Some Aspects of Biology of the Longfin Dace, a Cyprinid Fish Characteristic of Streams in the Sonoran Desert

Minckley, W. L.; Barber, Willard E.

doi:10.2307/3670225

Cited by 38 publications

(18 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…Color shifts in the future simulation period from green and blue to red and orange and increased area of white reflect decreases in average discharge magnitudes and increased stream drying frequencies. out by drying (32). Finally, native sucker species (Catostomus clarki, C. insignis) and roundtail chub (Gila robusta) can make extensive migrations before spawning (33), and evidence from other dryland streams suggests that reductions in hydrologic connectivity can prevent spawning-related movements (34).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…As habitat fragmentation increases in response to climate-induced changes to streamflow, fish species will be required to disperse through rewetted channels to recolonize suitable habitats containing abundant food resources, meet spawning requirements and access rearing habitats, and avoid predators (32)(33)(34)53). Fish species differ greatly in their mobility, where individuals may rapidly recolonize over many meters or many kilometers from remaining locations of permanent water.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Climate change poised to threaten hydrologic connectivity and endemic fishes in dryland streams

Jaeger

Olden²,

Pelland

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

323

305

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Protecting hydrologic connectivity of freshwater ecosystems is fundamental to ensuring species persistence, ecosystem integrity, and human well-being. More frequent and severe droughts associated with climate change are poised to significantly alter flow intermittence patterns and hydrologic connectivity in dryland streams of the American Southwest, with deleterious effects on highly endangered fishes. By integrating local-scale hydrologic modeling with emerging approaches in landscape ecology, we quantify fine-resolution, watershed-scale changes in habitat size, spacing, and connectance under forecasted climate change in the Verde River Basin, United States. Model simulations project annual zero-flow day frequency to increase by 27% by midcentury, with differential seasonal consequences on continuity (temporal continuity at discrete locations) and connectivity (spatial continuity within the network). A 17% increase in the frequency of stream drying events is expected throughout the network with associated increases in the duration of these events. Flowing portions of the river network will diminish between 8% and 20% in spring and early summer and become increasingly isolated by more frequent and longer stretches of dry channel fragments, thus limiting the opportunity for native fishes to access spawning habitats and seasonally available refuges. Model predictions suggest that midcentury and late century climate will reduce network-wide hydrologic connectivity for native fishes by 6-9% over the course of a year and up to 12-18% during spring spawning months. Our work quantifies climate-induced shifts in stream drying and connectivity across a large river network and demonstrates their implications for the persistence of a globally endemic fish fauna.fragmentation | temporary streams | barriers | groundwater extraction R epresenting one of the most critically imperiled environments in the world (1), virtually every drop of water is managed, accounted for, and allocated for human use in arid ecosystems of the American Southwest (2). Ephemeral and intermittent streams (hereafter called "dryland streams") that fluctuate between drying and wetting are a distinguishing characteristic of these ecosystems and are associated with a range of important ecological and societal values (3). From a landscape perspective they provide essential hydrologic connectivity during bouts of stream inundation by linking a patchwork of perennial habitats over space and in time. Hydrologic connectivity-here referring to the upstream-downstream longitudinal connection of surface water-is widely recognized as a primary driver of freshwater ecosystem structure and function (3, 4) and is considered fundamental to organic matter and nutrient transport and the persistence of aquatic species by facilitating the repeated recolonization of motile and drifting organisms from isolated stream pools (refuges) to rewetted channel reaches that are intermittently dispersed throughout the river network (5, 6).Prospects of a rapidly changing climate that ...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Climate change poised to threaten hydrologic connectivity and endemic fishes in dryland streams

Jaeger

Olden²,

Pelland

2014

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

323

305

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“…Low flow summer-autumn discharge averages 0.01-0.05 m3 s-l while winter-spring discharge is usually higher (0.1-0.5m3 s-l). Agosia chrysogaster, the most common fish in the stream, is native to the Sonoran Desert in Arizona and northern Mexico, and can be found in abundance in uniform coarse sand-fine gravel runs and shallow pools (Minckley & Barber 1971). Agosia chrysogaster also occurs in cobble-boulder riffles, were the native catostomid Pantosteus clurki is most abundant.…”

Section: Study Sitementioning

confidence: 99%

Feeding dynamics, nitrogen budgets, and ecosystem role of a desert stream omnivore, Agosia chrysogaster (Pisces: Cyprinidae)

Grimm

1988

Environ Biol Fish

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SynopsisFeeding habits, die1 periodicity and total daily ingestion, and nitrogen budgets of longfin date (Agosia chrysogaster) were examined on two occasions when food quality, but not quantity, differed. Agosia chrysogaster was found to be an opportunistic omnivore, consuming primarily insects when the preferred taxon (baetid mayflies) was abundant in the environment, but consuming primarily algae when mayfly abundance was low. Ingestion provided a better measure of die1 feeding periodicity than gut fullness; feeding was diurnal on both sample dates, but more markedly so when the primary food was algae. Mean nitrogen content of algal foods was low, and A. chrysogaster apparently compensated for this by increasing its daily ingestion rate when algae were the major food. A reduction in nitrogen content of food during digestion from 44% (of dry mass) to less than 1% (in feces) suggested a high assimilation efficiency for nitrogen (nitrogen assimilated/nitrogen consumed = 72-78%). Populations of this abundant and successful cyprinid in Sonoran Desert streams may play an important role in ecosystem nitrogen dynamics. Nitrogen stored in fish biomass comprised 3-6% of the total nitrogen stored in Sycamore Creek, and excretion of ammonia by the fish represented 510% of total nitrogen uptake by algae. Such rapid recycling of usable nitrogen to primary producers is significant in this nitrogen limited stream ecosystem.

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“…Bailey (1955); Tramer (1977); Matthews, Surat & Hill (1982) and Mundahl (1990) quantified direct death or differential survival of fish in drying habitats. Physiological and behavioral traits of fishes that promote survival in drought are described by John (1964); Lewis (1970); Minckley & Barber (1971); Matthews & Hill (1979); Matthews (1987) and Smale & Rabeni (1995). Welcomme (1986) and Lae (1995) describe drought effect on fisheries of river basins.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Effects of drought on fish across axes of space, time and ecological complexity

2003

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Summary We evaluate the position of 50 previously published studies of fish and drought with respect to spatial scale of study (individual stream pools to subcontinents), length of the dry period (weeks to centuries), and level of system complexity (individual fish to ecosystems). Most papers address short (months to a year) droughts or dry periods, in local reaches of streams, and impacts on populations or local assemblages. In these 50 papers, the most frequently demonstrated effects of drought were population declines, loss of habitat, changes in the community, negative effects from changes in water quality, movement within catchments, and crowding of fish in reduced microhabitats. Thirteen other less frequent effects also were identified. Gaps in knowledge exist on effects of long‐term droughts (decades to centuries), influence of drought on fish effects in ecosystems, and at the spatial scale of river basins to subcontinents. However, some of these gaps have recently been addressed, particularly additive effects of repeated drying episodes and whole‐lake or basin‐wide effects of drought, and in using molecular techniques to seek signals of drought at wide geographic scales because of events in the deep past. Gaps in knowledge remain for effects of very short dry periods, on drought effects on higher levels of complexity, and on the manner in which droughts at the scale of decades affect fish. Data from streams in Oklahoma and elsewhere in the south‐western U.S.A. suggest that most droughts may leave little persistent signal in the existing fish fauna, i.e. that recovery from drought by fish populations or assemblages in the region can be rapid. However, species that are vulnerable to drought or water loss in streams may have disappeared from some basins in the region before the mid‐1900s, and recent evidence also suggests that extreme droughts do sometimes alter fish assemblages. Little is known about mechanisms by which droughts have direct or indirect effects on fish, the roles of droughts in the evolution of fish species, and the ways droughts alter effects of fish in ecosystems. Global climate changes may have serious consequences for future local or regional fish faunas, but ongoing studies of fish experiencing drought may aid in future conservation of what will become species at risk under climate‐change scenarios.

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Some Aspects of Biology of the Longfin Dace, a Cyprinid Fish Characteristic of Streams in the Sonoran Desert

Cited by 38 publications

References 9 publications

Climate change poised to threaten hydrologic connectivity and endemic fishes in dryland streams

Climate change poised to threaten hydrologic connectivity and endemic fishes in dryland streams

Feeding dynamics, nitrogen budgets, and ecosystem role of a desert stream omnivore, Agosia chrysogaster (Pisces: Cyprinidae)

Effects of drought on fish across axes of space, time and ecological complexity

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