HR: 1330h
AN: NB33E-09    [Abstracts]
TI: Fish Community Responses to Stream Restoration
AU: * Daniel, W
EM: Wes.Daniel@Louisville.edu
AF: University of Louisville, Department of Biology, Louisville, KY 40292 United States
AU: Jack, J
EM: jeff.jack@louisville.edu
AF: University of Louisville, Department of Biology, Louisville, KY 40292 United States
AU: Kelley, R
EM: Kelley.Randall@epamail.epa.gov
AF: SoBran Inc., c/o U.S. EPA National Exposure Research Laboratory , Cincinnati, OH 45268 United States
AB: Stream restoration projects are often justified based on expected improvements in habitat and ecosystem services, but few of these restorations have been systematically studied to assess their "success." A channelized section of Wilson Creek (Kentucky, USA) was relocated to a new, meandering channel using a natural channel design approach. Fish communities were sampled before and after the restoration and compared to an upstream site in Wilson and two control streams that were not restored. There were no consistent taxa changes among sites at Wilson Creek between the pre- and post restoration samples. Wilson Creek fish communities were always more diverse than either of the control streams. Kentucky Fish Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) scores in Wilson were Excellent for the pre-restoration fish community and 4 out of 5 reaches sampled after the restoration retained that classification. The reference streams' IBIs were classified as Good and remained unchanged throughout the study period. We are also conducting a stable isotope analysis of representative trophic groups in Wilson to assess if there have been any changes in food web dynamics post- restoration. More pre- and post restoration studies are needed to help develop success criteria and incorporate "lessons learned" in stream restorations.
DE: 1800 HYDROLOGY
DE: 1803 Anthropogenic effects
DE: 1899 General or miscellaneous
DE: 9810 New fields (not classifiable under other headings)
SC: North American Benthological Society [NB]
MN: 2005 Joint Assembly