University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Fishes of Champaign County, Illinois, During a Century of Alterations of a Prairie Ecosystem

Larimore, R. Weldon; Bayley, Peter B.

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/26519

Description

Title
The Fishes of Champaign County, Illinois, During a Century of Alterations of a Prairie Ecosystem
Author(s)
  • Larimore, R. Weldon
  • Bayley, Peter B.
Contributor(s)
Rice, Thomas E.
Issue Date
1996-10
Keyword(s)
  • fish
  • fishes
  • Illinois
  • Champaign County
  • surveys
  • environment
Abstract
Streams and their aquatic communities are directly and indirectly influenced by the past and present activities of humans. In Champaign County, marshes and tallgrass prairie have been converted to farmland, cities, and highways. With these changes, former natural areas have become the dumping ground of domestic and agricultural wastes, with farmland being subjected to intense fertilizer and pesticide applications. Such practices can be expected to have significant influences on aquatic communities. Historical information on the fish communities inhabiting the streams of Champaign County (Forbes and Richardson 1908; Thompson and Hunt 1930; and Larimore and Smith 1963) in conjunction with data collected in the present study provide a unique opportunity to relate a century of biological observations to dramatic changes in land use. The importance of such a study is not restricted to its geographic location, nor to a unique assemblage of fishes, but rather to long-term patterns in fish community composition and structure in a midwestern, agricultural setting. Understanding the long-term implications of such changing land-use practices on stream fish assemblages is critical to sound environmental management and planning.
Publisher
Champaign, Ill. : Illinois Natural History Survey
Series/Report Name or Number
Illinois Natural History Survey Bulletin; v. 035, no. 02
ISSN
0073-4918
Type of Resource
text
Language
en
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/26519
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 1996 University of Illinois Board of Trustees. All rights reserved.

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