seth J.; Peterson, Erin E.; Ver Hoef, Jay M.; Nagel, David E.; Luce, Charles H.; Hostetler, Steven W.; Dunham, Jason B.; Roper, Brett B.; Wollrab, Sherry P.; Chandler, Gwynne L.; Horan, Dona L.; Parkes-Payne, Sharon. 2017. The NorWeST summer stream temperature model and scenarios for the western U.S.: A crowd-sourced database and new geospatial tools foster a user community and predict broad climate warming of rivers and streams. Water Resources Research. 53: 9181-9205. Isaak, Daniel J.; Horan, Dona L.; Wollrab, Sherry P. 2013. A simple protocol using underwater epoxy to install annual temperature monitoring sites in rivers and streams. Gen. Tech. Rep. RMRS-GTR-314. Fort Collins, CO: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Research Station. 21 p. Isaak, D. J.; Wollrab, S.; Horan, D.; Chandler, G. 2011. Climate change effects on stream and river temperatures across the northwest U.S. from 1980-2009 and implications for salmonid fishes. Climatic Change. 113: 499-524.

Fish habitat inventory procedures and database development, wildfire and prescribed burn effects on large woody debris and other habitat characteristics, and implications of using various fuel reduction practices in riparian areas.

 

I am interested in using data to influence management decisions so that stream habitats are conserved in the face of climate change using the most cost-effective and biologically relevant approaches. I enjoy collaborating and coordinating with resource managers and scientists to create data and information sharing opportunities for the benefit of research and land management. I also find disturbance ecology fascinating, especially the short and long-term effects of wildfire on stream habitat and aquatic communities.

In most aspects of fish and fish habitat research, we are not data poor, but rather, lacking in data organization and coordination. Given 1. There are huge quantities of historical data in addition to continuing data collection, 2. The massive expenditures associated with such data collection, and 3. The vital importance of long-term, and spatially explicit and extensive data sets, it only makes sense to tap these data to address time-sensitive conservation questions that require large long-term and reliable data sets.