Habitat, Fish Species, and Fish Assemblage Associations of the Topeka Shiner in West‐Central Iowa

Abstract

Our goal was to identify habitat, fish species, and fish assemblages associated with the occurrence of Topeka Shiners Notropis topeka in stream and off-channel habitat (OCH) of west-central Iowa. Fish assemblages and habitat characteristics were estimated in 67 stream and 27OCHsites during 2010-2011. Topeka Shiners were sampled in 52% of OCH sites, but in only 9% of stream sites, which supports the hypothesis that OCH is an important component of their life history. Fish assemblages containing Topeka Shiners were different from those that did not contain Topeka Shiners in OCH sites, but this was not evident in stream sites. Results from logistic regression models suggested that Topeka Shiner presence was associated with increased submerged vegetation and abundance of Fathead Minnow Pimephales promelas. Contrary to the findings of other studies, the abundance of large piscivorous fishes was not associated with the occurrence of Topeka Shiners. Our results provide new information about the biology and life history of the Topeka Shiner that will guide habitat restoration and other recovery efforts. KeywordsTopeka Shiner, Notropis topeka, piscivorous, off-channel habitat RightsWorks produced by employees of the U.S. Government as part of their official duties are not copyrighted within the U.S. The content of this document is not copyrighted. AbstractOur goal was to identify habitat, fish species, and fish assemblages associated with the occurrence of Topeka Shiners Notropis topeka in stream and off-channel habitat (OCH) of west-central Iowa. Fish assemblages and habitat characteristics were estimated in 67 stream and 27 OCH sites during 2010-2011. Topeka Shiners were sampled in 52% of OCH sites, but in only 9% of stream sites, which supports the hypothesis that OCH is an important component of their life history. Fish assemblages containing Topeka Shiners were different from those that did not contain Topeka Shiners in OCH sites, but this was not evident in stream sites. Results from logistic regression models suggested that Topeka Shiner presence was associated with increased submerged vegetation and abundance of Fathead Minnow Pimephales promelas. Contrary to the findings of other studies, the abundance of large piscivorous fishes was not associated with the occurrence of Topeka Shiners. Our results provide new information about the biology and life history of the Topeka Shiner that will guide habitat restoration and other recovery efforts.

Occurrence, abundance and associations of Topeka shiners (Notropis topeka) in restored and unrestored oxbows in Iowa and Minnesota, USA

“…Species richness was higher in oxbows where Topeka shiners were present, suggesting that detection may have been due in part to sampling conditions. Third, time since the most recent inundation may have influenced sample composition, as more lotic species may be present in an oxbow immediately following a flooding event, and gradually perish over time (Bakevich et al, ). Fourth, the location of restored oxbows could have influenced the sampled assemblages.…”

A Hybrid Individual‐Based and Food Web–Ecosystem Modeling Approach for Assessing Ecological Risks to the Topeka Shiner (Notropis topeka): A Case Study with Atrazine

“…The CASM TS is a version of the comprehensive aquatic system model (e.g., Bartell et al 2013Bartell et al , 2018Nair et al 2015) that was adapted to provide a food web-ecosystem context for the TS-IBM (Schmolke et al 2019). The CASM TS includes multiple representative populations of aquatic plants and consumers informed by previous Midwestern stream modeling (Bartell et al 2013;Nair et al 2015) and descriptions of Topeka shiner fish assemblages (e.g., Stark et al 2002;Bakevich et al 2013). Daily values of biomass (g C/m 2 ) are simulated for each modeled population based on bioenergetics-based differential equations (Hanson et al 1997;Duffy 1998;Bakevich et al 2013;Bartell et al 2013;Deslauriers et al 2017).…”

“…The CASM TS includes multiple representative populations of aquatic plants and consumers informed by previous Midwestern stream modeling (Bartell et al 2013;Nair et al 2015) and descriptions of Topeka shiner fish assemblages (e.g., Stark et al 2002;Bakevich et al 2013). Daily values of biomass (g C/m 2 ) are simulated for each modeled population based on bioenergetics-based differential equations (Hanson et al 1997;Duffy 1998;Bakevich et al 2013;Bartell et al 2013;Deslauriers et al 2017). The CASM TS also simulates biomass changes in relation to a dynamic physical-chemical environment (e.g., light, temperature, nutrients, depth, current velocity) constructed for the headwater pool (Dodds et al 2000;Bayless et al 2003;Bartell et al 2013).…”

Habitat Associations of Juvenile Burbot in a Tributary of the Kootenai River

“…Relationships between fish assemblages and habitat features measured at small scales are well documented (Gorman and Karr 1978;Lobb and Orth 1991;Rahel and Hubert 1991). The influence of instream, small-scale physical habitat features (e.g., depth, substrate composition, and cover) is easy to conceptualize, quantify, and study (Fischer and Paukert 2008;Sindt et al 2012;Bakevich et al 2013). Thus, many studies have used small-scale habitat variables to explain the distribution and abundance of fishes (e.g., Rahel and Hubert 1991;Gido and Propst 1999;Sindt et al 2012).…”