2023 Early Hearing Detection & Intervention Conference

March 5-7, 2023 • Cincinnati, OH

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6/05/2017  |   2:15 PM - 2:30 PM   |  EFFECTS OF PREDICTABLE AND UNPREDICTABLE FLOW VARIABILITY ON DESERT STREAM FISH ASSEMBLAGES   |  302C

EFFECTS OF PREDICTABLE AND UNPREDICTABLE FLOW VARIABILITY ON DESERT STREAM FISH ASSEMBLAGES

In desert streams, flow regimes control fish assemblages via seasonal (predictable) and aseasonal (unpredictable) floods and droughts. Because native biotas possess a wide range of life-history, behavioral, and morphological adaptations to natural flow regimes, seasonal flows should favor native over non-native species. However, aseasonal, unpredictable flow events may represent a source of disturbance for the entire community. We tested these predictions studying fish communities in eight Arizonan streams across a hydrologic variability gradient at four seasonal time points, including two wet (Summer monsoon, winter) and two dry seasons (fall, spring). Three-pass depletion sampling, and spectral methods on long-term flow data allowed (i) determining the short-term responses of native and non-native fish populations to seasonal flow extremes, and (ii) quantifying how the long-term properties of a flow regime (i.e., the relative importance of predictable vs. unpredictable sources of flow variability) relate to fish community diversity. We found that highly seasonal streams had fewer fish species. Additionally, although native richness did not correlate with either metric of flow variability, non-native richness decreased with both increasing seasonal and interannual variation.

  • C02 Fish and Other Aquatic Vertebrates
  • C11 Community Ecology
  • S31 Moving forward in flow ecology: identifying and testing key hypotheses

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Presenters/Authors

Ethan Baruch (), Arizona State University, ebaruch@asu.edu;


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Albert Ruhi (), National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center. , aruhi@sesync.org;


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John Sabo (), Arizona State University, John.L.Sabo@asu.edu;


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