180 research outputs found
Thermal variability and fish species composition in Buck Creek, Delaware and Henry counties, Indiana : [an honors thesis (HONRS 499)]
No full textThermal conditions of a system may reveal a lot about the stream's attributes and potential. Water temperature in Buck Creek, Delaware County, Indiana was monitored throughout the months of June, July and August 2004. Mean monthly temperatures did not vary among sites (June F=12.79, P < 0.001; July F=54.03, p < 0.001; August F=33.84, P < 0.001; September F=16.34, P < 0.001) and all sites were significantly different from each other during the period of the study (F=98.5, P<0.001). The fish species composition and temperature data are similar throughout Buck Creek, therefore indicating that Buck Creek is an ideal location for stocking species of trout for sport angling purposes.Thesis (B.?.)Honors Colleg
Examining temporal variation in fish assemblage in response to land use
No full textHumans have significantly impacted river systems. These impacts include long-term changes in the hydrological regimes of watersheds associated with changes in land use. Research shows that fish assemblages are modified in response to these changes. For this study, we examined whether fish assemblages were modified by anthropogenic land use. We hypothesized that fish assemblages with significant taxonomic and functional structure shifts would occur in watersheds where urban and agricultural land use are most prevalent. We analyzed species abundances and functional traits for 30 watersheds in the North Carolina region using temporal data from the RivFishTIME database. Principal components analyses followed by tests for correlation with year were conducted in each watershed using taxonomic and functional trait data of fish assemblages. We then used correlation analyses to test if temporal changes of taxonomic and functional structure of fish assemblages were correlated with land use classified as urban, agricultural, or undeveloped. We found few major shifts in taxonomic and functional structure of fish assemblages for available sampling periods. Relatively low urban and agricultural land use percentages do not result in significant fish assemblage response. Understanding temporal
variation of fish assemblages in relation to land use is essential when managing conservation efforts of riverine systems.M. S
Spatial, temporal and ecological correlates of morphological variation among North American freshwater fishes
No full textThis dissertation outlines the contribution of evolutionary and environmental factors on North American freshwater fish morphological variation. A more thorough understanding of the factors which result in morphological variation is essential to describing patterns of evolutionary diversification, distribution, ecological niche, ontogeny, sexual dimorphism, ecosystem role, community assembly, invasion dynamics, and conservation. This dissertation makes a unique contribution to understanding morphological diversity in freshwater fishes by linking intraspecific and interspecific variation to phylogeny, allometry, sex, habitat niche, geographic niche, hydrology, and long term environmental change. This dissertation is comprised of three chapters which detail large scale macroevolutionary patterns in morphological variation for North American freshwater fishes, long term morphological changes with hydrological alterations in Cyprinidae, and phenotypic plasticity of freshwater drum in the Wabash River. Overall, North American fishes tend to be deeper bodied and more robust with larger body size, in females, in low flow and lentic hydrological conditions, and in taxa with smaller geographic range that occupy more specialized habitat niches. Further, macroevolutionary analysis suggests that the majority of morphological diversification occurred relatively early on in the evolutionary history of North American fishes.Thesis (Ph. D.)Department of BiologyEvolution of North American freshwater fish morphology with variation in habitat use and geographic range -- 100 years of hydrologic alterations and morphological variation in Cyprinidae -- Effects of allometry, sex and river location on morphological variation of freshwater drum Aplodinotus grunniens in the Wabash River, USA
Introduced fish species in lotic assemblages
No full textAccess to thesis permanently restricted to Ball State community only.Access to abstract permanently restricted to Ball State community only.Thesis (Ph. D.)Department of BiologyLong-term impacts of silver carp on fishes in the Wabash River, USA -- Effects of valley shape on fish assemblages in temperate steppe rivers of the US and Mongolia rivers -- Climate modeling predicts changing distributions of fish species in the US Great Basin
Localized land use and its correlations to fish assemblages across the United States
No full textHumans have long influenced watersheds and their associated fish assemblages. This resulted in the creation and implementation of the US Clean Water Act in 1972. Although water quality improved and mitigated human impacts, human impacts on watersheds are still present. This led to the examination of individual watersheds and the temporal changes of fish assemblages, but there is a lack of literature for studies with more than 3-5 watersheds. Ours is a large-scale study where we selected 67 watersheds in the United States with a total of 91 sites to quantify temporal changes in fish assemblages and associated watershed land use. The objective is to determine if localized land use affects fish assemblages. We used the RIVFishTime database and selected US sites with 10 or more annual sampling events. Redundancy analyses were conducted to determine sites with temporal changes in fish assemblages. Land use categories were defined as Water, Developed, Barren/Mining, Conservation, Hay/Pasture, and Crop through the use of ArcGIS Pro. We hypothesized that areas of highly impacted land use will have greater temporal changes in fish assemblages. We found significant correlations between temporal taxonomic fish assemblages and conservation at a 200m and 400m buffer, between temporal taxonomic fish assemblages and developed at a 400m buffer, and between functional trait fish assemblage change and agriculture at both the 200m and 400m scale. We suggest the use of riparian buffer zones to conserve local riverine ecosystems across the United States by increasing the amount of conservation land use surrounding riverine systems.M. S
Dietary trends of fishes within and among ecoregions of the United States and Mongolia
No full textGut content analysis is a low cost and straightforward tool that allows for the
investigation of multiple relationships within and among fishes. This tool allows for the
identification of specific diet items that can be used to identify key dietary components,
predation habits of species of interest, variability and overlaps of diets within and among fishes,
as well as calculating dietary selectivity when paired with an environmental abundance survey.
We used this method to compare the diets of fishes in the US and Mongolia to compare diets
within and among ecoregions and continents. We looked at the Western Great Basin and
Wyoming Mountain Steppe in the United States and the Mountain Steppe in Mongolia. US sites
had higher proportions of invasive species and higher dietary overlaps among species than our
Mongolian sites where invasive species were absent, and diets varied among fishes. These results
can be used by managers to identify areas that require more attention in order to prevent negative
impacts on native fishes and other species of concern.Thesis (Ph. D.)Department of BiologyDietary overlap and specificity in fish assemblages of three endorheic watersheds : How do native and nonnative species compare? -- Diet trends and diet overlap among native cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki) and nonnative trout in the U.S. Great Basin and Yellowstone River Basin? -- Are fish diets in mountain steppe rivers similar across continent
Concordance among fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages in Indiana streams
No full textOur objective was to quantify if macroinvertebrate assemblages in Indiana streams were better predicted from co-occurring fish assemblages or environmental variables. We used Canonical Correspondence Analysis (CCA) with forward-selection of variables to identify significant environmental predictor variables for macroinvertebrate and fish assemblages. A partial Mantel test was used to determine if fish assemblage composition and macroinvertebrate assemblage composition significantly co-vary while controlling for environmental effects. The CCAs resulted in two significant predictors of macroinvertebrate distribution and relative abundance, and four significant predictors of fish distribution and relative abundance. Similarity matrices of fish and macroinvertebrates were significantly correlated in the Mantel (r = 0.22, p = 0.019) and partial Mantel tests (r = 0.23, p = 0.013). Our results suggest that macroinvertebrates respond to local and regional environmental variation, and less to local presence of fishes.Thesis (M.S.)Department of Biolog
Effect of natural and unnatural debris on habitat preference in fathead minnows
No full textCyprinid fishes are an important part of many freshwater aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, knowledge of minnow habitat and behavior can be important to many other species. In this study the objective was to determine if minnows preferred a debris filled habitat or an open habitat and determine if the use of natural and unnatural debris affected this choice. During the study two experimental tanks were half filled with debris. One received natural debris and the other unnatural debris. Observations of groups of ten fathead minnows were recorded for each tank and the data was analyzed using a t-test. The results were not significant. However, due to the small sample size more research is needed to validate these results.Thesis (B.?)Honors Colleg
Long-term changes in benthic macroinvertebrate assemblages of the West Fork White River (1979-2015)
No full textThesis (M.S.)Department of Biolog
Fish assemblages in the Wabash River : responses to substrate variation in field collections and artifical streams
No full textRelationships between fish assemblage composition and substrate variation is poorly understood in large rivers. Information on fishes occurrence and behavior and substrate variation were examined in field observations for the Middle Wabash River and fine scale artificial streams experiments. The results from field observations suggested strong concordance for variation in abundance of fishes with habitat variation among sites, resulting in a longitudinal river gradient as dominant in the Middle Wabash River. In addition, shifts in fish behavior within artificial stream experiments demonstrated that species-specific habitat selection behaviors were influenced by interactions within a fish assemblage. The combination of artificial stream experiments and field observations can identify fine scale trends that bioassessment surveys cannot tease apart, and highlighting the need to examine species-habitat relationships at more than one scale.Thesis (M.S.)Department of Biolog
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