Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Long-term changes in fish community structure in relation to the establishment of Asian carps in a large floodplain river

  • Original Paper
  • Published:
Biological Invasions Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

The Upper Mississippi River System, including the Illinois River, has been invaded by a number of nonnative species including silver carp Hypophthalmichthys molitirx and bighead carp H. nobilis, collectively referred to here as Asian carps. Silver carp densities in the Illinois River have increased dramatically and now represent some of the highest densities of wild silver carp anywhere in the world. Asian carps have the potential to alter existing ecosystems by consuming planktonic resources and therefore, could have the ability to alter existing fish communities as most fishes are dependent on planktonic resources during early development. However, identifying the relationship of fish community structure to the establishment of Asian carps has yet to be thoroughly investigated. Using long-term fish community data collected by the Upper Mississippi River Restoration’s Long Term Resource Monitoring element, we investigate changes in fish community structure pre- and post-establishment of Asian carps. Significant differences in the pre- and post-establishment communities were observed for the majority of gears and habitats. Species contributing to changes between establishment periods included most sportfish species and catostomids, which were less abundant post-establishment of Asian carps, while shortnose gar, grass carp, and emerald shiner were more abundant. While our analyses show Asian carps are likely contributing to major differences in fish community structure, future research and long-term monitoring should investigate the mechanisms and interactions responsible for community changes as well as identifying any potential concurrent or confounding factors such as changes in river hydrology or sedimentation.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  • Baerwaldt K, Benson A, Irons K (2013) Asian carp distribution in North America. Report to the Asian Carp Regional Coordinating Committee, April

  • Barel CDN, Dorit R, Greenwood PH, Fryer G, Hughes N, Jackson PBN, Kawanabe H, Lowe-McConnell RH, Nagoshi M, Ribbichk AJ, Trewavas E, Witte F, Yamaoka K (1985) Destruction of fisheries in Africa’s lakes. Nature 315:19–20

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Bellrose FC, Havera SP, Paveglio FL Jr, Steffeck DW (1983) The fate of lakes in the Illinios River Valley. Illinois Natural History Survey Biological Notes No. 119, p 27

  • Burke JS, Bayne DR, Rea H (1986) Impact of silver and bighead carps on plankton communities of channel catfish ponds. Aquaculture 55:59–68

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Carey MP, Wahl DH (2010) Native fish diversity alters the effects of an invasive species on food webs. Ecology 91(10):2965–2974

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chapman DC, Hoff MH (2011) Invasive Asian carps in North America. American Fisheries Society, Symposium 74. Bethesda, Maryland

  • Chick JH, Pegg MA (2001) Invasive carp in the Mississippi River Basin. Science 292:2250–2251

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Chick JH, Ickes BS, Pegg MA, Barko VA, Hrabik RA, Herzog DP (2005) Spatial structure and temporal variation of fish communities in the Upper Mississippi River System. U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin, May 2005. LTRMP Technical Report 2005-T004, p 15. NTIS PB2005-106535

  • Clarke KR (1993) Non-parametric multivariate analyses of changes in community structure. Aust J Ecol 18:117–143

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Cooke SL, Hill WR (2010) Can filter-feeding Asian carp invade the Laurentian Great Lakes? a bioenergetic modelling exercise. Freshw Biol 55:2138–2152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Crooks JA (2005) Lag times and exotic species: the ecology and management of biological invasions in slow-motion. Ecoscience 12:316–329

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • DeGrandchamp KL, Garvey JE, Colombo RE (2008) Movement and habitat selection by invasive Asian carps in a large river. Trans Am Fish Soc 137:45–56

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Delong MD (2005) Upper Mississippi River Basin. In: Benke AC, Cushing CE (eds) Rivers of North America. Elsevier Academic Press, Burlington, pp 327–374

    Google Scholar 

  • Devries DD, Stein RA, Miner JG, Mittelbach GG (1991) Stocking threadfin shad: consequences for young-of-year fishes. Trans Am Fish Soc 120:368–381

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Echelle AA (1968) Food habits of young-of-year longnose gar in Lake Texoma, Oklahoma. South Nat 13:45–50

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Echelle AA, Riggs CD (1972) Aspects of the early life history of gars (Lepisosteus) in Lake Texoma. Trans Am Fish Soc 101:106–112

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Freedman JA, Butler SE, Wahl DH (2012) Impacts of Asian Carps on native food webs. Final Project Report- Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant

  • Goldschmidt T, Witte F, Wanink J (1993) Cascading effects of the introduced Nile perch on the detritivorous/phytoplanktivorous species in the sublittoral areas of Lake Victoria. Conserv Biol 7:686–700

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gozlan RE, Britton JR, Cowx I, Copp GH (2010) Current knowledge on nonnative freshwater fish introductions. J Fish Biol 76:751–786

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hulme PE (2009) Trade, transport and trouble: managing invasive species pathways in an era of globalization. J Appl Ecol 46:10–18

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ickes BS, Sauer JS, Rogala JT (2014) Monitoring rationales, strategy, issues, and methods UMRR-EMP LTRMP Fish Component: a program report submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineer’s Upper Mississippi River Restoration Environmental Management Program. Program Report 2014-P001a, p 29

  • Irons KS, Sass GG, McClelland MA, Stafford MA (2007) Reduced condition factor of two native fish species coincident with invasion of nonnative Asian carps in the Illinois River, U.S.A. Is this evidence for competition and reduced fitness? J Fish Biol 71(Supplement D):258–273

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Jeschke JM, Strayer DL (2005) Invasion success of vertebrates in Europe and North America. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 102:7198–7202

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  • Koel TM, Sparks RE (2002) Historical patterns of river stage and fish communities as criteria for operations of dams on the Illinois River. River Res Appl 18:3–19

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lawrie AH (1970) The sea lamprey in the Great Lakes. Trans Am Fish Soc 99:766–775

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LTRMP (Long Term Resource Monitoring Program) Graphical Fish Database Browser. United States Geological Survey (USGS) United States Army Corps of Engineers (USACE). http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/data_library/fisheries/graphical/fish_front.html. Accessed 14 Dec 2013

  • Lu M, Xie P, Tang HJ, Shao ZJ, Xie LQ (2002) Experimental study of trophic cascade effect of silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrixon) in a subtropical lake, Lake Donghu: on plankton community and underlying mechanisms of changes of crustacean community. Hydrobiologia 487:19–31

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lubinski K, Burkhardt R, Sauer J, Soballe D, Yin Y (2001) Initial analyses of change detection capabilities and data redundancies in the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program. U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin, September 2001. LTRMP 2001-T001. 23 pp.+ Appendixes A–E. (NTIS PB2002-100123)

  • Martinez PJ, Bergersen EP (1989) Proposed biological management of Mysis relicta in Colorado lakes and reservoirs. North Am J Fish Manage 9:1–11

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McBride GB (2002) Statistical methods helping and hindering environmental science and management. J Agric Biol Environ Stat 7:300–305

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McBride GB, Loftis JC, Adkins NC (1993) What do significance tests really tell us about the environment? Environ Manage 17:423–432

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McClelland MA, Sass GG, Cook TR, Irons KS, Michaels NN, O’Hara TM, Smith CS (2012) The long-term Illinois River fish population monitoring program. Fisheries 37:340–350

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • McDonald JH (2008) Handbook of biological statistics. Sparky House Publishing, Baltimore

    Google Scholar 

  • National Biological Service (1994), Illinois Natural History Survey, Iowa Department of Natural Resources, and Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. 1994. Long Term Resource Monitoring Program 1993 Flood observations. National Biological Service, Environmental Management Technical Center, Onalaska, Wisconsin, December 1994. LTRMP 94-S011, p 190 (NTIS #PB95-181582)

  • Pace ML, Findlay SEG, Fischer D (1998) Effects of an invasive bivalve on the zooplankton community of the Hudson River. Freshw Biol 39:103–116

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pflieger WL (1997) The fishes of Missouri. Missouri Department of Conservation, Jefferson City

    Google Scholar 

  • Pimentel D, Zuniga R, Morrison D (2005) Update on the environmental and economic costs associated with alien-invasive species in the United States. Ecol Econ 52:273–288

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Pyšek P, Richarson DM (2006) The biogeography of naturalization in alien plants. J Biogeogr 33:2040–2050

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Rasmussen JL (2002) The Cal-Sag and Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal: a perspective on the spread and control of selected aquatic nuisance fish species. U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Rock Island

    Google Scholar 

  • Ratcliff EN, Gittinger EJ, O’Hara TM, Ickes BS (2014) Long term resource monitoring program procedures: fish monitoring, 2nd edition. A Program Report submitted to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration-Environmental Management Program. June 2014. Program Report LTRMP 2014-Poo1, p. 88, including Appendixes A–G

  • Ricciardi A, MacIsaac HJ (2011) Impacts of biological invasions on freshwater ecosystems. In: Richardson D (ed) Fifty years of invasion ecology: the legacy of Charles Elton, 1st edn. Blackwell Publishing Ltd, West Sussex, pp 211–224

    Google Scholar 

  • Sampson SJ, Chick JH, Pegg MA (2009) Diet overlap among two Asian carp and three native fishes in backwater lakes on the Illinois and Mississippi rivers. Biol Invasions 11:483–496

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sass GG, Cook TR, Irons KS, McClelland MA, Michaels NN, O’Hara TM, Stroub MR (2010) A mark-recapture population estimate of invasive silver carp (Hypophthalmichthys molitrix) in the La Grange Reach of the Illinois River. Biol Invasions 12:433–436

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sass GG, Hinz C, Erickson AC, McClelland NN, McClelland MA, Epifanio JM (2014) Invasive bighead and silver carp effects on zooplankton communities in the Illinois River, Illinois, USA. J Great Lakes Res 40:911–921

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Schrank SJ, Guy CS, Fairchild JF (2003) Competitive interactions between age-0 bighead carp and paddlefish. Trans Am Fish Soc 132:1222–1228

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simberloff D (2011) How common are invasion-induced ecosystem impacts? Biol Invasions 13:1255–1268

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Simon TP, Wallus R (1990) Reproductive biology and early life history of fishes in the Ohio River drainage. Volumn 1, Acipenseridae through Esocidae. Tennessee Valley Authority, Chattanooga

    Google Scholar 

  • Simon TP, Wallus R (2006) Reproductive biology and early life history of fishes in the Ohio River drainage. Volume 4, Percidae-perch, pikeperch, and darters. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Google Scholar 

  • Sparks RE, Nelson JC, Yin Y (1998) Naturalization of the flood regime in regulated rivers. Bioscience 48:706–720

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stein RA, DeVries DR, Dettmers MM (1995) Food-web regulation by a planktivore: exploring the generality of the trophic cascade hypothesis. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 52:2518–2526

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strayer DL (2010) Alien species in fresh waters: ecological effects, interactions with other stressors, and prospects for the future. Freshw Biol 55:152–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strayer DL (2012) Eight questions about invasions and ecosystem functioning. Ecol Lett 15:1199–1210

    Article  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  • Strayer DL, Hattala KA, Kahnle AW (2004) Effects of an invasive bivalve (Dreissena polymorpha) on fish in the Hudson River estuary. Can J Fish Aquat Sci 61:924–941

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Strayer DL, Hattala KA, Kahnle AW, Addams RD (2014) Has the Hudson River fish community recovered from the zebra mussel invasion along with its forage base? Can J Fish Aquat Sci 71:1146–1157

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sugunan VV (1995) Reservoir fisheries of India, vol 345. Daya Books, Rome

    Google Scholar 

  • U.S. Geological Survey (1999) Ecological status and trends of the Upper Mississippi River System 1998: a report of the Long Term Resource Monitoring Program. U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin. April 1999. LTRMP 99-T001, p. 236

  • Wallus R, Simon TP (2006) Reproductive biology and early life history of fishes in the Ohio River drainage. Volume 5, Aphredoderidae through Cottidae, Moronidae, and Sciaenidae. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Wallus R, Simon TP (2008) Reproductive biology and early life history of fishes in the Ohio River drainage. Volume 6, Elassomatidae and Centrarchidae. CRC Press, Boca Raton

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Walsh MG, Winkelman DL (2004) Fish assemblage structure in an Oklahoma Ozark stream before and after rainbow trout introduction. Am Fish Soc Symp 44:417–430

    Google Scholar 

  • Williamson M, Fitter A (1996) The varying success of invaders. Ecology 77:1661–1666

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yin Y, Langehr H, Nelson J, Blackburn T, Cook T, Popp W, Winkelman J (2000) 1998 annual status report: status and trends of submersed and floating-leaved aquatic vegetation in thirty-two backwaters in Pools 4, 8, 13, and 16 and La Grange Pool of the Upper Mississippi River System. U.S. Geological Survey, Upper Midwest Environmental Sciences Center, La Crosse, Wisconsin, June 2000. LTRMP 2000-P003, 21 pp.+ Appendixes A–B

Download references

Acknowledgments

The authors thank Jason DeBoer, Andrea Fritts, Kirk Hanson, and Mike McClelland for their contributions to this manuscript and assistance with data analysis and interpretation. This study was Funded by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Upper Mississippi River Restoration’s Long Term Resource Monitoring (LTRM) element in cooperation with the 5 Upper Mississippi River System states of Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, and Wisconsin and implemented by the U.S Geological Survey. We also thank all past and present LTRM staff and technicians for their dedicated years of data collection.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Illinois River Biological Station, Havana, IL, 62644, USA

    Levi E. Solomon, Richard M. Pendleton & Andrew F. Casper

  2. Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois, Champaign, IL, USA

    John H. Chick

  3. National Great Rivers Research and Education Center, East Alton, IL, 62024, USA

    John H. Chick

Authors
  1. Levi E. Solomon
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Richard M. Pendleton
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. John H. Chick
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Andrew F. Casper
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Richard M. Pendleton.

Electronic supplementary material

Below is the link to the electronic supplementary material.

Online Resource 1

Bubble plot overlays on the reachwide nonmetric multidimensional scaling of annual fish community structure based on species annual catch-per-unit effort from day electrofishing surveys (i.e. Figure 1). a) Two-year running average of total catch of Asian carps for individuals >300 mm among all gears and habitats. b) Number of days above flood stage (14 ft) during 15 June through 31 October based on the Havana, IL gauge operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Rock Island District). c) Average gauge height (ft) during 15 June through 31 October based on the Havana, IL gauge operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Rock Island District). Dashed lines and solid lines identify fish communities with 75 % and 81 % shared similarity, respectively (PDF 99 kb)

Online Resource 2

Species accounting for greatest differences between pre- and post-establishment fish communities among gears and habitats. Species are in descending order for each gear based on the ratio between the average contribution to dissimilarity (i.e. percentage change in the mean) and the standard deviation (\(\bar{\delta }_{i} /SD(\bar{\delta }_{i} )\)). Average percent change in abundance represents a species average percent increase (+) or decrease (-) in relative abundance between establishment periods. Habitat: main channel borders (MCB), side channel borders (SCB), and connected backwaters (BWC). Gear: day electrofishing (D), hoop-netting (H), and fyke-netting (F) (PDF 59 kb)

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Solomon, L.E., Pendleton, R.M., Chick, J.H. et al. Long-term changes in fish community structure in relation to the establishment of Asian carps in a large floodplain river. Biol Invasions 18, 2883–2895 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1180-8

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10530-016-1180-8

Keywords

Search

Navigation