Taking the River’s Temperature: It’s Not Just Another Number

Dr. E. Ashley Steel, Ph.D. is a quantitative ecologist and statistician with the Pacific Northwest Research Station of the U.S. Forest Service.

Dr. Steel’s research investigates the role of variability in ecological systems. Currently she’s measuring, modeling, and predicting water temperature on river networks. Her work can inform policies and actions for protecting and restoring the health of rivers like the Deschutes.

She will present recent work on:

• understanding and visualizing the complexity of water temperature patterns in rivers;
• capturing the facets of the thermal regime that matter to the fish;
• experiments and cool math to explain why fish and other aquatic organisms might care about whether the water temperature is stable or fluctuating;
• how humans may be altering aspects of river thermal regimes in ways we don’t understand;
• linking experimental evidence, models, and data collected in rivers to prepare for a changing climate.

Admission is free; we will gladly accept donations at the door.