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SFS Annual Meeting

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ASSESSING CHANGES IN STREAM FISH DISTRIBUTIONS IN THE HUBBARD BROOK WATERSHED AFTER 11 YEARS OF RECOVERY FROM ACID DEPOSITION

Acid deposition has been a major anthropogenic disturbance to aquatic ecosystems. Since the 1990 amendments to the Clean Air Act, there has been slow and steady recovery in surface water chemistry, but there is less information on biotic recovery. Fish were bellwether taxa in studies of acid deposition impacts on aquatic ecosystems and therefore are valuable focal taxa as we quantify biotic recovery. In rivers and streams acid deposition in poorly buffered landscapes led to the loss of fish from the upper reaches of many headwater tributaries. We explored potential recovery of fish distributions in the Hubbard Brook stream network over the past 11 years. In 2007, we quantified the extent of fish in tributaries throughout the Hubbard Brook valley. Returning to these tributaries in summer 2018, we documented substantial (>100 m) increases in the upstream distribution of fish in two sites. In the other 11 sites, fish distributions were comparable to 2007. This study demonstrates the potential for fish distributions to expand as acid deposition decreases but also highlights physical barriers as the primary limitation to the redistribution of fish following recovery of stream surface waters.

Dana Warren (Primary Presenter/Author), Oregon State University, dana.warren@oregonstate.edu;


Keith Nislow (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Northern Research Station, U.S.D.A. Forest Service, University of Massachusetts Amherst, keith.nislow@usda.gov;


John Magee (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, john.magee@wildlife.nh.gov;


Emily Bernhardt (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Duke University, ebernhar@duke.edu;


Kerry Yurewicz (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Plymouth State University, klyurewicz@plymouth.edu;


Emma Rosi (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, rosie@caryinstitute.org;