Effects of urbanization on freshwater fish species community structure in the Etowah River watershed
Disciplines
Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology
Abstract (300 words maximum)
The Etowah River watershed, located in northern Georgia, United States, is a region of significant ecological and geographical importance. It hosts over 70 endemic species of freshwater fish, many of which are protected at the federal or state level. From 2000 to 2019, stream fish were sampled in various reaches throughout the watershed via seine netting and electrofishing. The fish data were then georeferenced and combined with public human population and landcover data so that we could explore the effects of anthropic land cover use and other environmental factors on freshwater fish community structure. We hypothesized that anthropic land use leads to degradation of stream communities because impervious surfaces lead to increased runoff which can alter stream flow and negatively impact water quality. We predicted that locations with greater proportions of anthropic land use would have lower biodiversity, and locations with greater proportions of natural land in their watersheds would have greater biodiversity. We then used catchment-scale land cover, human population size, latitude, and elevation to model stream fish species richness and other community structure metrics. These findings may help inform conservation of native fish communities in the face of increasing human population size and land use change.
Academic department under which the project should be listed
CSM - Ecology, Evolution, and Organismal Biology
Primary Investigator (PI) Name
Nicholas Green
Effects of urbanization on freshwater fish species community structure in the Etowah River watershed
The Etowah River watershed, located in northern Georgia, United States, is a region of significant ecological and geographical importance. It hosts over 70 endemic species of freshwater fish, many of which are protected at the federal or state level. From 2000 to 2019, stream fish were sampled in various reaches throughout the watershed via seine netting and electrofishing. The fish data were then georeferenced and combined with public human population and landcover data so that we could explore the effects of anthropic land cover use and other environmental factors on freshwater fish community structure. We hypothesized that anthropic land use leads to degradation of stream communities because impervious surfaces lead to increased runoff which can alter stream flow and negatively impact water quality. We predicted that locations with greater proportions of anthropic land use would have lower biodiversity, and locations with greater proportions of natural land in their watersheds would have greater biodiversity. We then used catchment-scale land cover, human population size, latitude, and elevation to model stream fish species richness and other community structure metrics. These findings may help inform conservation of native fish communities in the face of increasing human population size and land use change.