University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

Fishes of Champaign County, Illinois: as affected by 120 years of stream changes

Sherwood, Joshua; Tiemann, Jeremy; Stein, Jeffrey

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/117332

Description

Title
Fishes of Champaign County, Illinois: as affected by 120 years of stream changes
Author(s)
  • Sherwood, Joshua
  • Tiemann, Jeremy
  • Stein, Jeffrey
Issue Date
2022-12-31
Keyword(s)
  • long-term monitoring
  • anthropogenic disturbances
  • prairie streams
  • biodiversity
  • fish assemblage
Abstract
With data spanning over 120 years, the Fishes of Champaign County is a comprehensive, long-term investigation into the changing fish communities of east-central Illinois. Surveys first occurred in Champaign County in the late 1880s (40 sites), with subsequent surveys in 1928–1929 (125 sites), 1959–1960 (143 sites), and 1987–1988 (141 sites). Between 2012 and 2015, we resampled 122 sites across Champaign County. The combined data from these five surveys have produced a unique perspective into not only the fish communities of the region, but also insight into in-stream habitat changes during the past 120 years. After a period of degradation, fish communities appear to be improving throughout the county, demonstrated by the return of two state-threatened species that had not been recorded since 1928. Our analysis of in-stream habitat indicates a general trend away from small streams of various substrate types toward wider, deeper streams with a more uniform substrate. Fish community data support the results, indicating a shift from typical headwater species to those species that frequent deeper streams with more stable flows. Long-term surveys such as this are rare, and the data and analyses of these surveys can provide managers with valuable information to further restoration efforts using a historical perspective.
Publisher
Illinois Natural History Survey, Prairie Research Institute, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Series/Report Name or Number
Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin, vol. 43
ISSN
2644-0687
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
DOI
https://doi.org/10.21900/j.inhs.v43.942
Copyright and License Information
  • Copyright 2022 Joshua Sherwood, Jeremy Tiemann, Jeffrey Stein
  • This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).

Owning Collections

Bulletin - Illinois Natural History Survey PRIMARY
The Bulletin has been published continuously since 1876. In 2019, the Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin joined the Illinois Open Publishing Network, and is now an online only, open access, journal.
All issues of the INHS Bulletin with full metadata including DOIs are available via the IOPN.