Stream and Lake Temperature Models with Macroinvertebrate Distributions

Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency models stream and lake temperatures alongside benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages across the conterminous United States. The repository supports analysis of how temperature drives taxon distributions in both flowing (lotic) and still (lentic) water ecosystems. The associated modeling code was last updated in April 2026.

Use Cases

• Model benthic macroinvertebrate taxon presence/absence as a function of predicted stream and lake temperature.
• Compare temperature response curves for taxa shared between lotic and lentic ecosystems using modeled temperature data.
• Analyze spatial distributions of macroinvertebrate assemblages across the conterminous U.S. linked to thermal habitat variables.

Strengths

• Data covers the conterminous United States, providing national-scale coverage for freshwater systems.
• Includes modeled temperature data for both stream and lake ecosystems, enabling comparative studies.
• Associated open-source code on GitHub allows for reproducibility and extension of the modeling work.

Limitations

• Specific sample sizes, row counts, and column details for the underlying observational data are not provided.
• The 'other-license-specified' license requires careful review for usage terms and restrictions.
• Data freshness depends on the source surveys used for model calibration, which may not be current.

Provenance

Source

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA).

Collection Method

Data compiled and generated for modeling temperature and species distributions; methods detailed in associated GitHub repository.

Freshness

Repository metadata was last updated in April 2026.

Geography

Conterminous United States (streams and lakes).