Spatiotemporal Patterns of Fish Assemblage Structure in a River Impounded by Low-Head Dams

Longitudinal Differences in Habitat Complexity and Fish Assemblage Structure of a Great Plains River

“…Localized structures that cause disturbances such as Bowersock Dam (reach 7) and the Johnson County Weir (reach 10) in the lower urban area near Kansas City, Kansas resulted in more dissimilar fish assemblages, suggesting that these barriers are affecting the fish community. Low-head dams may cause localized reservoir effects above dams and, therefore, impact the fish community directly above dams and result in dominance by lentic fish species (Gillette et al, 2005). The fish community in the reaches between Bowersock Dam and the Johnson County Weir were similar to the upper Kansas River, likely due to the increased frequency of secondary channels.…”

“…The objective of this study was to quantify spatial fish community structure in the Kansas River and test for the effects from anthropogenic disturbance. We predicted the community structure near disturbed areas (i.e., reaches with more urban riparian area, above the Johnson County Weir and Bowersock Dam) would be dominated by macrohabitat generalist that can inhabit fast or slow moving water caused by distinct habitat changes and the creation of reservoir-like environments upstream of these structures (Gillette et al, 2005). We also hypothesized the Kansas River will be similar to the Missouri River with increased abundances of herbivores and invertivores in the upper, less impacted reaches, and the channelized lower portions of the river will contain more omnivores and benthic invertivores.…”

Fish-habitat relationships in the Tonawanda and Johnson Creek Watersheds of Western New York State, USA

“…Pool development and depth are among the most significant habitat attributes affecting stream fishes (Schlosser, 1982;Platts et al, 1983). Pools in general support more and larger fish than runs or riffles (Gillette et al, 2005;Sharma and Jackson, 2007;McGarvey and Hughes, 2008), but a pool's proxymity to runs or riffles determines habitat suitability for certain stream fishes (Quist et al, 2006) by contributing to habitat heterogeneity (Lau et al, 2006). Stream systems are complex, and associations between fishes and habitat features vary considerably over spatial and temporal scales (Angermeier, 1987;Closs et al, 2004).…”

“…Ultimately, however, habitat conditions and the different susceptibilities of species to sampling gears determine CPUE (Murphy and Willis, 1996;Boner et al, 2009). Fish are easier to sample in shallow water (Green, 1989;Murphy and Willis, 1996), which often limits access by larger fish (Butler and Fairchild, 2005;Gillette et al, 2005;Sharma and Jackson, 2007), resulting in disproportionate catches of smaller species. Extensive sampling by boat electrofishing (no seining possible) in the expansive and deep lower subwatershed of the TCW (Erie Canal) and JCW (drowned river mouth confluence with Lake Ontario) likely missed some fishes that were too deep or widely scattered for effective electrofishing.…”

“…Substrate size influences CPUE because it is a primary component of habitat formation and alteration in flowing waters (Hunter, 1991;Gillette et al, 2005;Lau et al, 2006). It often dictates fish assemblage structure, especially in lotic systems (Talmage et al, 2002;Lau et al, 2006;Sharma and Jackson, 2007).…”