Journal
HYDROBIOLOGIA
Volume 728, Issue 1, Pages 23-39Publisher
SPRINGER
DOI: 10.1007/s10750-013-1797-x
Keywords
Flow alteration; Flow regimes; Dams; Impoundments; Fish assemblages; Fluvial specialists
Categories
Funding
- U.S. Geological Survey-U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Science Support Partnership Program
- Oklahoma and New York Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units
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River impoundments can fundamentally restructure downstream fish assemblages by altering flow regimes. However, the degree of alteration and associated ecological change may depend on pre-existing hydrologic regimes. We used long-term datasets to compare downstream hydrological and fish assemblage responses to impoundment in two catchments classified as having intermittent and perennial-flashy natural hydrologic regimes. We observed significant shifts in fish assemblage structure at both sites after stream impoundment. The historically intermittent stream shifted to a stable perennial flow regime. Changes in fish assemblage structure covaried with changes in five different components of the flow regime; most species that increased in abundance require fluvial habitats and likely benefited from increased flows during historically low flow seasons. Shifts in fish assemblage structure were also observed in the perennial stream, despite minimal flow alteration after impoundment; however, most species shifts were associated with lentic environments, and were more likely related to proximity of reservoirs in the drainage system rather than changes in stream flow. Findings from this study confirm that downstream fish assemblage response to river impoundment can be associated with high levels of hydrologic alteration, but other factors including expansion of lentic species into lotic environments also influence shifts in assemblage structure.
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