Long-term fish assemblages of the Ohio River: altered trophic and life history strategies with hydrologic alterations and landuse modifications

AbstractLong-term monitoring of species assemblages provides a unique opportunity to test hypotheses regarding environmentally-induced directional trajectories of freshwater species assemblages. We used 57 years of lockchamber fish rotenone and boat electrofishing survey data (1957-2014) collected by the Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) to test for directional trajectories in taxonomy, trophic classifications, and life history strategies of freshwater fish assemblages in the Ohio River Basin. We found significant changes in taxonomic and trophic composition of freshwater fishes in the Ohio River Basin. Annual species richness varied from 31 to 90 species and generally increased with year. Temporal trajectories were present for taxonomic and trophic assemblages. Assemblage structure based on taxonomy was correlated with land use change (decrease in agriculture and increase in forest). Taxonomic assemblage structure was also correlated with altered hydrology variables of increased minimum discharge, decreased fall rate, and increased rise rate. Trophic composition of fish catch correlated with land use change (decrease in agriculture and increase in forest) and altered hydrology. Altered hydrology of increased minimum discharge, increased fall discharge, decreased base flows, and increased number of high pulse events was correlated with increased counts of herbivore-detritivores and decreased counts of piscivores and planktivores. We did not find directional changes in life history composition. We hypothesized a shift occurred from benthic to phytoplankton production throughout the basin that may have decreased secondary production of benthic invertebrates. This may also be responsible for lower trophic position of invertivore and piscivore fishes observed in other studies.

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Correction: Long-term fish assemblages of the Ohio River: Altered trophic and life history strategies with hydrologic alterations and land use modifications

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0218915 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (6) ◽

pp. e0218915 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mark Pyron ◽

Meryl C. Mims ◽

Mario M. Minder ◽

Robert C. Shields ◽

Nicole Chodkowski ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Life History ◽

Fish Assemblages ◽

Life History Strategies ◽

Ohio River ◽

Hydrologic Alterations

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Long-term fish assemblages of the Ohio River: Altered trophic and life history strategies with hydrologic alterations and land use modifications

PLoS ONE ◽

10.1371/journal.pone.0211848 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 14 (4) ◽

pp. e0211848 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Mark Pyron ◽

Meryl C. Mims ◽

Mario M. Minder ◽

Robert C. Shields ◽

Nicole Chodkowski ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Life History ◽

Fish Assemblages ◽

Life History Strategies ◽

Ohio River ◽

Hydrologic Alterations

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Land use legacies of the Ohio River Basin: Using a spatially explicit land use change model to assess past and future impacts on aquatic resources

Applied Geography ◽

10.1016/j.apgeog.2014.12.020 ◽

2015 ◽

Vol 57 ◽

pp. 100-111 ◽

Cited By ~ 35

Author(s):

Amin Tayyebi ◽

Bryan C. Pijanowski ◽

Burak K. Pekin

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Change ◽

River Basin ◽

Spatially Explicit ◽

Ohio River ◽

Change Model ◽

Aquatic Resources ◽

Ohio River Basin ◽

Land Use Change Model ◽

Land Use Legacies

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CH4and N2O fluxes in the Colorado shortgrass steppe: 2. Long-term impact of land use change

Global Biogeochemical Cycles ◽

10.1029/96gb03612 ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 29-42 ◽

Cited By ~ 97

Author(s):

A. R. Mosier ◽

W. J. Parton ◽

D. W. Valentine ◽

D. S. Ojima ◽

D. S. Schimel ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Shortgrass Steppe ◽

N2o Fluxes ◽

Long Term Impact

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The Effects of Long‐Term Land‐Use Change on Soil Properties in Perth, Ontario Canada

Inquiry@Queen's Undergraduate Research Conference Proceedings ◽

10.24908/iqurcp.8271 ◽

2016 ◽

Author(s):

Trina Stephens

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Organic Matter ◽

North America ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Soil Properties ◽

Carbon Storage ◽

Organic Matter Content ◽

Matter Content ◽

Topographic Gradients

Land‐use change can have a major impact on soil properties, leading to long‐term changes in soilnutrient cycling rates and carbon storage. While a substantial amount of research has been conducted onland‐use change in tropical regions, empirical evidence of long‐term conversion of forested land toagricultural land in North America is lacking. Pervasive deforestation for the sake of agriculturethroughout much of North America is likely to have modified soil properties, with implications for theglobal climate. Here, we examined the response of physical, chemical and biological soil properties toconversion of forest to agricultural land (100 years ago) on Roebuck Farm near Perth, Ontario, Canada.Soil samples were collected at three sites from under forest and agricultural vegetative cover on bothhigh‐ and low‐lying topographic positions (12 locations in total; soil profile sampled to a depth of 40cm).Our results revealed that bulk density, pH, and nitrate concentrations were all higher in soils collectedfrom cultivate sites. In contrast, samples from forested sites exhibited greater water‐holding capacity,porosity, organic matter content, ammonia concentrations and cation exchange capacity. Many of these characteristics are linked to greater organic matter abundance and diversity in soils under forestvegetation as compared with agricultural soils. Microbial activity and Q10 values were also higher in theforest soils. While soil properties in the forest were fairly similar across topographic gradients, low‐lyingpositions under agricultural regions had higher bulk density and organic matter content than upslopepositions, suggesting significant movement of material along topographic gradients. Differences in soilproperties are attributed largely to increased compaction and loss of organic matter inputs in theagricultural system. Our results suggest that the conversion of forested land cover to agriculture landcover reduces soil quality and carbon storage, alters long‐term site productivity, and contributes toincreased atmospheric carbon dioxide concentrations.

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A General Methodology for Climate‐Informed Approaches to Long‐Term Flood Projection—Illustrated With the Ohio River Basin

Water Resources Research ◽

10.1029/2018wr023209 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 54 (11) ◽

pp. 9321-9341 ◽

Cited By ~ 9

Author(s):

Katherine E. Schlef ◽

Baptiste François ◽

Andrew W. Robertson ◽

Casey Brown

Keyword(s):

River Basin ◽

Ohio River ◽

Ohio River Basin ◽

General Methodology

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Response of phosphorus fractions to land-use change followed by long-term fertilization in a sub-alpine humid soil of Qinghai–Tibet plateau

Journal of Soils and Sediments ◽

10.1007/s11368-018-2132-y ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 19 (3) ◽

pp. 1109-1119 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Xiaolei Sun ◽

Meng Li ◽

Guoxi Wang ◽

Marios Drosos ◽

Fulai Liu ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Phosphorus Fractions ◽

Tibet Plateau ◽

Qinghai Tibet Plateau

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Warming increases carbon and nutrient fluxes from sediments in streams across land use

Biogeosciences ◽

10.5194/bg-10-1193-2013 ◽

2013 ◽

Vol 10 (2) ◽

pp. 1193-1207 ◽

Cited By ~ 24

Author(s):

S.-W. Duan ◽

S. S. Kaushal

Keyword(s):

Land Use ◽

Organic Matter ◽

Land Use Change ◽

Sulfate Reduction ◽

Organic Matter Content ◽

Soluble Reactive Phosphorus ◽

Overlying Water ◽

Sediment Fluxes ◽

Urban Sites

Abstract. Rising water temperatures due to climate and land use change can accelerate biogeochemical fluxes from sediments to streams. We investigated impacts of increased streamwater temperatures on sediment fluxes of dissolved organic carbon (DOC), nitrate, soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) and sulfate. Experiments were conducted at 8 long-term monitoring sites across land use (forest, agricultural, suburban, and urban) at the Baltimore Ecosystem Study Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) site in the Chesapeake Bay watershed. Over 20 yr of routine water temperature data showed substantial variation across seasons and years. Lab incubations of sediment and overlying water were conducted at 4 temperatures (4 °C, 15 °C, 25 °C, and 35 °C) for 48 h. Results indicated: (1) warming significantly increased sediment DOC fluxes to overlying water across land use but decreased DOC quality via increases in the humic-like to protein-like fractions, (2) warming consistently increased SRP fluxes from sediments to overlying water across land use, (3) warming increased sulfate fluxes from sediments to overlying water at rural/suburban sites but decreased sulfate fluxes at some urban sites likely due to sulfate reduction, and (4) nitrate fluxes showed an increasing trend with temperature at some forest and urban sites but with larger variability than SRP. Sediment fluxes of nitrate, SRP and sulfate were strongly related to watershed urbanization and organic matter content. Using relationships of sediment fluxes with temperature, we estimate a 5 °C warming would increase mean sediment fluxes of SRP, DOC and nitrate-N across streams by 0.27–1.37 g m−2 yr−1, 0.03–0.14 kg m−2 yr−1, and 0.001–0.06 kg m−2 yr−1. Understanding warming impacts on coupled biogeochemical cycles in streams (e.g., organic matter mineralization, P sorption, nitrification, denitrification, and sulfate reduction) is critical for forecasting shifts in carbon and nutrient loads in response to interactive impacts of climate and land use change.

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