Landscape Character and Fish Assemblage Structure and Function in Western Lake Superior Streams: General Relationships and Identification of Thresholds

Brazner, John C.; Tanner, Danny K.; Detenbeck, Naomi E.; Batterman, Sharon L.; Stark, Stacey; Jagger, Leslie A.; Snarski, Virginia M.

doi:10.1007/s00267-004-3031-0

Cited by 14 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…For example, in analyzing biological data from our study, Brazner et al (2004) found that response thresholds identified by marked shifts in fish assemblage structure or function averaged 11% for watershed storage and 50% for watershed mature forest cover based on piecewise regression analysis. Previous analysis of flow regimes for Minnesota and Wisconsin suggests that the range of variation encountered in flow stability and peak flows is biologically significant, and can select for distinct functional groups within fish and invertebrate communities (Poff and Ward, 1989;Poff and Prestegaard, 1997).…”

Section: Ecological Significance Of Landscape Controls On Flow Regimesmentioning

confidence: 84%

Relationship of stream flow regime in the western Lake Superior basin to watershed type characteristics

Detenbeck¹,

Brady²,

Taylor³

et al. 2005

Journal of Hydrology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

To test a conceptual model of non-linear response of hydrologic regimes to watershed characteristics, we selected 48 secondand third-order study sites on the North and South Shores of western Lake Superior, MN (USA) using a random-stratified design based on hydrogeomorphic region, fraction mature forest, and fraction watershed storage (lakeCwetland area/watershed area). We calculated several commonly used hydrologic indices from discharge and velocity estimates, including daily flow indices, overall flood indices, low flow variables, and ratios or ranges of flow percentiles reflecting the nature of cumulative frequency distributions. Four principal components (PCs) explained 85.9 and 88.6% of the variation of flow metrics among second-and third-order stream sites, respectively. Axes of variation corresponded to a runoff vs. baseflow axis, flow variability, mean flow, and contrasts between flood duration and frequency. Analysis of velocity metrics for third-order streams yielded four PCs corresponding to mean or maximum velocity, Froude number, and inferred shear velocity, as well as spate frequencies vs. intervals associated with different velocity ranges.Using discriminant function analysis, we could discriminate among watershed classes based on region, mature forest, or watershed storage as a function of flow metrics. For second-order streams, median flow (Qs 50 ) increased as watershed storage increased. North Shore streams showed a more skewed distribution and greater spread of discharge values than did South Shore streams for both stream orders, while third-order North Shore streams exhibited a higher frequency of spates. Independent of regional differences, loss of mature forest increased the range of variation between baseflow and peak flows, and depressed baseflow. Consistent with our initial model for watershed classification, Classification and Regression Tree (CART) analysis confirmed significant thresholds of change in flow metrics averaging between 0.506 and 0.636 for fraction mature forest and between 0.180 and 0.258 for fraction watershed storage. q

show abstract

Section: Ecological Significance Of Landscape Controls On Flow Regimesmentioning

confidence: 84%

Relationship of stream flow regime in the western Lake Superior basin to watershed type characteristics

Detenbeck¹,

Brady²,

Taylor³

et al. 2005

Journal of Hydrology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The creek chub is reportedly tolerant of considerable pollution (Becker 1983;Barbour et al 1999), but we found it to be moderately intolerant of turbidity, as did Whittier and Hughes (Table 2). This could be a habitat effect (preference for streams) because creek chub were found commonly and in high numbers in quite muddy streams in a study of Lake Superior tributaries (Brazner et al 2004).…”

Section: Species Designations Compared To Other Studiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Turbidity Tolerances of Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Fishes

Trebitz

Brazner²,

Brady

et al. 2007

N American J Fish Manag

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Despite recent interest in assessing the condition of fish assemblages in Great Lakes coastal wetlands and a concern for increasing turbidity as a major stressor pathway influencing these ecosystems, there is little information on fish tolerance or intolerance to turbidity on which to base wetland assessment metrics. Existing studies have borrowed tolerance designations from the stream literature, but they have not confirmed that the designations apply to Great Lakes wetlands or that designations based on tolerance to degradation in general apply to turbidity in particular. We used a published graphical method to determine turbidity tolerances of Great Lakes fishes based on their pattern of occurrence and relative abundance across coastal wetlands spanning a turbidity gradient. Fish composition data were obtained from fyke‐net and electrofishing surveys of 75 wetlands along the U.S. shoreline of the Laurentian Great Lakes, representing a turbidity range of approximately 0–110 nephelometric turbidity units (NTU). Turbidity levels of 10, 25, and 50 NTU (corresponding to the thresholds in use for state water quality criteria) were used to separate fish into tolerance classes. We found that the turbidity tolerances of many species in Great Lakes wetlands differed from the published tolerances to general degradation in streams. Also, the tolerance levels for many species were unclear owing to the species' infrequent occurrence. Although many of the wetlands sampled had quite low turbidity, a large proportion of the fish species were tolerant or moderately tolerant to turbidity and very few were intolerant, suggesting that enumerating intolerant species may not be a useful metric or that the metric should be expanded to include moderately intolerant species. Our study lays the foundation for additional turbidity indicator development efforts for Great Lakes coastal wetlands.

show abstract

“…A large number of biological traits across a diversity of taxonomic groups have been used to describe a species' ecological niche. For freshwater fishes, attributes related to morphology, behavior, life-history, and habitat and trophic requirements have proven very useful for relating species distributions to environmental variables (e.g., Poff and Allan 1995, Lamouroux et al 2002, Brazner et al 2004. Of these attributes, lifehistory traits have been shown to be particularly good predictors of both fish invasions (e.g., Fausch et al 2001, Kolar and Lodge 2002, Marchetti et al 2004, Vila-Gispert et al 2005) and extirpations (e.g., Angermeier 1995, Parent and Schriml 1995, Reynolds et al 2005.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Life-History Strategies Predict Fish Invasions and Extirpations in the Colorado River Basin

Olden

Poff

Bestgen

2006

Ecological Monographs

414

478

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding the mechanisms by which nonnative species successfully invade new regions and the consequences for native fauna is a pressing ecological issue, and one for which niche theory can play an important role. In this paper, we quantify a comprehensive suite of morphological, behavioral, physiological, trophic, and life‐history traits for the entire fish species pool in the Colorado River Basin to explore a number of hypotheses regarding linkages between human‐induced environmental change, the creation and modification of ecological niche opportunities, and subsequent invasion and extirpation of species over the past 150 years. Specifically, we use the fish life‐history model of K. O. Winemiller and K. A. Rose to quantitatively evaluate how the rates of nonnative species spread and native species range contraction reflect the interplay between overlapping life‐history strategies and an anthropogenically altered adaptive landscape. Our results reveal a number of intriguing findings. First, nonnative species are located throughout the adaptive surface defined by the life‐history attributes, and they surround the ecological niche volume represented by the native fish species pool. Second, native species that show the greatest distributional declines are separated into those exhibiting strong life‐history overlap with nonnative species (evidence for biotic interactions) and those having a periodic strategy that is not well adapted to present‐day modified environmental conditions. Third, rapidly spreading nonnative fishes generally occupy “vacant” niche positions in life‐history space, which is associated either with “niche opportunities” provided by human‐created environmental conditions (consistent with the environmental‐resistance hypothesis of invasion) or with minimal overlap with native life‐history strategies (consistent with the biotic‐resistance hypothesis). This study is the first to identify specific life‐history strategies that are associated with extensive range reduction of native species and expansion of nonnative species, and it highlights the utility of using niche and life‐history perspectives to evaluate different mechanisms that contribute to the patterns of fish invasions and extirpations in the American Southwest.

show abstract

Landscape Character and Fish Assemblage Structure and Function in Western Lake Superior Streams: General Relationships and Identification of Thresholds

Cited by 14 publications

References 1 publication

Relationship of stream flow regime in the western Lake Superior basin to watershed type characteristics

Relationship of stream flow regime in the western Lake Superior basin to watershed type characteristics

Turbidity Tolerances of Great Lakes Coastal Wetland Fishes

Life-History Strategies Predict Fish Invasions and Extirpations in the Colorado River Basin

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About