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LOCAL VS. REGIONAL EFFECTS ON FISH DIVERSITY AS MEDIATED BY STREAMFLOW DISTURBANCE REGIME
Citation:
KELLY, V. LOCAL VS. REGIONAL EFFECTS ON FISH DIVERSITY AS MEDIATED BY STREAMFLOW DISTURBANCE REGIME. Presented at International Conference on "Riverine Hydroecology: Advances in Researcha nd Applications", Stirling, SCOTLAND, August 14 - 18, 2006.
Description:
abstract
The interplay of local and regional processes on fish diversity is poorly understood, especially related to patterns of streamflow disturbance regime. Articulation of the relationship between flow disturbance patterns and river fishes across local to regional scales is critical for resolution of some of our most difficult conservation challenges. This analysis addresses the following questions: (1) How do patterns of flow disturbance regime array across the landscape at multiple scales? (2) How are patterns of fish diversity distributed across the same landscape? (3) How does the relationship between flow regime and fish diversity vary at different levels of spatial scale? My study area was the upper Missouri River Basin in Montana and the Dakotas, USA. Streamflow disturbance was defined by metrics derived from U.S. Geological Survey streamflow data. Fish data were provided by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency as part of the Environmental Monitoring and Assessment Program (EMAP). The relative influences of local and regional processes on native fish diversity were quantified by additive partitioning of total diversity (ã) into local (á) and regional (â) components. Diversity components were evaluated in the context of the streamflow regime to determine the relative importance of different streamflow factors across the range of scale.