The U.S. Geological Survey Science Support Partnership Program is offering a grant to advance native trout restoration options and test biotic resistance hypotheses.

Objectives:

I) Large-scale field manipulation and investigation (3 treatments):

a) comprehensive removal of all exotic fish in full tributary (Righthand Fork): originally high density invasive is completely removed, natives are experimentally encouraged to reestablish
b) less-comprehensive removal in another study area TBD (originally high density invasive is lowered in density, natives re-establish naturally)
c) control or reference, where natives and invasives remain in near equal densities with no manipulated change
d) the fluvial geomorphological characteristics of each study area will closely monitored before and after biologic manipulation, such that we can determine the role of physical habitat in mediating biotic resistance.

II) Series of highly controlled smaller-scale laboratory experiments:

a) E.g., varying densities of native and invasive fishes in small enclosures, across a range of relevant physical factors (e.g., velocity, temperature).

III) Expansion of mechanistic study up to a broader scale meta-analysis of evidence for biotic resistance:

a) NAWQA data from ~1,000 streams across the United States