Can data from disparate long-term fish monitoring programs be used to increase our understanding of regional and continental trends in large river assemblages? (original) (raw)
Related papers
2006
Longitudinal analysis of the distribution and abundance of river fishes provides a context-specific characterization of species responses to riverscape heterogeneity. We examined spatially continuous longitudinal profiles (35-70 km) of fish distribution and aquatic habitat (channel gradient, depth, temperature, and water velocity) for three northeastern Oregon rivers. We evaluated spatial patterns of river fishes and habitat using multivariate analysis to compare gradients in fish assemblage structure among rivers and at multiple spatial scales. Spatial structuring of fish assemblages exhibited a generalized pattern of cold-and coolwater fish assemblage zones but was variable within thermal zones, particularly in the warmest river. Landscape context (geographic setting and thermal condition) influenced the observed relationship between species distribution and channel gradient. To evaluate the effect of spatial extent and geographical context on observed assemblage patterns and fish-habitat relationships, we performed multiple ordinations on subsets of our data from varying lengths of each river and compared gradients in assemblage structure within and among rivers. The relative associations of water temperature increased and channel morphology decreased as the spatial scale of analysis increased. The crossover point where both variables explained equal amounts of variation was useful for identifying transitions between cool-and coldwater fish assemblages. Spatially continuous analysis of river fishes and their habitats revealed unexpected ecological patterns and provided a unique perspective on fish distribution that emphasized the importance of habitat heterogeneity and spatial variability in fish-habitat relationships. *Corresponding author: ctorgersen@usgs.gov 1 Present address: USGS-FRESC Cascadia Field Station,
River Research and Applications, 2014
Nonwadeable rivers are unique ecosystems that support high levels of aquatic biodiversity, yet they have been greatly altered by human activities. Although riverine fish assemblages have been studied in the past, we still have an incomplete understanding of how fish assemblages respond to both natural and anthropogenic influences in large rivers. The purpose of this study was to evaluate associations between fish assemblage structure and reach-scale habitat, dam, and watershed land use characteristics. In the summers of 2011 and 2012, comprehensive fish and environmental data were collected from 33 reaches in the Iowa and Cedar rivers of eastern-central Iowa. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) was used to evaluate environmental relationships with species relative abundance, functional trait abundance (e.g. catch rate of tolerant species), and functional trait composition (e.g. percentage of tolerant species). On the basis of partial CCAs, reach-scale habitat, dam characteristics, and watershed land use features explained 25.0-81.1%, 6.2-25.1%, and 5.8-47.2% of fish assemblage variation, respectively. Although reach-scale, dam, and land use factors contributed to overall assemblage structure, the majority of fish assemblage variation was constrained by reach-scale habitat factors. Specifically, mean annual discharge was consistently selected in nine of the 11 CCA models and accounted for the majority of explained fish assemblage variance by reach-scale habitat. This study provides important insight on the influence of anthropogenic disturbances across multiple spatial scales on fish assemblages in large river systems.
Journal of Fish and Wildlife Management, 2017
Free-flowing river segments provide refuges for many imperiled aquatic biota that have been extirpated elsewhere in their native ranges. These biodiversity refuges are also foci of conservation concerns because species persisting within isolated habitat fragments may be particularly vulnerable to local environmental change. We have analyzed long-term (14- and 20-y) survey data to assess evidence of fish species declines in two southeastern U.S. rivers where managers and stakeholders have identified potentially detrimental impacts of current and future land uses. The Conasauga River (Georgia and Tennessee) and the Etowah River (Georgia) form free-flowing headwaters of the extensively dammed Coosa River system. These rivers are valued in part because they harbor multiple species of conservation concern, including three federally endangered and two federally threatened fishes. We used data sets comprising annual surveys for fish species at multiple, fixed sites located at river shoals ...
Hydrobiologia, 2010
We examined abundances of fishes by ecological categories for variation with time (years) and longitudinal river distance (km) in the Wabash River, a large US Midwestern river. An ordination resulted in significant correlations with time for an axis that represented increases in surface-feeding invertivores and species that prefer sand substrates. We found increased abundances of planktivores and species with high tolerance to silt in downstream river sites. We found significant changes in abundance for the majority of ecological categories in comparisons of upstream-downstream locations. There was a general decrease in abundances of taxa in ecological categories that tend to inhabit upstream reaches: species that prefer rubble substrates, inhabit fast, and moderate current velocity habitats, and that have low silt tolerance with time. These abundance changes suggest that the upstream river experienced increased sedimentation during 1974-1998. The use of ecological categories provided information for likely habitat changes, such as increased sedimentation, that were not apparent in previous taxonomic analyses. We suggest that combinations of anthropogenic impacts including hydrologic alterations and agricultural activities in the Wabash River resulted in ecosystem changes and subsequent changes in abundance of fishes by ecological categories.
Historical Changes in Fish Assemblage Structure in Midwestern Nonwadeable Rivers
The American Midland Naturalist, 2014
Historical change in fish assemblage structure was evaluated in the mainstems of the Des Moines, Iowa, Cedar, Wapsipinicon, and Maquoketa rivers, in Iowa. Fish occurrence data were compared in each river between historical and recent time periods to characterize temporal changes among 126 species distributions and assess spatiotemporal patterns in faunal similarity. A resampling procedure was used to estimate species occurrences in rivers during each assessment period and changes in species occurrence were summarized. Spatiotemporal shifts in species composition were analyzed at the river and river section scale using cluster analysis, pairwise Jaccard's dissimilarities, and analysis of multivariate beta dispersion. The majority of species exhibited either increases or declines in distribution in all rivers with the exception of several ''unknown'' or inconclusive trends exhibited by species in the Maquoketa River. Cluster analysis identified temporal patterns of similarity among fish assemblages in the Des Moines, Cedar, and Iowa rivers within the historical and recent assessment period indicating a significant change in species composition. Prominent declines of backwater species with phytophilic spawning strategies contributed to assemblage changes occurring across river systems.
Transactions of the Kansas Academy of Science, 2018
Sampling was conducted over a two-year period to determine if fish body morphology (as indicated by the Fineness Ratio (FR), an index of fish streamlining) and habitat alterations can interact to influence fish assemblage structure in three human-altered segments of the Missouri River. It was hypothesized that segments with more variability in depths, velocities, and substrates would have a fish assemblage characterized by more diversity in streamlining. Conversely, it was hypothesized that fish assemblages in more altered river segments would exhibit less diversity in streamlining, i.e., less variability from optimal values because of more uniform habitat conditions. In faster more uniform habitats, fewer variations from optimal streamlining would be adaptive. The three flowing segments studied encompassed the mouth of the Yellowstone River (YSS; moderately altered), the area below Garrison Dam, North Dakota (GOS; below dam-highly altered) and the segment from St. Joseph to Kansas ...
Covariation among plains stream fish assemblages, flow regimes, and patterns of water use
2010
Riverine fish assemblages on the North American plains continue to change as native species' distributions shrink and become increasingly fragmented due to impoundment, changes in the quantity and quality of water, and negative interactions of introduced species. To identify important changes to fish assemblages and their environment, long-term data are needed. I used fish assemblage and discharge data from 22 plains river localities across nearly 20 years to identify potential covariation between fish assemblages and the flow regime. I also obtained data on water use at the watershed scale to determine its potential effects on flow regimes and fish assemblages. A modified time series analysis indicated that directional change was occurring for many of the fish assemblages, though the strength of this change was highly variable among localities. Directional change was strongly and positively associated with change in flow regime, and change in flow regime was positively associated with human modification of the landscape, including number of wastewater facilities and returns. These results illustrate how demands on our water resources can ultimately influence riverine fish assemblages, largely by disrupting natural flow regimes. As population growth continues, the integrity of plains fish assemblages and their riverine environment will likely continue to decline, further exacerbating the fragmentation and reduction of species' geographic ranges.