Spatial Pattern of Fish Assemblage Structure and Environmental Correlates in the Spring River Basin, with Emphasis on the Neosho Madtom (Noturus Placidus) PDF Download

Author: Christopher David Wilkinson
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fish populations
Languages : en
Pages : 178

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Author: Kansas Fishes Committee
Publisher: University Press of Kansas
ISBN: 0700619615
Category : Nature
Languages : en
Pages : 544

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Book Description
A guide and a first-rate reference for the angler, scientist, and amateur naturalist alike, this comprehensive volume profiles each of the 144 fish species inhabiting the waterways of Kansas--as well as 27 others that might make their way to the state from nearby river basins. With 121 maps and 184 full-color drawings by Joseph Tomelleri, arguably the best illustrator of North American fishes, Kansas Fishes is an incomparable resource. For each species, the authors, an all-star cast of regional biologists, provide information about fundamental natural history, anatomy, and physiology, along with in-state distributions, habitats, characteristics, and pertinent issues of conservation and ecology. With these experts authoring detailed accounts of the species they know best, this is a uniquely authoritative account of the region's fishes. As such, it will prove useful to students and professionals while providing the passionate amateur and the simply curious an entry into the fascinating world of the fishes of Kansas and nearby states. The Kansas Fishes Committee members represent each of the six state universities (Emporia State, Fort Hays State, Kansas State, Pittsburg State, and Wichita State Universities, and the University of Kansas), as well as the Kansas Biological Survey, the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, and the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks and Tourism--the people responsible for studying, protecting, and educating people about the fishes and waters of Kansas. In addition to the committee, nearly 50 biologists from the United States and Canada volunteered to contribute species accounts to the book based on their expertise with those species in Kansas and nearby states. These individuals work for a variety of universities, federal and state agencies, and private companies, making this book a broad collaboration of experts on the fish species of Kansas.

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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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We investigated spatial variation in fish assemblage and food web structure in the Kansas River, USA in relation to habitat changes. Fishes were collected at ten sites throughout the Kansas River for assessing assemblage structure in summer 2007 using fish community metrics and at 3 sites in 2006 for food web structure using stable isotope analysis. Satellite imagery indicated riparian habitat on the Kansas River was dominated by agriculture in the upper reaches (>35%) and tended to increase in urban land use in the lower reaches (>58%). Instream habitat complexity also decreased with increased urban area (25%) becoming more channelized. Jaccard's similarity and percent similarity indices suggested that large-bodied fishes show changes in species presence and composition longitudinally within the river. Also, reaches directly above Bowersock Dam in Lawrence, Kansas and below the Johnson County Weir, near Kansas City, Kansas had low percent similarity compared to other reaches, suggesting the dam and the weir affect community composition. Canonical correspondence analysis indicated that species that prefer high velocity flows and sandy substrate (blue sucker and shovelnose sturgeon) are associated with the upper river reaches. Also, there was a higher abundance of omnivorous and planktivorous fish species in the lower more channelized river. The lower reaches contain more tolerant, macrohabitat generalist species and the upper river contained more intolerant, fluvial specialist species. Fish, macroinvertebrates, and detritus were collected at three river reaches classified as the heterogeneous instream habitat (40% grass islands and sand bars) intermediate (22% grass islands and sand bars), and homogeneous (6% grass islands and sand bars) instream habitat reaches in June 2006. Riparian land use (proportion as agricultural and urban) was related to instream habitat with homogeneous areas having more urban riparian area compared to the heterogeneous and intermediate reaches. The heterogeneous habitat reach had higher variability in [Delta][superscript]13C for fish classified as piscivores/invertivores (P=0.029) and macroinvertebrates (P=0.004) suggesting the complex habitat in the heterogeneous habitat reach provided more variable food sources. The [Delta}15N values also indicated that ten of the twelve fish species tended to consume prey at higher trophic levels in the heterogeneous habitat reach suggesting a more complex food web. Land use practices are leading to homogenization of instream habitat and this homogenization of habitats may be related to food web diversity and trophic position of fishes. Conserving intolerant, native species in the Kansas River may require maintaining suitable habitat for these species and restoration of impacted areas of the river.

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Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Author: Matthew Earl Herbert
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 134

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Author: Christian E. Torgersen
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Freshwater fishes
Languages : en
Pages : 484

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Book Description
New approaches are needed to quantify and understand spatial patterns of stream fishes and their environment. Concepts in riverine ecology emphasize the importance of thermal zones and gradual longitudinal changes in physical habitat and biota, but little is known about spatial variability within the river continuum. I present a conceptual framework for assessing patterns in streams that are difficult to detect using standard site-based approaches to sampling. The ability to detect pattern is defined as the scope, or the ratio of extent (the distance, area, or volume encompassing all sample points) to grain size (the size of an individual sample unit). By increasing the scope and continuity of sampling, I illustrate how greater sampling effort can reveal new patterns and unexpected relationships between stream fishes and their environment. Merging geography and stream ecology, I describe new approaches including remote sensing, multiscale sampling, and extensive surveys for assessing longitudinal patterns in stream habitat and fish distribution. Airborne thermal infrared remote sensing was effective for quantifying spatially continuous patterns of water temperature over a range of scales from channel units (10-50 m) to entire river sections (30-70 km). To examine factors influencing the spatial distribution of larval Pacific lamprey, a benthic fish species, I applied a nested sampling design and determined that stream habitat variables predicted patterns in larval abundance but played different roles at different spatial scales. Increases in the scope of data collection required adaptations in statistical analysis in order to accommodate larger and more complex ecological datasets. I evaluated multivariate ordination techniques with respect to their ability to describe fish community structure and found that nonparametric multivariate smoothing of presence-absence data was highly effective for detecting patterns in heterogeneous fish assemblage data. Spatially continuous analysis presented challenges in extracting patterns from noisy ecological data but provided the opportunity to evaluate distributional patterns over a range of spatial scales. I examined spatial variability of stream fish assemblages and observed that the relative influences of temperature and channel morphology on fish assemblage structure were dependent on the thermal context and the spatial scale of analysis.

Author: Vincent Shane Hesting
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Fish and wildlife management
Languages : en
Pages : 116

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Author: Allison Ann Pease
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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The distribution and abundance of stream fishes are influenced by many factors operating at multiple scales. Understanding how environmental variables influence the structure of stream fish assemblages is important for habitat assessment, stream restoration, and for predicting responses to environmental change. An emerging view in community ecology is that a focus on the functional structure of species assemblages in relation to environmental gradients may reveal more general patterns applicable across geographic regions. In this study, I used functional traits related to the trophic ecology, habitat use, and life-history strategies of fishes to examine the influences of environmental factors on stream fish assemblages. The research was carried out in two large regions: the Río Grijalva basin in southern Mexico and the Brazos and Trinity basins in Central Texas. In both regions, relationships between functional structure of stream fish assemblages and environmental factors at local, landscape, and regional scales were examined. Environmental characteristics at all three scales influenced the functional attributes of assemblages studied here. At the local reach scale, stream size, substrate characteristics, the availability of riffle and pool habitats, and abundance of in-stream cover structures were related to the functional trait composition of fish assemblages in the Río Grijalva Basin and in Central Texas streams. Landscape features most strongly related to functional structure in both regions were the extent of forested area in the watershed and the amount of land developed for urban and agricultural uses. At the regional scale, broad physiographic differences between ecoregions had a large influence on the taxonomic and functional composition of stream fish assemblages in Central Texas. Along the broad-scale longitudinal fluvial gradient of the Grijalva region, pronounced changes in the species composition, functional trait diversity, and trophic structure of fish assemblages were observed.

Author: Clayton Ridenour
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category : Electronic dissertations
Languages : en
Pages :

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Populations of many native big-river fishes have declined since channelization and flow regulation contributed to losses of shallow-water habitat (SWH) on lower Missouri River (LMOR). Existing point and wing-dike sandbars represent a potentially important source of SWH to fishes during early ontogeny within the main channel of LMOR. Small-bodied fishes were sampled using pre-positioned electrofishing devices from 0.0-0.5 m water depths adjacent to four point and four wing-dike sandbars on LMOR between July and October, 2005. A suite of associated environmental factors were also measured. Habitat use and assemblage structure relative to three spatial (sandbar type, region within sandbars, and distance from shoreline within region) and two temporal (month, diel), and environmental factors were evaluated using Analysis of Variance, Detrended Correspondence Analysis, and Canonical Correspondence Analysis. Samples yielded 49 species from 13 families in depths 0.0-0.5 m; most fishes were [lesser than or equal to]105 mm TL. Fish mean length increased but abundance decreased from July to October. Ordination analyses revealed that the assemblage was organized into bodylength subgroups. Fish assemblages were not different between point and wing-dike sandbars. Instead, fishes aligned along a depth-velocity gradient relative to body length. Shallow (ca. 0.12m), near-shore areas were dominated by fishes [lesser than] 35 mm TL during the day, but larger fishes (e.g., 70 mm TL) moved nearer to shore at night. This research shows that main-channel sandbars provide nursery to many fluvial fishes during early ontogeny and that sandbars play an important role as nursery in large regulated rivers.

Author: Tracy McCulloch
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 102

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Predicting how populations will respond to future climate scenarios is of interest to ecologists and resource managers. Recent interest in the effect large-scale climate patterns have on local environmental conditions has identified relationships between climate, fish diversity, assemblage structure, abundance, and population fluctuations. I hypothesized that large-scale climate patterns could help explain the inter-annual variation in larval fish assemblage of the lower Roanoke River, North Carolina. Acting through temperature and precipitation, these large-scale climate indices can influence ecosystem response, and therefore should correlate with local weather variables. The North Atlantic Oscillation (NAO) and the Atlantic Multi-Decadal Oscillation (AMO) climate indices are known to influence temperature and precipitation in the North Atlantic Ocean basin and were chosen for their likely influence within the lower Roanoke River. Air temperature and precipitation data from Weldon, NC, and Roanoke Rapids, NC, weather stations were used to form a long-term combined (LTC) dataset from 1904 to 2011 to test their relationship with the large-scale climate indices. Relationships between the LTC, NAO, and AMO showed the winter NAO positively significant with four-month winter (December through March) mean maximum air temperatures (r = 0.41, p