The Response of Fishes to Periodic Spring Floods in a Southeastern Stream

Ross, Stephen T.; Baker, John A.

doi:10.2307/2425509

Cited by 155 publications

(147 citation statements)

References 0 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

141

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…In general, benthic species were important in determining assemblage structure during the dry season, whereas water column species were more important during the wet season. There are several ecologically plausible explanations for this pattern including: fish moved out of the study area to seek refuge from high wet season flows (Ross and Baker 1983;Winemiller and Jepsen 1998); reproductive activity was stimulated by flooding and species migrated out of the study area to find suitable habitats for spawning and recruitment (Orr and Milward 1984;Pusey et al 1995b); food availability was reduced by wet season habitat disturbance and fish moved in order to target their preferred prey items (particularly aquatic invertebrates, which are highly sensitive to substrate disturbance (Rabeni and Minshall 1977;Pusey et al 1995b;Winemiller and Jepsen 1998;Bishop et al 2001;Kennard et al 2001)); and/or biotic controls partly determined community structure (e.g. predation or competition for habitat, especially during the dry season (Hoeinghaus et al 2003)).…”

Section: Temporal Variability In Fish Community Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal flooding, instream habitat structure and fish assemblages in the Mulgrave River, north-east Queensland: towards a new conceptual framework for understanding fish-habitat dynamics in small tropical rivers

Rayner

Pusey

Pearson

2008

Mar. Freshwater Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract. Strong relationships between seasonal flooding, instream habitat structure and fish assemblages have been well documented in large tropical rivers (e.g. the flood pulse concept). However, the mechanics of these relationships are likely to differ substantially in smaller coastal rivers, such as those in Costa Rica, south-east Brazil and Australia's Wet Tropics. These systems typically feature steep upland streams with short, deeply incised lowland channels and poorly connected floodplains. This hypothesis was investigated by documenting spatial and temporal variation in fish-habitat relationships in the Mulgrave River, north-east Queensland. Sampling was conducted at four lowland sites under a range of flow conditions, from dry-season baseflows to a one-in-ten-year flood. Longitudinal environmental gradients and fine-scale habitat patches were important in regulating fish assemblage structure during the dry season. However, high wet-season flows, constrained by the deep channel, acted as disturbances rather than gentle flood-pulses. In particular, the mobilisation of bed sediments led to scouring of aquatic vegetation and a dramatic reduction in habitat heterogeneity. Seasonal movements of fish led to significant changes in assemblage structure -from a community dominated by Neosilurus ater, Hypseleotris compressa, Awaous acritosus and Redigobius bikolanus during the dry season, to one dominated by Nematalosa erebi, Ambassis agrammus and Glossamia aprion during the wet season. Based on these observations, together with information from the literature, a conceptual model of fish-habitat dynamics is presented that is better suited to small tropical rivers than those developed in larger systems with expansive floodplains.

show abstract

Section: Temporal Variability In Fish Community Structurementioning

confidence: 99%

Seasonal flooding, instream habitat structure and fish assemblages in the Mulgrave River, north-east Queensland: towards a new conceptual framework for understanding fish-habitat dynamics in small tropical rivers

Rayner

Pusey

Pearson

2008

Mar. Freshwater Res.

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Knowledge of short-term (i.e., <1 year) flood impacts is particularly sparse (Jurajda et al 2006) as most studies of this scale are conducted in small coldwater streams (Gerking 1950;Lobon-Cervi a 1996) and medium-sized rivers (Ross & Baker 1983;Matthews 1986). Floods increased the probability of fish entrainment into the interior SacramentoÀ San Joaquin River delta (Perry et al 2015) and caused sediment erosion and associated physicochemical changes (e.g., low water transparency and dissolved oxygen) that reduced fish production and abundance in the Niger River delta (Akankali & Jamabo 2012).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of historic flooding on fishes and aquatic habitats in a Missouri River delta

Carlson

Fincel²,

Longhenry³

et al. 2016

Journal of Freshwater Ecology

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Understanding the effects of disturbances on aquatic biota is important for management of the world's rivers. Riverine deltas are among the most biologically productive ecosystems, yet the ecological effects of floods in deltas are poorly understood. Therefore, the goal of this study was to examine impacts of an historic flood in the Missouri River basin in 2011 on fishes and aquatic habitats in the Lewis and Clark Delta, located in South Dakota and Nebraska, USA. Fish community structural indices declined in the six years preceding the flood, with species richness and diversity (Fisher's a) decreasing from 25 to 22 and 4.56 to 3.48, respectively. However, the fish community exhibited short-term resistance to the flood as both metrics were similar to pre-flood levels after the disturbance in 2012. Evenness (J 0 ) declined from 0.88 to 0.73 before the flood but increased to 0.84 after the disturbance. The majority of species exhibited greater relative abundance after the flood regardless of age class (i.e., juvenile, adult), morphology (i.e., small-bodied, large-bodied), introduction history (i.e., introduced, native), or recreational importance (i.e., sport fish, non-recreational). However, the flood reduced relative abundance of juvenile freshwater drum (Aplodinotus grunniens) and white crappie (Pomoxis annularis) and did not affect the three small-bodied species that were studied, including emerald shiner (Notropis atherinoides), red shiner (Cyprinella lutrensis), and spotfin shiner (Cyprinella spiloptera). The flood decreased side channel and backwater frequency and width/area but increased sandbar abundance. Physical alterations evidently had minimal effects on structural indices of the fish community. However, an overall increase in relative abundance across species suggests that interspersed fluvial and slackwater habitats in the delta provided refuge from floodwaters during the disturbance. Maintaining habitat connectivity in deltas during and after floods is particularly important for fisheries conservation. Illustrating the ecological effects and implications of a major flood, this study contributes to the nascent field of delta ecology.

show abstract

“…During floods, habitat selection by fish in Midwestern rivers have been grouped by preference guilds consisting of flood-exploitative species that move onto inundated floodplain and flood-quiescent species that remain in the channel with reduced activity [183,184]. The spatial arrangement of flow refuge within a watershed, and in particular in floodplain areas, appears to be essential for resilience and recovery of fish communities from natural flow disturbances [185][186][187].…”

Section: Applied Ecological Concepts At the Mesohabitat Scalementioning

confidence: 99%

“…The downstream-directed velocities are swift within this habitat unit creating a harsh environmental for many fish species [181][182][183]. Spatially, this high-flow habitat unit overlies with the bed topography elements at the low-flow stages consisting of following habitat units: the four pool units, scour pool, the two riffles, and glide ( Figure 5).…”

Section: Mesohabitat Units At High-flow Stagesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of Ecohydraulic-Based Mesohabitat Classification and Fish Species Traits for Stream Restoration Design

Schwartz

2016

Water

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Stream restoration practice typically relies on a geomorphological design approach in which the integration of ecological criteria is limited and generally qualitative, although the most commonly stated project objective is to restore biological integrity by enhancing habitat and water quality. Restoration has achieved mixed results in terms of ecological successes and it is evident that improved methodologies for assessment and design are needed. A design approach is suggested for mesohabitat restoration based on a review and integration of fundamental processes associated with: (1) lotic ecological concepts; (2) applied geomorphic processes for mesohabitat self-maintenance; (3) multidimensional hydraulics and habitat suitability modeling; (4) species functional traits correlated with fish mesohabitat use; and (5) multi-stage ecohydraulics-based mesohabitat classification. Classification of mesohabitat units demonstrated in this article were based on fish preferences specifically linked to functional trait strategies (i.e., feeding resting, evasion, spawning, and flow refugia), recognizing that habitat preferences shift by season and flow stage. A multi-stage classification scheme developed under this premise provides the basic "building blocks" for ecological design criteria for stream restoration. The scheme was developed for Midwest US prairie streams, but the conceptual framework for mesohabitat classification and functional traits analysis can be applied to other ecoregions.

show abstract

The Response of Fishes to Periodic Spring Floods in a Southeastern Stream

Cited by 155 publications

References 0 publications

Seasonal flooding, instream habitat structure and fish assemblages in the Mulgrave River, north-east Queensland: towards a new conceptual framework for understanding fish-habitat dynamics in small tropical rivers

Seasonal flooding, instream habitat structure and fish assemblages in the Mulgrave River, north-east Queensland: towards a new conceptual framework for understanding fish-habitat dynamics in small tropical rivers

Effects of historic flooding on fishes and aquatic habitats in a Missouri River delta

Use of Ecohydraulic-Based Mesohabitat Classification and Fish Species Traits for Stream Restoration Design

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About