The Capacity to Detect Change Stream Fish Communities Characteristics at the Site-Level in the Lake Ontario Basin

We investigate natural inter-annual variability of fish community measures within streams of the Lake Ontario basin. Given this variability, we examined coefficients of variation (CV) among the community measures and three scenarios pertaining to the capacity of biologists to detect changes in the fish community at the stream site level. Results indicate that Ontario's stream fish communities are highly variable in time. Young-of-the-year rainbow trout growth was the least variable whereas biomass density scored the highest CV of 0.50 among streams (range 0.22-0.99). Given the CVs and relatively equal sample sizes, our measures of the fish community can be ranked from least to most powerful: biomass, density, richness, diversity, and growth of young-of-the-year rainbow trout. Only large changes in measures can typically be detected. For instance, it would take 4-6 years of monitoring before and after a pulse perturbation to detect a 50 % change in species richness or diversity. We suggest that monitoring abundance is unlikely to result in the detection of small impacts within a short period of time and that large effects can be masked by low statistical power. This evidence voices the need for more research into better sampling methods, experimental designs, and choice of indicators to support monitoring programs for flowing waters.     

Regional reference sites: a method for assessing stream potentials

Field assessments of impacted streams require a control or at least an unbiased estimate of attainable conditions. Control sites, such as upstream/downstream or wilderness sites, have proven inadequate for assessing attainable ecological conditions where the control streams differ naturally from the impacted streams to a considerable degree or where different disturbances exist than those being studied. Relatively undisturbed reference sites with watersheds in areas having the same land-surface form, soil, potential natural vegetation, and land use as are predominant in large, relatively homogeneous regions are suggested as alternative control sites. These areas are considered typical of the region and therefore the sites also are considered typical of the region because their watersheds exhibit all the terrestrial variables that make that region a region. The logical basis for developing regional reference sites lies in the ability to group watersheds and common stream types into regions by integrating available maps of terrestrial variables that influence streams. Relatively undisturbed reference sites can be selected from typical areas of the regions and from transition zones where one or two of the terrestrial variables are not the predominant one(s) of the region. These reference sites are useful for estimating attainable conditions, for evaluating temporal and spatial changes in ecological integrity, for classifying attainable uses of streams, and for setting biological and environmental criteria.     

Biological Assessment of Aquaculture Effects on Effluent-Receiving Streams in Ghana Using Structural and Functional Composition of Fish and Macroinvertebrate Assemblages

Biological assessment of aquatic ecosystems is widely employed as an alternative or complement to chemical and toxicity testing due to numerous advantages of using biota to determine ecosystem condition. These advantages, especially to developing countries, include the relatively low cost and technical requirements. This study was conducted to determine the biological impacts of aquaculture operations on effluent-receiving streams in the Ashanti Region of Ghana. We collected water, fish and benthic macroinvertebrate samples from 12 aquaculture effluent-receiving streams upstream and downstream of fish farms and 12 reference streams between May and August of 2009, and then calculated structural and functional metrics for biotic assemblages. Fish species with non-guarding mode of reproduction were more abundant in reference streams than downstream (P?=?0.0214) and upstream (P?=?0.0251), and sand-detritus spawning fish were less predominant in reference stream than upstream (P?=?0.0222) and marginally less in downstream locations (P?=?0.0539). A possible subsidy-stress response of macroinvertebrate family richness and abundance was also observed, with nutrient (nitrogen) augmentation from aquaculture and other farming activities likely. Generally, there were no, or only marginal differences among locations downstream and upstream of fish farms and in reference streams in terms of several other biotic metrics considered. Therefore, the scale of impact in the future will depend not only on the management of nutrient augmentation from pond effluents, but also on the consideration of nutrient discharges from other industries like fruit and vegetable farming within the study area.     

RELATION BETWEEN FISH COMMUNITIES AND RIPARIAN ZONE CONDITIONS AT TWO SPATIAL SCALES1

ABSTRACT: The relation offish community composition to riparian cover at two spatial scales was compared at 18 streams in the agricultural Minnesota River Basin. The two spatial scales were: (1) local riparian zone (a 200 meter wide buffer extending 2 to 3 kilometers upstream of the sampling reach); and (2) the upstream riparian zone (a 200 m wide buffer on the mainstem and all perennial tributaries upstream of the sampling reach). Analysis of variance indicated that streams with wooded‐local riparian zones had greater fish species richness (means = 20 and 15, respectively) and Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) scores (means = 40 and 26, respectively) than streams with open‐local riparian zones. Streams with wooded‐upstream riparian zones tended (were not statistically significant) to have greater numbers of species (means = 19 and 15, respectively) and IBI scores (means = 33 and 28, respectively) than streams with open‐upstream riparian zones. There was no significant interaction between the riparian zone conditions at the two scales. This study suggests that maintenance of wooded riparian cover along streams could be effective in maintaining or improving fish community composition in streams draining heavily agricultural areas.     

Impacts of Urbanization on Stream Habitat and Fish Across Multiple Spatial Scales

We analyzed the relation of the amount and spatial pattern of land cover with stream fish communities, in-stream habitat, and baseflow in 47 small southeastern Wisconsin, USA, watersheds encompassing a gradient of predominantly agricultural to predominantly urban land uses. The amount of connected impervious surface in the watershed was the best measure of urbanization for predicting fish density, species richness, diversity, and index of biotic integrity (IBI) score; bank erosion; and base flow. However, connected imperviousness was not significantly correlated with overall habitat quality for fish. Nonlinear models were developed using quantile regression to predict the maximum possible number of fish species, IBI score, and base flow for a given level of imperviousness. At watershed connected imperviousness levels less than about 8%, all three variables could have high values, whereas at connected imperviousness levels greater than 12% their values were inevitably low. Connected imperviousness levels between 8 and 12% represented a threshold region where minor changes in urbanization could result in major changes in stream condition. In a spatial analysis, connected imperviousness within a 50-m buffer along the stream or within a 1.6-km radius upstream of the sampling site had more influence on stream fish and base flow than did comparable amounts of imperviousness further away. Our results suggest that urban development that minimizes amount of connected impervious surface and establishes undeveloped buffer areas along streams should have less impact than conventional types of development.     

Large-Scale Effects of Timber Harvesting on Stream Systems in the Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas, USA

Using Basin Area Stream Survey (BASS) data from the United States Forest Service, we evaluated how timber harvesting influenced patterns of variation in physical stream features and regional fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages. Data were collected for three years (1990–1992) from six hydrologically variable streams in the Ouachita Mountains, Arkansas, USA that were paired by management regime within three drainage basins. Specifically, we used multivariate techniques to partition variability in assemblage structure (taxonomic and trophic) that could be explained by timber harvesting, drainage basin differences, year-to-year variability, and their shared variance components. Most of the variation in fish assemblages was explained by drainage basin differences, and both basin and year-of-sampling influenced macroinvertebrate assemblages. All three factors modeled, including interactions between drainage basins and timber harvesting, influenced variability in physical stream features. Interactions between timber harvesting and drainage basins indicated that differences in physical stream features were important in determining the effects of logging within a basin. The lack of a logging effect on the biota contradicts predictions for these small, hydrologically variable streams. We believe this pattern is related to the large scale of this study and the high levels of natural variability in the streams. Alternatively, there may be time-specific effects we were unable to detect with our sampling design and analyses.     

Identifying Reference Conditions and Quantifying Biological Variability Within Benthic Macroinvertebrate Communities in Perennial and Non-perennial Northern California Streams

Identification of minimally disturbed reference sites is a critical step in developing precise and informative ecological indicators. We tested procedures to select reference sites, and quantified natural variation (inter-site and -annual variability) among reference conditions using a macroinvertebrate data set collected from 429 mediterranean-climate stream reaches in the San Francisco Bay Area, California (USA). We determined that a landscape GIS-based stressor screen followed by a local field-based stressor screen effectively identified least-disturbed reference sites that, based on NMS ordination results, supported different biological communities than sites identified with only landscape (GIS) or local (field) stressors. An examination of least-disturbed reference sites indicated that inter-site variability was strongly associated with stream hydrology (i.e., perennial vs. non-perennial flow) and annual precipitation, which highlights the need to control for such variation when developing biological indicators through natural gradient modeling or using unique biological indicators for both non-perennial and perennial streams. Metrics were more variable among non-perennial streams, indicating that additional modeling may be needed to develop precise biological indicators for non-perennial streams. Among 192 sites sampled two to six times over the 8-year study period, the biological community showed moderate inter-annual variability, with the 100 point index of biotic integrity scores varying from 0 to 51 points (mean = 11.5). Variance components analysis indicated that inter-annual variability explained only a fraction (5–18 %) of the total variation when compared against site-level variation; thus efforts to understand causes of natural variation between sites will produce more precise and accurate biological indicators.     

Assemblage stability in stream fishes: A review

We quantified the stability of nine stream fish assemblages by calculating coefficients of variation of population size for assemblage members. Coefficients of variation were high and averaged over 96%; indicating that most assemblages were quite variable. Coefficient of variation (CV) estimates were not significantly affected by: (1) years of study, (2) mean abundance, (3) familial classification, or (4) mean interval between collections. We also detected minor regional differences in CVs. The high variability exhibited by many stream fish assemblages suggests that it may be difficult to detect the effects of anthropogenic disturbances using population data alone. Consequently, we urge managers to exercise caution in the evaluation of the effects of these disturbances. More long-term studies of the ecological characteristics of undisturbed stream fish assemblages are needed to provide a benchmark against which disturbed systems can be compared. We suggest that CVs are a better estimator of population/assemblage stability, than either Kendall's W or the standard deviation of the logarithms of numerical censuses. This conclusion is based on the following reasons. First, CVs scale population variation by the mean and, hence, more accurately measure population variability. Second, this scaling permits the comparison of populations with different mean abundances. Finally, the interpretation of CV values is less ambiguous than either of the aforementioned metrics.     

Habitat Improvements and Fish Community Response Associated with an Agricultural Two‐Stage Ditch in Mower County,Minnesota

Water quality and stream habitat in agricultural watersheds are under greater scrutiny as hydrologic pathways are altered to increase crop production. Ditches have been traditionally constructed to remove water from agricultural lands. Little attention has been placed on alternative ditch designs that are more stable and provide greater habitat diversity for wildlife and aquatic species. In 2009, 1.89 km of a conventional drainage ditch in Mower County, Minnesota, was converted to a two‐stage ditch (TSD) with small, adjacent floodplains to mimic a natural system. Cross section surveys, conducted pre‐ and post‐construction, generally indicate a stable channel with minor adjustments over time. Vegetation surveys showed differences in species composition and biomass between the slopes and the benches, with changes ongoing. Longitudinal surveys demonstrated a 12‐fold increase in depth variability. Fish habitat quality improved with well‐sorted gravel riffles and deeper pool habitat. The biological response to improved habitat quality was investigated using a Fish Index of Biological Integrity (FIBI). Our results show higher FIBI scores post‐construction with scores more similar to natural streams. In summary, the TSD demonstrated improvements in riparian and instream habitat quality and fish communities, which showed greater fish species richness, higher percentages of gravel spawning fish, and better FIBI scores. This type of management tool could benefit ditches in other regions where gradient and geology allow.     

The Fish Fauna of the Doubs River Prior to Completion of the Rhine–Rhône Connection

/ The part of the Doubs River between Montbeliard and Dole (France), i.e., downstream from the confluence with the Allan River, will be affected by the Rhine- Rhone connection project. In order to improve the understanding of the Doubs ichthyofauna, aquatic environments of the Doubs were sampled by electrofishing. Fish diversity and the presence of some rheophilic species demonstrated the good ecological quality of some stretches of the Doubs. This quality was due to alternating areas with very diversified aquatic environments (riffles, islands and side-arms, backwaters) and a considerable range of flow velocities. The differences in the structure of the fish communities of the different types of aquatic environments were more qualitative (fish species) than quantitative (number of species and number of fish). However, the mean number of fish was statistically lower in the canals (Freycinet canal and channelized part of the Allan River) than in the main course and in the backwaters. The natural parts of the Doubs (unnavigable reaches) showed the most diversified environmental structure and had the most rheophilic fish communities. Thus, the rheophilic species were well represented, but they proved also the most vulnerable to river regulation. However, the most abundant fishes throughout the Doubs River were generalists with no special requirements for food sources or spawning substrate.KEY WORDS: Fish communities; Regulation; Restoration; Floodplain; Large ship canal; Doubs River     

Impacts of hydroelectric development on riparian vegetation in the Sierra Nevada region,California, USA

Fourteen streams in the Sierra Nevada in the USA were sampled to determine whether diversions of streamflow for hydroelectric development had caused significant changes in riparian vegetation. Several streams showed significant differences in vegetation cover, community composition, or community structure between pairs of diverted and undiverted reaches. On some streams, environmental conditions rather than streamflow diversions may have been responsible for vegetation differences. Streams in the Sierra Nevada respond individualistically to diversions. Prediction of vegetation responses must take into consideration environmental characteristics of specific stream reaches.     

River-Stream Connectivity Affects Fish Bioassessment Performance

Stream fish bioassessment methods assume that fish assemblages observed in sample sites reflect responses to local stressors, but fish assemblages are influenced by local factors as well as regional dispersal to and from connected streams. We hypothesized that fish movement to and from refugia and source populations in connected rivers (i.e., riverine dispersal) would weaken or decouple relations between fish community metrics and local environmental conditions. We compared fish-environment relations between streams that flow into large rivers (mainstem tributaries) and streams that lack riverine confluences (headwater tributaries) at multiple spatial grains using data from the USEPA's Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program in the mid-Atlantic highlands, USA (n = 157 sites). Headwater and mainstem tributaries were not different in local environmental conditions, but showed important differences in fish metric responses to environmental quality gradients. Stream sites flowing into mainstem channels within 10 fluvial km showed consistently weaker relations to local environmental conditions than stream sites that lacked such mainstem connections. Moreover, these patterns diminished at longer distances from riverine confluences, consistent with the hypothesis of riverine dispersal. Our results suggest that (1) the precision of fish bioassessment metrics may be improved by calibrating scoring criteria based on the spatial position of sites within stream networks and (2) the spatial grain of fish bioassessment studies may be manipulated to suit objectives by including or excluding fishes exhibiting riverine dispersal.     

Modeling the Relations Between Flow Regime Components,Species Traits,and Spawning Success of Fishes in Warmwater Streams

Modifications to stream hydrologic regimes can have a profound influence on the dynamics of their fish populations. Using hierarchical linear models, we examined the relations between flow regime and young-of-year fish density using fish sampling and discharge data from three different warmwater streams in Illinois, Alabama, and Georgia. We used an information theoretic approach to evaluate the relative support for models describing hypothesized influences of five flow regime components representing: short-term high and low flows; short-term flow stability; and long-term mean flows and flow stability on fish reproductive success during fish spawning and rearing periods. We also evaluated the influence of ten fish species traits on fish reproductive success. Species traits included spawning duration, reproductive strategy, egg incubation rate, swimming locomotion morphology, general habitat preference, and food habits. Model selection results indicated that young-of-year fish density was positively related to short-term high flows during the spawning period and negatively related to flow variability during the rearing period. However, the effect of the flow regime components varied substantially among species, but was related to species traits. The effect of short-term high flows on the reproductive success was lower for species that broadcast their eggs during spawning. Species with cruiser swimming locomotion morphologies (e.g., Micropterus) also were more vulnerable to variable flows during the rearing period. Our models provide insight into the conditions and timing of flows that influence the reproductive success of warmwater stream fishes and may guide decisions related to stream regulation and management.     

Stream Temperature Surges Under Urbanization and Climate Change: Data,Models, and Responses1

ABSTRACT: Multiple anthropogenic stressors, including increased watershed imperviousness, destruction of the riparian vegetation, increased siltation, and changes in climate, will impact streams over the coming century. These stressors will alter water temperature, thus influencing ecological processes and stream biota. Quantitative tools are needed to predict the magnitude and direction of altered thermal regimes. Here, empirical relationships were derived to complement a simple model of in‐stream temperature [developed by Caissie et al. Canadian Journal of Civil Engineering 25 (1998) 250; Journal of Hydrology 251 (2001) 14], including seasonal temperature shifts linked to land use, and temperature surges linked to localized rainstorms; surges in temperature averaged about 3.5°C and dissipated over about 3 h. These temperature surges occurred frequently at the most urbanized sites (up to 10% of summer days) and could briefly increase maximum temperature by >7°C. The combination of empirical relationships and model show that headwater streams may be more pervasively impacted by urbanization than by climate change, although the two stressors reinforce each other. A profound community shift, from common cold and coolwater species to some of the many warmwater species currently present in smaller numbers, may be expected, as shown by a count of days on which temperature exceeds the “good growth” range for coldwater species.     

Environmental Indicators of Habitat Quality in a Migratory Freshwater Fish Fauna

/ In general, diadromous (and particularly amphidromous and catadromous) freshwater fishes decline in frequency of occurrence, change age/size structure, and probably also decline in abundance with increasing elevation and distance upstream from the sea. In freshwater fish faunas with a high proportion of migratory species, as in New Zealand, these changes in occurrence and abundance result in a breakdown of the relationship between fish abundance and habitat quality, making application of the index of biotic integrity (IBI) as a measure of habitat quality problematical since the index depends on the relationship between population metrics and habitat quality. An alternative approach applicable to assessing temporal changes in habitat quality and that uses a large database on fish distributions, involves analysis of the distribution of species across their natural distributions. In this paper we generate curves of occurrence of species across ranges of altitude and distance inland and show, through comparisons of data subsets, that the curves are consistent estimators of species' occurrence and therefore useful as indicators of habitat quality.     

Effects of Stock Use and Backpackers on Water Quality in Wilderness in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks, USA

During 2010–2011, a study was conducted in Sequoia and Kings Canyon National Parks (SEKI) to evaluate the influence of pack animals (stock) and backpackers on water quality in wilderness lakes and streams. The study had three main components: (1) a synoptic survey of water quality in wilderness areas of the parks, (2) paired water quality sampling above and below several areas with differing types and amounts of visitor use, and (3) intensive monitoring at six sites to document temporal variations in water quality. Data from the synoptic water quality survey indicated that wilderness lakes and streams are dilute and have low nutrient and Escherichia coli concentrations. The synoptic survey sites were categorized as minimal use, backpacker-use, or mixed use (stock and backpackers), depending on the most prevalent type of use upstream from the sampling locations. Sites with mixed use tended to have higher concentrations of most constituents (including E. coli) than those categorized as minimal-use (P ≤ 0.05); concentrations at backpacker-use sites were intermediate. Data from paired-site sampling indicated that E. coli, total coliform, and particulate phosphorus concentrations were greater in streams downstream from mixed-use areas than upstream from those areas (P ≤ 0.05). Paired-site data also indicated few statistically significant differences in nutrient, E. coli, or total coliform concentrations in streams upstream and downstream from backpacker-use areas. The intensive-monitoring data indicated that nutrient and E. coli concentrations normally were low, except during storms, when notable increases in concentrations of E. coli, nutrients, dissolved organic carbon, and turbidity occurred. In summary, results from this study indicate that water quality in SEKI wilderness generally is good, except during storms; and visitor use appears to have a small, but statistically significant influence on stream water quality.     

Relationships between water quality, habitat quality, and macroinvertebrate assemblages in Illinois streams

The influence of specific stressors, such as nutrient enrichment and physical habitat degradation, on biotic integrity requires further attention in Midwestern streams. We sampled 53 streams throughout Illinois and examined relationships between macroinvertebrate community structure and numerous physicochemical parameters. Streams were clustered into four major groups based on taxa dissimilarity. Habitat quality and dissolved nutrients were responsible for separating the major groups in a nonmetric multidimensional scaling ordination. Furthermore, the alignment of environmental factors in the ordination suggested there was a habitat quality-nutrient concentration gradient such that streams with high-quality habitats usually had low concentrations of nutrients. Discrimination by community measures further validated the major stream groups and indicated that forested streams had generally higher biological integrity than agricultural streams, which in turn had greater integrity than urban streams. Our results demonstrate that physical habitat degradation and nutrient pollution are important and often confounded determinants of biotic integrity in Illinois streams. In addition, we suggest that management of Midwestern streams could benefit from further implementation of multivariate data exploration and stream classification techniques.     

Regional and Local Scale Modeling of Stream Temperatures and Spatio-Temporal Variation in Thermal Sensitivities

Understanding variation in stream thermal regimes becomes increasingly important as the climate changes and aquatic biota approach their thermal limits. We used data from paired air and water temperature loggers to develop region-scale and stream-specific models of average daily water temperature and to explore thermal sensitivities, the slopes of air–water temperature regressions, of mostly forested streams across Maryland, USA. The region-scale stream temperature model explained nearly 90 % of the variation (root mean square error = 0.957 °C), with the mostly flat coastal plain streams having significantly higher thermal sensitivities than the steeper highlands streams with piedmont streams intermediate. Model R ² for stream-specific models was positively related to a stream’s thermal sensitivity. Both the regional and the stream-specific air–water temperature regression models benefited from including mean daily discharge from regional gaging stations, but the degree of improvement declined as a stream’s thermal sensitivity increased. Although catchment size had no relationship to thermal sensitivity, steeper streams or those with greater amounts of forest in their upstream watershed were less thermally sensitive. The subset of streams with three or more summers of temperature data exhibited a wide range of annual variation in thermal sensitivity at a site, with the variation not attributable to discharge, precipitation patterns, or physical attributes of streams or their watersheds. Our findings are a useful starting point to better understand patterns in stream thermal regimes. However, a more spatially and temporally comprehensive monitoring network should increase understanding of stream temperature variation and its controls as climatic patterns change.