Stream Fragmentation Thresholds for a Reproductive Guild of Great Plains Fishes

Perkin, Joshuah S.; Gido, Keith B.

doi:10.1080/03632415.2011.597666

Cited by 148 publications

(230 citation statements)

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“…Solid lines are the fitted regression models and dashed lines and shaded areas are 95% confidence intervals. reductions in the longitudinal length of available habitat (Dudley and Platania 2007, Perkin and Gido 2011, Wilde and Urbanczyk 2013. Similarly, declines ensue where stream fragments are dewatered because of surface water retention or groundwater extraction (Cross et al 1985, Durham and Wilde 2009, Perkin and Gido 2011.…”

Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…This reproductive guild has received increased attention in recent years associated with widespread accounts of decline throughout the region (Dudley and Platania 2007, Perkin and Gido 2011, Hoagstrom and Turner 2013. Documented declines brought on by fragmentation include extirpations in upstream portions of riverscapes following impoundment construction (Winston et al 1991, Luttrell et al 1999, Wilde and Ostrand 1999 Table 1 for reproductive guild information.…”

Section: Transformation Of Great Plains Fish Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We then constructed stream networks by inserting links between immediately adjacent nodes so that links constituted some form of barrier fragmenting the abutting nodes. Link resolution included small dams (,10 m in height, obtained from the NABD), large dams associated with reservoirs, and hydrologic agents of fragmentation, including impounded water and dry stream beds (obtained from Perkin and Gido 2011). This process resulted in a single patch-based graph for each of the basins.…”

Section: Network-scale Habitat Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…We selected 39 stream fragments distributed among the five basins and including all large-order (e.g., greater than fourth order; Strahler 1957, Perkin et al 2013b) stream segments historically inhabited by pelagic-spawning fishes. Fragments were defined by barriers included in the NABD as well as natural upstream limits of fish distributions as defined in previous work (Perkin and Gido 2011) and were limited to the area downstream of the western edge of the High Plains Aquifer (where groundwater depletion begins). We calculated three environmental variables for each fragment including longitudinal length, mean discharge, and percentage of days with zero flow.…”

Section: Fish Community Structure Across Fragmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In rivers most affected by these alterations, homogenization is driven by the loss of a reproductive guild of fishes characterized by production of eggs and larvae that develop as they passively drift down the river continuum Bestgen 1997, Hoagstrom and. Members of this ''pelagic-broadcast spawning'' reproductive guild decline in association with fragmentation of riverscapes (Dudley and Platania 2007, Perkin and Gido 2011, Wilde and Urbanczyk 2013, reduced discharge magnitude (Cross et al 1985, Wilde and Durham 2008, Durham and Wilde 2009, and especially when both factors are combined (Perkin et al 2013b, Worthington et al 2014a. Though changes in distributions of benthic and pelagic fishes occur together in time, it is unclear if declining native fishes and expanding nonnative and native-invasive fishes are responding similarly to underlying environmental alterations (Douglas et al 1994.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fragmentation and dewatering transform Great Plains stream fish communities

Perkin

Gido

Cooper

et al. 2015

Ecological Monographs

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176

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Abstract. Biodiversity in stream networks is threatened globally by interactions between habitat fragmentation and altered hydrologic regimes. In the Great Plains of North America, stream networks are fragmented by .19 000 anthropogenic barriers, and flow regimes are altered by surface water retention and groundwater extraction. We documented the distribution of anthropogenic barriers and dry stream segments in five basins covering the central Great Plains to assess effects of broad-scale environmental change on stream fish community structure and distribution of reproductive guilds. We used an informationtheoretic approach to rank competing models in which fragmentation, discharge magnitude, and percentage of time streams had zero flow (a measure of desiccation) were included to predict effects of environmental alterations on the distribution of fishes belonging to different reproductive guilds. Fragmentation caused by anthropogenic barriers was most common in the eastern Great Plains, but stream desiccation became more common to the west, where rivers are underlain by the depleted (i.e., extraction . recharge) High Plains Aquifer. Longitudinal gradients in fragmentation and desiccation contributed to spatial shifts in community structure from taxonomically and functionally diverse communities dominated by pelagic reproductive guilds where fragmentation and desiccation were least, to homogenized communities dominated by benthic guilds where fragmentation and desiccation were common. Modeling results revealed these shifts were primarily associated with decline of pelagic reproductive guilds, notably small-bodied pelagophilic and lithopelagophilic fishes that declined in association with decreased fragment length and increased number of days with zero flow. Graph theory combined with a barrier prioritization approach revealed specific fragments that could be reconnected to allow fishes within these guilds to colonize currently unoccupied fragments with the mitigation or removal of small dams (,10 m height). These findings are useful for natural resource managers charged with halting or reversing the prevailing pattern of declining fish diversity in the Great Plains. Our study represents one of the most comprehensive assessments of fish diversity responses to broad-scale environmental change in the Great Plains and provides a conservation strategy for addressing the simultaneous contributions of fragmentation and flow alteration to the global freshwater biodiversity crisis.

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Section: Figmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Transformation Of Great Plains Fish Communitiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Network-scale Habitat Connectivitymentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Fish Community Structure Across Fragmentsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Fragmentation and dewatering transform Great Plains stream fish communities

Perkin

Gido

Cooper

et al. 2015

Ecological Monographs

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176

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Fragmentation and drying ratchet down Great Plains stream fish diversity

Perkin

Gido

Costigan

et al. 2014

Aquatic Conservation

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108

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Stream fragmentation alters the structure of aquatic communities on a global scale, generally through loss of native species. Among riverscapes in the Great Plains of North America, stream fragmentation and hydrologic alteration (flow regulation and dewatering) are implicated in the decline of native fish diversity. This study documents the spatio–temporal distribution of fish reproductive guilds in the fragmented Arkansas and Ninnescah rivers of south‐central Kansas using retrospective analyses involving 63 years of fish community data. Pelagic‐spawning fishes declined throughout the study area during 1950–2013, including Arkansas River shiner (Notropis girardi) last reported in 1983, plains minnow (Hybognathus placitus) in 2006, and peppered chub (Macrhybopsis tetranema) in 2012. Longitudinal patterns in fish community structure in both rivers consisted of strong breaks associated with dams, and pelagic‐spawning fishes were missing from shorter fragments upstream of those barriers. Among downstream and longer fragments, probability of occurrence for pelagic‐spawning fishes declined or fell to zero during periods of drought. Based on these data, interactions between fragmentation and drying are hypothesized as operating as an ecological ratchet mechanism in which forward movement toward pelagic‐spawning fish extirpation occurs during desiccation, and reciprocated reverse movement toward recolonization following return of flows is blocked by fragmentation. The ratchet mechanism is capable of explaining the long‐term 'ratcheting down' of fish diversity in Great Plains rivers and has implications for managing biodiversity in fragmented riverscapes where water is scarce or might become so in the future. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

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Restricted movement of prairie fishes in fragmented riverscapes risks ecosystem structure being ratcheted downstream

Schumann

Haag

Ellensohn

et al. 2018

Aquatic Conservation

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1. Prairie streams are dynamic systems in which habitat patches are sporadically created and lost during extreme hydrological events. The persistence of fish species depends on life-history traits that facilitate their widespread dispersal to recolonize habitats after stochastic extirpation. Artificial barriers are thought to reduce recolonization opportunities and to ultimately displace populations downstream, but the ecological consequences of lost diversity above the barriers are largely unknown.2. The susceptibility of four prairie fishes to fragmentation and the consequent risk to stream ecosystem processes are described. The selected species exhibit wide tolerances to environmental stressors, represent unique functional feeding guilds, and have different habitat affinities.3. The ability of each species to access (jumping ability) and successfully traverse (swimming endurance) simulated instream barriers was quantified in the laboratory.Experimental stream complexes were used to isolate the effects of these species on ecosystem structure and function. These replicated single-species experiments were compared with 'no fish' controls to identify the ecological role of each. Small vertical barriers blocked most passage, and with open access all species wereunable to traverse relatively short distances against modest water velocities.Stream fragmentation will alter headwater fish assemblage structure and promote the most mobile species. Each species had slightly different effects on the stream ecosystem structure resulting from their different habitat preferences and diets. 5. Without colonization opportunities from neighbouring populations, disturbance events will alter headwater fish assemblages and may degrade the ecosystem structure above barriers.6. Fragmented riverscapes interact with harsh disturbance regimes to form an ecological ratchet. Systematic species loss above barriers outweighs the opportunity for improvement, suggesting that ecosystem structure may be moving downstream.

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Stream Fragmentation Thresholds for a Reproductive Guild of Great Plains Fishes

Cited by 148 publications

References 44 publications

Fragmentation and dewatering transform Great Plains stream fish communities

Fragmentation and dewatering transform Great Plains stream fish communities

Fragmentation and drying ratchet down Great Plains stream fish diversity

Restricted movement of prairie fishes in fragmented riverscapes risks ecosystem structure being ratcheted downstream

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