Abstract
Anthropogenic land cover change in watersheds has the potential to degrade stream habitat quality and alter fish assemblage structure. The objective of this study was to examine the relative importance of urbanization at different spatial scales and local habitat conditions on both the fish taxonomic assemblage and trait assemblage. Fish assemblages were sampled in 22 wadeable streams within a single sub-basin in the northeastern USA. Urbanized land cover at the watershed and riparian scales was associated with increases in specific conductivity and pH, but was not a major determinant of taxonomic or trait assemblage structure. Instead, taxonomic and trait assemblages were associated with a gradient of decreasing elevation and increasing temperature, and some of the most urbanized sites supported diverse and unique fish assemblages. These results contribute to a greater understanding of the variation in the effects of urbanization on stream health.
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Data availability
The datasets generated during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.
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Acknowledgements
This work would not be possible without the long hours and hard work of numerous undergraduate students at Fitchburg State University, including Annie Saball, Wade Williams, Maeve Ahern, Caroline Anderson, Courtney Aulden, Heather Bosworth, Nicole Burdick, Aleisa Burnett, Sam Gallagher, Jack Gangemi, Rose Kelley, Chelsea Lashua, Benjamin McGuire, Erinn Melus, Jordan Oberg, Sarah Olson, Luke Perron, Jace Petterson, Alina Raye, Samantha Richard, Matthew Sadowski, Oliver Titus, Erica Ulrich, Teigan Weismann, and Nicole Zwicker. Sampling help was also provided by Jennifer Prasol. We thank the numerous landowners who granted us permission to access the streams, including the cities of Fitchburg and Leominster, the towns of Ashburnham, Ashby, Ayer, Groton, Holden, Lancaster, Lunenburg, Pepperell, Shirley, Townsend, West Boylston and Westminster, the Department of Conservation and Recreation (DCR), and several private landowners. The Nashua River Watershed Association provided valuable local knowledge. This work was approved by the Fitchburg State University IACUC (IACUC #2017-Welsh-1). Funded by the Lloyd G. Balfour Foundation, Bank of America, N.A.,Trustee and made possible in part by grants from the Community Foundation of North Central Massachusetts, Avantor Sciences Foundation, and Fitchburg State University. We appreciate the contributions of several anonymous reviewers who made valuable suggestions on earlier drafts.
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Study design and methodology: John P. Ludlam, Daniel P. Welsh, Elizabeth S. Gordon, Benjamin Levy, Jane Huang, Aisling M. O’Connor; statistical analysis: John P. Ludlam; writing—original draft preparation: John P. Ludlam, Daniel P. Welsh; writing—review and editing: John P. Ludlam, Daniel P. Welsh, Elyse V. Clark, Emma L. Downs, Elizabeth S. Gordon, Benjamin Levy; funding acquisition: Elizabeth S. Gordon, Jane Huang, Aisling M. O’Connor.
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Welsh, D.P., Ludlam, J.P., Downs, E.L. et al. Stream fish community structure across an urban gradient in a northeastern US watershed. Environ Biol Fish 106, 1579–1595 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-023-01438-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10641-023-01438-6