Fish of channelized and unchannelized sections of the Bunyip River, Victoria

Hortle, Kent G.; Lake, P. S.

doi:10.1071/mf9830441

Cited by 39 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Bramblett & Fausch (1991) Sites with highest levels o relative biotic integrity consistently had woody debris densities between about 5000 and 20 000 m 2 km -2 , but woody debris was scarce (0 to 1000 m2 km -2) at sites with lowest relative IBI (Table 9) . Large woody debris is an important structural component o warmwater ish habitats (Hickman, 1975, Hortle & Lake, 1983, Angermeier & Karr, 1984 . In sandy warmwater streams, woody debris may be the locus or much o the invertebrate production (Benke et al, 1985) and create higher levels o physical heterogeneity (Shields & Smith, 1992) and pool availability (Ebert et al ., 1991) .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of the index of biotic integrity to assess physical habitat degradation in warmwater streams

1995

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Indices o biotic integrity (IBI) were computed or two annual ish collections rom 27 locations along the blu line bordering the Mississippi River alluvial plain in northwestern Mississippi . Study sites exhibited varying degrees o physical habitat degradation due to accelerated channel erosion . Objectives o index application were to quanti y existing environmental quality and to test the IBI as a tool or relating ish population characteristics to physical degradation . Physical habitat data were collected concurrently with ish at all sites, and physical habitat descriptors were compared with the IBI scores and component metrics .Three to 23 ish species were captured rom each site, and species richness explained 64-70% o the variance in IBI scores . Fish collections were dominated by insectivores tolerant o habitat and water quality degradation . Suckers and piscivores were relatively uncommon .The IBI scores were generally not re lective o physical habitat conditions . Variation in IBI scores was indicative o only the grossest di erences in physical habitat quality . Weak relationships between physical habitat quality and IBI scores may have been due to large temporal variations in biotic integrity typical o degraded habitats . Alternatively, water quality degradation, which we did not measure, may have con ounded relationships between physical habitat and ish metrics .Regional application o the IBI as a habitat assessment tool in landscapes with widespread physical degradation must overcome lack o suitable re erence sites, large temporal variation in IBI scores, and small numbers o ish per collection, leading to lower con idence levels or IBI scores . The scarcity o lightly impacted sites may hinder detection o biotic integrity response along gradients o physical habitat quality .

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Use of the index of biotic integrity to assess physical habitat degradation in warmwater streams

1995

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“…Where documented, the impacts of desnagging have included extensive erosion of the bed and banks (Erskine and Webb, 2003;Brooks et al, 2004), significant increases in channel capacity (Webb and Erskine, 2003;Brooks et al, 2004) and a loss of diversity in the channel and velocity profiles (Shields and Smith, 1992;Kail, 2003). The presence of wood in a channel, however, has been shown to alter local flow and depositional patterns, increasing the structural diversity of the channel (Hortle and Lake, 1983;Harmon et al, 1986;O'Connor, 1991).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 96%

Reintroducing wood to streams in agricultural landscapes: changes in velocity profile, stage and erosion rates

Lester

Wright

2008

River Research & Apps

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Historically, perceived increases in erosion and flooding levels have been attributed to in-stream wood and used to justify its removal from streams and rivers around the world. More recently, recognition of the adverse morphological and biological impacts caused by this removal has led to rehabilitation projects that actively reintroduce wood to streams. However, a perception remains amongst some members of the general community that wood additions increase the likelihood of flooding and erosion in the target streams.To test whether there was a basis for this perception, we experimentally added wood to eight streams across southwest Victoria and Gippsland, Australia. The velocity, stage and bed and bank erosion rates were compared with those of unaltered reaches. We detected localized changes in the velocity and stage parameters but that these were unlikely to operate at the reach-scale. Bed erosion rates, where maximum erosion was assumed if pins were not recovered, showed increased erosion due to wood additions but this was not supported by channel shape analyses, which identified short-term increases in the variability of the channel shape, followed by longer-term stability at treatment sites.We found no clear evidence of increased longer-term rates of erosion or flooding associated with the introduction of wood to streams over the 18-month study period. It remains important to carefully design rehabilitation works, but the lack of adverse effects on stream morphology and increased variability of the in-stream environment suggests improved habitat diversity, supporting the use of wood addition as a stream rehabilitation technique.

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“…In contrast, Whelan et al (1981) found species diversity to differ only slightly between channelized and unaltered streams, but instead found evenness was less in channelized streams. Numerous other studies report reductions in fish growth, condition, biomass, density, and diversity following channelization because of alterations to habitat variables such as sinuosity, gradient, flow, substrate type, pool-riffle periodicity, structure (rocks and large woody deposits), riparian vegetation, backwater, and water quality variables (Congdon, 1971;Tarplee et al, 1971; Arner et al, 1975;Bulkley et al, 1976;Groen and Schmulbach, 1978;Hortle and Lake, 1983;Edwards et al, 1984;Portt et al, 1986;Brookes, 1988;Hubbard et al, 1993;Punchard et al, 2000). These gradients interact to affect the stream fauna and assigning more importance to one relative to others is difficult, although changes in physical variables appear to have greater effects than water quality measures (Brookes, 1988).…”

Section: Assemblage Structurementioning

confidence: 95%

“…Evaluation of these techniques has been conducted to some extent. Hortle and Lake (1983) found a small weir at a channelized site increased fish species richness and biomass. Edwards et al (1984) reported that the creation of riffle and pool habitat via the installation of artificial weirs benefited game and non-game species.…”

Section: Assemblage Structurementioning

confidence: 98%

Fish assemblage response to recent mitigation of a channelized warmwater stream

Raborn

Schramm

2003

River Research & Apps

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Various designs of low-head dams are used to rehabilitate streams or forestall upstream channel incision after channelization. We report on the efficacy of using notched sills and grade control structures (GCS) to restore the fish assemblage in Luxapallila Creek, Mississippi. We tested the null hypotheses that habitat variables and species richness, evenness, and assemblage structure would not differ among: (1) a channelized segment with no modifications; (2) a channelized segment mitigated by the installation of sills and GCS; (3) a segment upstream of the installations and undergoing channel incision; and (4) an unaltered segment. Although habitat variables changed, neither species richness, evenness, nor fish assemblage structure differed between mitigated and channelized segments with both exhibiting less richness and different assemblage structures than the unaltered segment. Lack of differences in species richness between the incised and unaltered segments suggest that the GCS may have halted the negative effects of upstream channel incision before species were extirpated. Conspicuous habitat differences between the altered (channelized and mitigated) and unaltered segments were lack of backwaters and canopy coverage and finer substrates in the altered segments. Our results suggest a more comprehensive rehabilitation strategy is required in

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Fish of channelized and unchannelized sections of the Bunyip River, Victoria

Cited by 39 publications

References 8 publications

Use of the index of biotic integrity to assess physical habitat degradation in warmwater streams

Use of the index of biotic integrity to assess physical habitat degradation in warmwater streams

Reintroducing wood to streams in agricultural landscapes: changes in velocity profile, stage and erosion rates

Fish assemblage response to recent mitigation of a channelized warmwater stream

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