I am working on a habitat model to predict changes in available steam habitat for acid- and thermally-sensitive aquatic species. The main goal is to combine stream temperature model results with existing acidity (ANC) results for the southern Appalachian Mountain region to evaluate the spatial extent of a habitat “squeeze” on these species. The relationship between air and water temperature will also be explored to generate future scenario results of habitat availability with changes in air temperature. I have been mostly working with non-spatial regression modeling techniques and I would like to explore the use of spatial statistical models to account for spatial autocorrelation among observations.

Here is my full study region:

Non-spatial regression model results for ANC and water temperature:

Here is a potential study area with relatively high ANC data density: