HR: 16:45h
AN: NB14C-06    [Abstracts]
TI: Factors influencing the distribution of lotic fish assemblages in the Upper Green River - Kentucky CREP region.
AU: * Grubbs, S
EM: scott.grubbs@wku.edu
AF: Western Kentucky University, Department of Biology and Center for Biodiversity Studies, Bowling Green, KY 42101 United States
AU: Meier, O
EM: ouida,meier@wku.edu
AF: Western Kentucky University, Department of Biology and Center for Biodiversity Studies, Bowling Green, KY 42101 United States
AU: Meier, A
EM: albert.meier@wku.edu
AF: Western Kentucky University, Department of Biology and Center for Biodiversity Studies, Bowling Green, KY 42101 United States
AB: Streams are linked to their surrounding landscapes and water quality varies with respect to land use heterogeneity and disturbance frequency. Kentucky's Green River is one of the top four rivers in the U.S. according to fish (151 species) diversity. In 2001 the Upper Green River Basin was established as the geographic entity of Kentucky's U.S.D.A. Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program (CREP). The main goal of the Kentucky CREP is to reduce non-point source pollution loading by recruiting landowners into incentive-based cooperative agreements aimed to mitigate riparian-based agricultural and animal husbandry impacts. The intent of this study was to study spatial patterns of lotic fish assemblages in the Kentucky CREP-Upper Green River Basin as they relate to environmental parameters across three spatial scales (riparian, reach, and watershed). Stream segments were weakly grouped by an initial ordination analysis by stream size or subbasin location, except for numerous sites along the mainstem Upper Green River. A forward-selection CCA revealed that the stream-size gradient, and not % agriculture at any scale, was mainly responsible for the partitioning of fish assemblages. Significant variables elucidated were all related to stream size, namely mean summer temperature, watershed area, total suspended solid content, and dissolved oxygen.
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly