[BIRDS CHIRPING]
[DUCKS QUACKING]
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Hi, everyone.
Welcome to the US Fish and Wildlife Service's Conservation
Connect.
My name is Chelsea McKinney, your host
as we explore conservation careers, fascinating animals,
and all kinds of technology that conservation professionals use
to study and help wildlife.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Today, we're coming to you from a stream--
well, an indoor stream.
In this very stream is one of the coolest fish
you could ever imagine--
the brook trout.
These gorgeous fish are native to the cool, clear
flowing streams of the Appalachian Mountains.
Just the presence of brook trout in a stream
tells you it's probably very clean water
and a very healthy ecosystem.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Joining us today, we have Dr. Nathaniel Hitt,
a scientist that actually made this entire indoor stream.
Dr. Hitt, thank you so much for being with us today.
Thanks, Chelsea.
All right, you've got to tell us how did you become interested
in fish?
Well, I've always loved fish, and I've always loved fishing.
And I grew up hiking and exploring
the mountains of Appalachia.
And I also love a good head dunk in a cold mountain stream.
So I've always been interested in fish and the mountains
out here.
And why would you end up making an indoor stream like this?
Well, we wanted to understand what's
going to happen to fish as climate change happens.
We want to understand how fish survive
in these mountains streams.
And so we we've developed this system so that we
can take what we see in nature and simplify it in ways,
and develop tests and experiments based on that.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Now what kinds of things are you able to study
in the indoor stream?
Well, we're able to do a lot of different things.
Right now what we're looking at is
how brook trout are going to adapt and cope
with climate change as that happens over the next 30
to 50 to 100 years from now.
What exactly is climate change?
Climate change is many things.
It's the changes in air temperature,
it's changes in precipitation.
We're looking at how their blood chemistry changes.
We're looking at the physiology.
We're looking at their growth rates
and their behavioral changes.
All of these things help us anticipate
the effect of climate change on brook trout.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
What else does this indoor stream help you study?
Well, it allows us to look at how fish growth rates change
with different kinds of stressors in the environment.
It allows us to look at how fish behavior changes
with stressors.
All of these things help us understand where fish can
survive and where they can't.
So Dr. Hitt, what exactly is this device
you have in your hands?
It's a thermometer.
Now, that's not something I'd want to put under my tongue.
Probably not, no.
We use this to measure water temperature
in the stream system.
And it's an important thing to understand, especially
for brook trout.
They require cold water habitat.
This is currently running at about 13 degrees Celsius.
And that's a that's a comfortable temperature
for brook trout.
Not so comfortable for us.
It'd be a little chilly.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
And today, we're back out in the field.
And I have with me Matt Morgan, a biological technician here
with the US Geological Survey at the Leetown Science Center.
And, of course, you guys all know my co-host Travis here.
And Dan, I'm wondering, you've got all this gear going on.
What exactly are we looking at?
Well, what we're looking at here is a backpack electrofisher.
Fissure So check this out.
I'm checking it out.
It looks like Ghostbusters, but it's even cooler than that.
What this does is it sends out an electrical current
from this side to this side, which trails
behind me as you walk upstream.
And it allows you to sample the fish that
are living in the stream.
It shocks them, it doesn't kill them.
What happens is it'll stun fish for a second,
and then we have to use these dip nets here to scoop them up.
We put them in bucket with water in it.
And in a couple of seconds, they snap back
and they're usually fine.
But we can look at the number of species that are out here.
We can look at the number of individuals that are out here.
And we can look at their body condition
to see how they're doing.
One thing to keep in mind is that there is safety involved
here.
So we always wear rubber gloves when
we're working in the stream.
We also have waders where water doesn't go through,
so we don't get shocked.
And of course, our life jackets to protect us from going under.
Just to be safe.
Well, instead zapping some ghosts,
why don't we zap some fish and give this thing a try?
Cool.
The gang all headed out in search of a diversity of fish.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
The first one to net a fish was my co-host Travis, a Blue Ridge
sculpin, unique to just this region.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
We continued electrofishing to see what other species we
could observe.
Whoa, there we go.
What do we have here?
So that is a creek chub.
One fish after another came to the surface, each one
with a different color, size, and shape.
It's truly amazing all the diversity
lives beneath the surface.
All right, guys.
We're back out from the field.
Let's take a look in the bucket.
We've caught a number of different species.
Dan what are we looking at here?
This is a Blue Ridge sculpin.
And Blue Ridge sculpin are special fish.
The only place they live in the whole world
is in the upper Potomac River system where we are right now.
All right.
Creek chub.
You see that spot on his dorsal fin?
That shows you that's a creek chub.
Dan, Matt, I want to thank you both so much
for taking the time to take Travis
and myself out electrofishing and seeing all the diverse fish
there are in this ecosystem.
Thanks for coming out.
After a long day spent in the field,
it was time to head back to the lab.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
What can students do if they want to end up
getting a job like yours?
Well, the first thing they can do
is get outside and start paying attention.
Put a snorkel mask on and go to the stream and look around.
You'll be amazed at what you see.
The second thing is you can start doing science.
You can start doing science doing experimental work
with a class project.
There are all sorts of ways that you
can start doing this right now.
And that kind of experience will put you on your way
to this kind of work.
I couldn't agree more.
Dr. Hitt, thank you so much for having us here at your fish
hatchery and showing us this amazing stream system
that you built.
Well, thanks for coming.
It's really amazing when we can combine our passion using
the latest technology, and our love of nature
to help protect our fish, our wildlife, and our wild places.
We'll see you guys next time on the US Fish and Wildlife
Service's Conservation Connect.
[MUSIC PLAYING]