Survey of historic populations of slackwater fish Species in Greatest Need of Conservation in the Cache River watershed

Vandermyde, Jodi M.; Shults, Steven

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/90088 Copy

Description

Title

Survey of historic populations of slackwater fish Species in Greatest Need of Conservation in the Cache River watershed

Author(s)

• Vandermyde, Jodi M.
• Shults, Steven

Issue Date

2015-12-31

Keyword(s)

• stream ecology
• fish assemblage
• habitat association
• Cache River
• IDNR Wildlife Preservation Fund

Geographic Coverage

Cache River, Illinois

Abstract

The Cache River watershed has a unique community of slackwater fishes which are associated with low gradient, low velocity backwater habitats that typically have silt and organic detritus substrata. Most of these slackwater fishes are classified as Species in Greatest Need of Conservation (SGNC) because of their rare and declining status in Illinois. Historic records of 13 slackwater fish SGNC were used to determine species presence at locations with records over 10 years old and identify new locations. The lack of recent records for slackwater fishes may have resulted from deficiency in sampling bottomland habitats, or partially due to habitat loss, heavy sedimentation and hydrologic alteration.Survey sites were selected by identifying historic locations with multiple target species (> 2 species) and by identifying stream reaches with similar habitat characteristics to sites with known locations of target fish species. Similar habitat characteristics were determined by using existing ArcGIS datalayers associated with stream structure (e.g., discharge, watershed landuse) and modeled to all streams within the Cache River watershed.Nine out of thirteen slackwater species were present at slackwater survey sites \including five species at modeled locations. Modeling stream characteristics to locate fish SGNCwas successful and this technique could be applied to future research to assist with filling ecological and distribution information gaps of rare species in need of conservation. This research also supports the need for targeted surveys as a valuable supplement to existing fish sampling programs that do not regularly sample habitats that are specific tosome fish SGNC.

Publisher

Illinois Natural History Survey

Series/Report Name or Number

Technical Report INHS 2015 (44)

Type of Resource

text

Language

en

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/90088

Sponsor(s)/Grant Number(s)

IDNR Wildlife Preservation Fund WPF 15-L16W

Copyright and License Information

This document is a product of the Illinois Natural History Survey, and has been selected and made available by the Illinois Natural History Survey and the University Library, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is intended solely for noncommercial research and educational use, and proper attribution is requested.

Owning Collections