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Riparian influences on stream fish assemblage structure in urbanizing streams

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Abstract

We assessed the influence of land cover at multiple spatial extents on fish assemblage integrity, and the degree to which riparian forests can mitigate the negative effects of catchment urbanization on stream fish assemblages. Riparian cover (urban, forest, and agriculture) was determined within 30 m buffers at longitudinal distances of 200 m, 1 km, and the entire network upstream of 59 non-nested fish sampling locations. Catchment and riparian land cover within the upstream network were highly correlated, so we were unable to distinguish between those variables. Most fish assemblage variables were related to % forest and % urban land cover, with the strongest relations at the largest spatial extent of land cover (catchment), followed by riparian land cover in the 1-km and 200-m reach, respectively. For fish variables related to urban land cover in the catchment, we asked whether the influence of riparian land cover on fish assemblages was dependent on the amount of urban development in the catchment. Several fish assemblage metrics (endemic richness, endemic:cosmopolitan abundance, insectivorous cyprinid richness and abundance, and fluvial specialist richness) were all best predicted by single variable models with % urban land cover. However, endemic:cosmopolitan richness, cosmopolitan abundance, and lentic tolerant abundance were related to % forest cover in the 1-km stream reach, but only in streams that had <15% catchment urban land cover. In these cases, catchment urbanization overwhelmed the potential mitigating effects of riparian forests on stream fishes. Together, these results suggest that catchment land cover is an important driver of fish assemblages in urbanizing catchments, and riparian forests are important but not sufficient for protecting stream ecosystems from the impacts of high levels of urbanization.

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the numerous people with the Freeman lab at the University of Georgia and the Stream Survey Team with the Georgia Department of Natural Resources for making this project possible by collecting fish data and maintaining an informative fish database. P. Johnson, C. Straight, and S. Wenger provided fish database and GIS support. J. Lee and E. Kramer from the Natural Resources Spatial Analysis Laboratory (NARSAL) at the University of Georgia provided land cover and impervious surface cover maps. Funding for this project was provided by a US Fish & Wildlife Service Habitat Conservation Planning Grant awarded to the Georgia Department of Natural Resources, and by a University of Georgia Dissertation Writing Fellowship awarded to A.H.R.

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  1. Allison H. Roy

    Present address: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 26 West Martin Luther King Drive, MS 498, Cincinnati, OH, 45268, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Allison H. Roy

  2. Georgia Museum of Natural History and Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Byron J. Freeman

  3. US Geological Survey, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, University of Georgia, Athens, GA, 30602, USA

    Mary C. Freeman

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  1. Allison H. Roy
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Correspondence to Allison H. Roy.

Appendix

Appendix

Table 6 Fishes collected in the 59 study streams in the Etowah River catchment, frequency of occurrence (no. sites), and total abundance
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Roy, A.H., Freeman, B.J. & Freeman, M.C. Riparian influences on stream fish assemblage structure in urbanizing streams. Landscape Ecol 22, 385–402 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10980-006-9034-x

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