We assessed the relative importance of environmental variation, interspecific competition for space, and predator abundance on assemblage structure and microhabitat use in a stream fish assemblage inhabiting Coweeta Creek, North Carolina, USA. Our study encompassed a 10–yr time span (1983–1992) and included some of the highest and lowest flows in the last 58 years. We collected 16 seasonal samples which included data on: (1) habitat availability (total and microhabitat) and microhabitat diversity, (2) assemblage structure (i.e., the number and abundances of species comprising a subset of the community), and (3) microhabitat use and overlap. We classified habitat availability data on the basis of year, season, and hydrologic period. Hydrologic period (i.e., pre–drought [PR], drought [D], and post–drought [PO]) represented the temporal location of a sample with respect to a four–year drought that occurred during the study. Hydrologic period explained a greater amount of variance in habitat availability data than either season or year. Total habitat availability was significantly greater during PO than in PR or D, although microhabitat diversity did not differ among either seasons or hydrologic periods. There were significantly fewer high–flow events (i.e., ≥2.1 m3/s) during D than in either PR or PO periods. We observed a total of 16 species during our investigation, and the total number of species was significantly higher in D than in PR samples. Correlation analyses between the number of species present (total and abundant species) and environmental data yielded limited results, although the total number of species was inversely correlated with total habitat availability. A cluster analysis grouped assemblage structure samples by hydrologic period rather than season or year, supporting the contention that variation in annual flow had a strong impact on this assemblage. The drought had little effect on the numerical abundance of benthic species in this assemblage; however, a majority of water–column species increased in abundance. The increased abundances of water–column species may have been related to the decrease in high‐flow events observed during the drought. Such high–flow events are known to cause mortality in stream fishes. Microhabitat use data showed that species belonged to one of three microhabitat guilds: benthic, lower water column, and mid water column. In general, species within the same guild did not exhibit statistically distinguishable patterns of microhabitat use, and most significant differences occurred between members of different guilds. However, lower water–column guild species frequentlywere not separable from all members of either benthic or mid–water–column species. Variations in the abundance of potential competitors or predators did not produce strong shifts in microhabitat use by assemblage members. Predators were present in the site in only 9 of 16 seasonal samples and never were abundant (maximum number observed per day was 2). In conclusion, our results demonstrate that variability...

We used strong inference with Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC) to assess the processes capable of explaining long-term (1984)(1985)(1986)(1987)(1988)(1989)(1990)(1991)(1992)(1993)(1994)(1995) variation in the per capita rate of change of mottled sculpin (Cottus bairdi) populations in the Coweeta Creek drainage (USA). We sampled two fourth-and one fifth-order sites (BCA [uppermost], BCB, and CC [lowermost]) along a downstream gradient, and the study encompassed extensive flow variation. Physical habitat availability varied significantly both within and among the sites.Sculpin densities in all sites were highly stable (coefficients of variation ϭ 0.23-0.41) and sampling variability was low (coefficients of variation ϭ 0.11-0.15). Population stability was positively associated with habitat stability, and the only significant correlations of population parameters among sites involved juveniles. Sculpin densities were significantly higher in BCB than in CC. The data suggest that, despite their proximity, the dynamics of populations within the sites are being determined by small-scale (i.e., 30-50 m) rather than broad-scale spatial processes.Both AIC and Dennis and Taper analyses indicated that simple density dependence had the greatest ability to explain variation in r for all life-history classes in all sites (AIC, seven of nine cases; Dennis and Taper, nine of nine cases). Multiprocess models had little explanatory power. When adults were removed from two sites, juvenile sculpin shifted into microhabitats formerly occupied by adults. No shifts occurred in control sites. Consequently, it is likely that the patterns of density dependence observed in all three sites were a consequence of intraspecific competition for space. Our findings argue for a multitiered approach to the study of population variation, one that encompasses long-term monitoring, spatial variation, and experimental testing of potential mechanisms.

– There is substantial need for models that accurately predict habitat selection by fishes for purposes ranging from the elaboration of ecological theory to the preservation of biodiversity. We have developed a new and highly tractable optimal foraging model for drift‐feeding fishes that is based on the profitability of occupying varying focal‐point velocities in a stream. The basic model can be written as: Ix = (Ex * Px) = {(D * A * V) * [1/(1 + e(b + cV))]} − Sx, where: (1) Ix is the net energy intake at velocity x; (2) E is prey encounter rate; (3) P is prey capture success rate which can be modelled as 1/(1 + e(b + cV)) where b and c are fitting constants from the prey capture success curve; (4) D is the energy content of prey (J/m3) in the drift; (5) A is the visual reactive area of the fish; (6) V is velocity (cm/s); and (7) S is the cost of maintaining position (J/s). Given that D, A and S can be considered constant over the range of velocities occupied by these fishes, the model reduces to e(b + cV) = 1/(cV − 1) which we solved iteratively to yield an optimal focal‐point velocity for species in each sample. We tested the model by comparing its predictions to the mean focal‐point velocities (i.e. microhabitats) occupied by four species of drift‐feeding minnows in two sites in a stream in North Carolina, USA. The model successfully predicted focal‐point velocities occupied by these species (11 out of 14 cases) in three seasonal samples collected over 2 years at two sites. The unsuccessful predictions still were within 2 cm/s of the 95% confidence intervals of mean velocities occupied by fishes, whereas the overall mean deviation between optimal velocities and mean fish velocities was small (range = 0.9 and 3.3 cm/s for the warpaint shiner and the Tennessee shiner, respectively). Available focal‐point velocities ranged from 0–76 to 0–128 cm/s depending on site and season. Our findings represent one of the more rigorous field tests of an optimal foraging/habitat selection model for aquatic organisms because they encompass multiple species and years, and for one species, multiple sites. Because of the ease of parameterization of our model, it should be readily testable in a range of lotic habitats. If validated in other systems, the model should provide critical habitat information that will aid in the management of riverine systems and improve the performance of a variety of currently used management models (e.g. instream flow incremental methodology (IFIM) and total maximum daily load calculations (TMDL)).

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1. We used information theoretic statistics [Akaike's Information Criterion (AIC)] and regression analysis in a multiple hypothesis testing approach to assess the processes capable of explaining long-term demographic variation in a lightly exploited brook trout population in Ball Creek, NC. We sampled a 100-m-long second-order site during both spring and autumn 1991-2004, using three-pass electrofishing. 2. Principle component analysis indicated that the site had lower average velocity, greater amounts of depositional substrata and lower amount of erosional substrata during the 1999-2002 drought than in non-drought years. In addition, drought years had lower flows, and lower variation in flows, than non-drought years. 3. Both young-of-the-year (YOY) and adult densities varied by an order of magnitude during the study. AIC analysis conducted on regressions of per capita rate of increase versus various population and habitat parameters for the population, adults and YOY, for both spring and autumn data sets, indicated that simple density dependence almost always was the only interpretable model with Akaike weights (w i ) ranging from 0.262 to 0.836. 4. Growth analyses yielded more variable results, with simple density dependence being the only interpretable model for both adult spring data (w i = 0.999) and YOY autumn data (w i = 0.905), and positive density dependence (w i = 0.636) and simple density independence (w i = 0.241) representing interpretable models for spring YOY data. 5. We detected a significant stock-recruitment relationship between both spring and autumn densities of adults in year t and autumn YOY density in year t + 1. Finally, spring YOY density was positively correlated with both autumn YOY density and spring mean YOY standard length (SL), suggesting that processes affecting recruitment show residual effects at least in the first year of life. This population appears to be regulated primarily by densitydependent processes, although high flows also negatively affected mean SLs of YOY.