Urbanization of a watershed and historical changes in a stream fish assemblage
- Virginia Commonwealth Univ., Richmond, VA (United States)
During recent decades, the Tuckahoe Creek (Virginia) watershed has been altered by human activities, including road and bridge construction, commercial and residential development, and riparian losses. We used historical (1958) and recent (1990) data to evaluate the hypothesis that long-term, low-intensity urbanization affects a warmwater stream fish assemblage in ways usually attributed to acute, high-intensity perturbations. In 1990, fish species diversity of Tuckahoe Creek was significantly lower (P < 0.05) than it had been in 1958, and abundance was substantially lower for all species and trophic guilds. Four cyprinids, one ictalurid, and one percid present in 1958 were not collected in 1990. Jaccard's community similarity coefficient (species composition by site between 1958 and 1990) was negatively correlated with near-stream development of the watershed at six study sites (r = -0.84; P < 0.05). Some characteristics of the feeding ecology of selected fish species, including consumption of terrestrial prey and diet overlap, exhibited slight differences between 1958 and 1990. Observed changes in the fish assemblage were consistent with our hypothesis. Our findings also suggest that the lack of invasions by exotic fishes may not always indicate undisturbed stream conditions. 57 refs., 4 figs., 3 tabs.
- OSTI ID:
- 6874216
- Journal Information:
- Transactions of the American Fisheries Society; (United States), Vol. 123:2; ISSN 0002-8487
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
FISHES
ABUNDANCE
SPECIES DIVERSITY
STREAMS
ECOLOGY
URBAN AREAS
ENVIRONMENTAL EFFECTS
GROWTH
RESOURCE CONSERVATION
WATERSHEDS
ANIMALS
AQUATIC ORGANISMS
SURFACE WATERS
VERTEBRATES
540310* - Environment
Aquatic- Basic Studies- (1990-)
320600 - Energy Conservation
Consumption
& Utilization- Municipalities & Community Systems- (1980-)