Poster Details
SPATIOTEMPORAL VARIATION IN LONG-TERM FISH ASSEMBLAGES OF BUCK CREEK, INDIANA
Buck Creek is a spring-fed, cool-water tributary of the West Fork White River, Indiana. The Muncie Bureau of Water Quality sampled fishes and monitored water temperature in Buck Creek annually from 1986-2018. The watershed is dominated by row crop agriculture and urbanization. We tested for effects of hydrology and water temperature on local fish assemblages using long-term data from the BWQ. We hypothesized that species richness and trophic guild vary with stream order. Water temperature and altered hydrology were predicted to result in increased relative abundance of tolerant species. We predicted that upstream fish assemblages are embedded subsets of downstream assemblages. We identified a positive relationship for stream size and species richness, that is likely a result of additional available habitats with increasing stream order.
Paul DeRolf (Primary Presenter/Author), Ball State University, pmderolf@bsu.edu;