Southern Research Station

Title: The Role of Regional Factors in Structuring Ouachita Mountain Stream Assemblages

Author: Williams, Lance R.; Taylor, Christopher M.; Warren, Melvin L., Jr.; Clingenpeel, J. Alan

Date: 2004

Source: Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-74. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 231-238

Description: Abstract - We used Basin Area Stream Survey data from the USDA Forest Service, Ouachita National Forest to evaluate the relationship between regional fish and macroinvertebrate assemblages and environmental variability (both natural and anthropogenic). Data were collected for three years (1990-1992) from six hydrologically variable stream systems in the Ouachita Mountains that were paired by management regime within three drainage basins. Most of the variability in regional fish assemblages was explained by the historically constrained drainage basins themselves rather than measured habitat variables. Macroinvertebrate assemblages also showed some historical constraint but were associated more closely with stream habitat conditions. Timber harvest regimes showed little effect on regional assemblages. At the basin-level, taxonomic assemblages of both fishes and macroinvertebrates were a better predictor of environmental variability than trophic assemblages, bringing into question the use of trophic groups as an ecological measure in large-scale studies. Regional analyses are critical for understanding how stream systems are organized at different spatial scales and are important for effective management of streams within an altered landscape.

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Citation

Williams, Lance R.; Taylor, Christopher M.; Warren, Melvin L., Jr.; Clingenpeel, J. Alan  2004.  The Role of Regional Factors in Structuring Ouachita Mountain Stream Assemblages.   Gen. Tech. Rep. SRS-74. Asheville, NC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, Forest Service, Southern Research Station. pp. 231-238