A Partial Biological Survey of the Spring River Drainage in Kansas, Oklahoma and Missouri. Part I, Collecting Sites, Basic Limnological Data, and Mollusks

Branson, Branley A.

doi:10.2307/3627422

Cited by 10 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 15 publications

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“…The Cow Creek watershed was heavily impacted by PS pollution before the 1970s. For instance, in 1963 Kansas municipalities (i.e., Frontenac and Pittsburg) and industries were discharging untreated or improperly treated waste into First Cow Creek, which is a major tributary of Cow Creek (Branson ). The consequences of this pollution included extremely high levels of coliform bacteria in First Cow Creek and in the Cow Creek main stem in 1963 (Branson ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For instance, in 1963 Kansas municipalities (i.e., Frontenac and Pittsburg) and industries were discharging untreated or improperly treated waste into First Cow Creek, which is a major tributary of Cow Creek (Branson ). The consequences of this pollution included extremely high levels of coliform bacteria in First Cow Creek and in the Cow Creek main stem in 1963 (Branson ). There are few other measures of water quality from the Cow Creek watershed in 1963, but the USGS Kansas Water Science Center performed routine water quality monitoring throughout the Cow Creek watershed during 1976–1982.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…The Cow Creek watershed was historically affected in places by PS pollution from acid mine drainage. For instance, coal mining was widespread throughout the watershed during the late 1800s through the 1950s, but had nearly ceased by 1970 (Branson ; Chambers et al. ; Angelo et al.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…). A legacy of this coal mining was acid mine drainage, which in 1963 resulted in Brush Creek (pH = 3.5–4.2) and an unnamed tributary of East Cow Creek (pH = 3.5) having low pH (Branson ). Furthermore, USGS monitoring revealed that Brush Creek continued to have low pH during 1976–1982 (Table ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, reclamation in many of these abandoned mines occurred for reasons other than improving water quality (e.g., remediation of dangerous high walls), and at present it is unknown how mining reclamation influenced stream pH and fish communities. Lastly, even though coal mining was common in other parts of the Cow Creek watershed historically, other named streams in the system had a near‐neutral pH in 1963 (Branson ) and during 1976–1982 (Table ).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Long‐Term Change of Fish Communities in a Polluted Watershed: Does Cleaner Water “Act” on Fishes?

et al. 2018

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Pollution is a threat to lotic fishes that enter streams via point source (PS) and nonpoint source (NPS) pathways. The Clean Water Act (CWA) of 1972 and the Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act (SMCRA) of 1977 reduced PS pollution in the United States, but little information is available concerning the response of fish communities to this legislation. The objectives of this research were to quantify the responses of fishes to the CWA and SMCRA in the Cow Creek watershed of southeastern Kansas, a wadeable stream network that experienced large reductions in PS pollution. Responses were quantified by measuring changes in site occupancy, relative abundance, and species richness across 25 sites sampled in 1963 and again in 2017. Responses were compared among fishes that were intolerant, moderately intolerant, moderately tolerant, and tolerant of pollution using an analysis of deviance coupled with general linear hypothesis testing. We predicted that intolerant fishes would exhibit the most dramatic increases in distribution and abundance and that these changes would be most evident in streams that were directly receiving PS pollution in 1963. However, our predictions were not met, as species tolerant of pollution exhibited greater occupancy, relative abundance, and richness than did intolerant fishes, regardless of time period. Contemporary pH and substrate composition were also quantified and revealed that most streams had recovered from historical acid mine drainage but were dominated by fine substrates. We hypothesized that the limited responses exhibited by intolerant fishes were at least partially attributable to NPS pollution (i.e., sedimentation) resulting from agriculture, which was the dominant land use both historically and currently. We conclude that reductions in both NPS pollution coupled with historical reductions in PS pollution may be necessary to increase the prevalence of intolerant fishes. These management actions may have conservation implications as many intolerant fishes are also imperiled.

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Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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