Successes of Restoration and Its Effect on the Fish Community in a Freshwater Tidal Embayment of the Potomac River, USA

Kim de Mutsert; Amanda Sills; C. J. Schlick; R. Jones

doi:10.3390/w9060421

Successes of Restoration and Its Effect on the Fish Community in a Freshwater Tidal Embayment of the Potomac River, USA

10.20944/preprints201705.0096.v1 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Kim De Mutsert ◽

Amanda Sills ◽

C. J. Carroll Schlick ◽

R. Christian Jones

Keyword(s):

Fish Community ◽

Aquatic Vegetation ◽

White Perch ◽

Micropterus Salmoides ◽

Time Lag ◽

Control Plant ◽

Phase Changes ◽

Phosphorus Loading ◽

Potomac River ◽

Tidal Embayment

After a local pollution control plant significantly reduced phosphorus loading into a phytoplankton-dominated tributary of the Potomac River in the early 1980’s, water quality and biological communities were monitored bi-weekly from April-September. After a 10-year time-lag, submerged aquatic vegetation (SAV), once abundant in this freshwater tidal embayment, returned to the area in 1993. After additional reductions in nitrogen load starting in 2000, the system completely switched to a SAV-dominated state in 2005. Fish abundance didn’t change during these distinct phase changes, but the fish community structure did. Increases in SAV provided refuge and additional spawning substrate for species with adhesive eggs such as Banded Killifish (Fundulus diaphanus), which is now the most abundant species in the embayment. Other changes seen were a decrease in the relative contribution of open water dwelling species such as White Perch (Morone americana), and an increase of visual predators such as Largemouth Bass (Micropterus salmoides). The 30-year record of data from this Potomac River tributary has revealed many important long-term trends that validate the effectiveness of initiatives to improve water treatment, and will aid in the continued management of the watershed and point source inputs.

Download Full-text

Community-Level Response of Fishes and Aquatic Macroinvertebrates to Stream Restoration in a Third-Order Tributary of the Potomac River, USA

International Journal of Ecology ◽

10.1155/2012/753634 ◽

2012 ◽

Vol 2012 ◽

pp. 1-9 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Stephen M. Selego ◽

Charneé L. Rose ◽

George T. Merovich ◽

Stuart A. Welsh ◽

James T. Anderson

Keyword(s):

Fish Community ◽

Aquatic Macroinvertebrates ◽

Functional Feeding Groups ◽

Macroinvertebrate Communities ◽

Potomac River ◽

Stream Channel ◽

Rapid Improvement ◽

Third Order ◽

Natural Stream ◽

Restoration Practices

Natural stream channel design principles and riparian restoration practices were applied during spring 2010 to an agriculturally impaired reach of the Cacapon River, a tributary of the Potomac River which flows into the Chesapeake Bay. Aquatic macroinvertebrates and fishes were sampled from the restoration reach, two degraded control, and two natural reference reaches prior to, concurrently with, and following restoration (2009 through 2010). Collector filterers and scrapers replaced collector gatherers as the dominant macroinvertebrate functional feeding groups in the restoration reach. Before restoration, based on indices of biotic integrity (IBI), the restoration reach fish and macroinvertebrate communities closely resembled those sampled from the control reaches, and after restoration more closely resembled those from the reference reaches. Although the macroinvertebrate community responded more favorably than the fish community, both communities recovered quickly from the temporary impairment caused by the disturbance of restoration procedures and suggest rapid improvement in local ecological conditions.

Download Full-text

Dominance determines fish community biomass in a temperate seagrass ecosystem

10.32942/osf.io/cqjvu ◽

2019 ◽

Author(s):

Aaron Matthius Eger ◽

Rebecca J. Best ◽

Julia Kathleen Baum

Keyword(s):

Species Richness ◽

Ecosystem Function ◽

Fish Community ◽

Prey Capture ◽

Fish Communities ◽

Functional Trait ◽

Ecosystem Functions ◽

Community Biomass ◽

Ecosystem Valuation ◽

Species Abundances

Biodiversity and ecosystem function are often correlated, but there are multiple hypotheses about the mechanisms underlying this relationship. Ecosystem functions such as primary or secondary production may be maximized by species richness, evenness in species abundances, or the presence or dominance of species with certain traits. Here, we combined surveys of natural fish communities (conducted in July and August, 2016) with morphological trait data to examine relationships between diversity and ecosystem function (quantified as fish community biomass) across 14 subtidal eelgrass meadows in the Northeast Pacific (54° N 130° W). We employed both taxonomic and functional trait measures of diversity to investigate if ecosystem function is driven by species diversity (complementarity hypothesis) or by the presence or dominance of species with particular trait values (selection or dominance hypotheses). After controlling for environmental variation, we found that fish community biomass is maximized when taxonomic richness and functional evenness is low, and in communities dominated by species with particular trait values – those associated with benthic habitats and prey capture. While previous work on fish communities has found that species richness is positively correlated with ecosystem function, our results instead highlight the capacity for regionally prevalent and locally dominant species to drive ecosystem function in moderately diverse communities. We discuss these alternate links between community composition and ecosystem function and consider their divergent implications for ecosystem valuation and conservation prioritization.

Download Full-text

Fish community structure, habitat complexity, and soundscape characteristics of patch reefs in a tropical, back-reef system

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps12829 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 609 ◽

pp. 33-48 ◽

Cited By ~ 7

Author(s):

RP Lyon ◽

DB Eggleston ◽

DR Bohnenstiehl ◽

CA Layman ◽

SW Ricci ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Community Structure ◽

Habitat Complexity ◽

Fish Community ◽

Back Reef ◽

Fish Community Structure ◽

Patch Reefs ◽

Reef System

Download Full-text

Dissolved oxygen and temperature best predict deep-sea fish community structure in the Gulf of California with climate change implications

Marine Ecology Progress Series ◽

10.3354/meps13240 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 637 ◽

pp. 159-180

Author(s):

ND Gallo ◽

M Beckwith ◽

CL Wei ◽

LA Levin ◽

L Kuhnz ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Climate Change ◽

Community Structure ◽

Community Composition ◽

Environmental Conditions ◽

Deep Sea ◽

Gulf Of California ◽

Fish Community ◽

Demersal Fish ◽

Fish Community Structure ◽

Explained Variance

Natural gradient systems can be used to examine the vulnerability of deep-sea communities to climate change. The Gulf of California presents an ideal system for examining relationships between faunal patterns and environmental conditions of deep-sea communities because deep-sea conditions change from warm and oxygen-rich in the north to cold and severely hypoxic in the south. The Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) remotely operated vehicle (ROV) ‘Doc Ricketts’ was used to conduct seafloor video transects at depths of ~200-1400 m in the northern, central, and southern Gulf. The community composition, density, and diversity of demersal fish assemblages were compared to environmental conditions. We tested the hypothesis that climate-relevant variables (temperature, oxygen, and primary production) have more explanatory power than static variables (latitude, depth, and benthic substrate) in explaining variation in fish community structure. Temperature best explained variance in density, while oxygen best explained variance in diversity and community composition. Both density and diversity declined with decreasing oxygen, but diversity declined at a higher oxygen threshold (~7 µmol kg-1). Remarkably, high-density fish communities were observed living under suboxic conditions (<5 µmol kg-1). Using an Earth systems global climate model forced under an RCP8.5 scenario, we found that by 2081-2100, the entire Gulf of California seafloor is expected to experience a mean temperature increase of 1.08 ± 1.07°C and modest deoxygenation. The projected changes in temperature and oxygen are expected to be accompanied by reduced diversity and related changes in deep-sea demersal fish communities.

Download Full-text