Distribution Changes of Small Fishes in Streams of Missouri from The
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Distribution Changes of Small Fishes in Streams of Missouri from the 1940s to the 1990s by MATTHEW R. WINSTON Missouri Department of Conservation, Columbia, MO 65201 February 2003 CONTENTS Page Abstract……………………………………………………………………………….. 8 Introduction…………………………………………………………………………… 10 Methods……………………………………………………………………………….. 17 The Data Used………………………………………………………………… 17 General Patterns in Species Change…………………………………………... 23 Conservation Status of Species……………………………………………….. 26 Results………………………………………………………………………………… 34 General Patterns in Species Change………………………………………….. 30 Conservation Status of Species……………………………………………….. 46 Discussion…………………………………………………………………………….. 63 General Patterns in Species Change………………………………………….. 53 Conservation Status of Species………………………………………………. 63 Acknowledgments……………………………………………………………………. 66 Literature Cited……………………………………………………………………….. 66 Appendix……………………………………………………………………………… 72 FIGURES 1. Distribution of samples by principal investigator…………………………. 20 2. Areas of greatest average decline…………………………………………. 33 3. Areas of greatest average expansion………………………………………. 34 4. The relationship between number of basins and ……………………….. 39 5. The distribution of for each reproductive group………………………... 40 2 6. The distribution of for each family……………………………………… 41 7. The distribution of for each trophic group……………...………………. 42 8. The distribution of for each faunal region………………………………. 43 9. The distribution of for each stream type………………………………… 44 10. The distribution of for each range edge…………………………………. 45 11. Modified IUCN categories versus existing state rank…………………… 52 12. Time path of samples made by Harry……………………………………. 55 13. Water level differences before and during the two sample periods……… 56 TABLES 1. Species analyzed in this paper……………………………………………. 11 2. The IUCN and modified criteria for critically endangered, endangered, and vulnerable………………………………………………. 26 3. Change in species occurrence, 1940s versus 1990s………………………. 30 4. Species showing regional decline………………………………………… 36 5. Species showing regional expansion……………………………………... 37 6. Extinction correlates and sample adequacy………………………………. 46 7. Abundance of Ozark species in 1990s samples where they showed expansion into the southern and western plains…………………. 57 APPENDIX TABLES 1. Species traits used in this analysis………………………………………… 72 3 APPENDIX FIGURES (in alphabetical order) 1. Arkansas River orangethroat darter……………...………………………... 75 2. Banded darter…………………………………………………………….... 76 3. Banded sculpin…………………………………………………………….. 77 4. Bigeye chub……………………………………………………………… 78 5. Bigeye shiner…………………………………………………………….. 79 6. Bigmouth shiner……………………….…………………………………. 80 7. Blacknose shiner…………………………………………………………… 81 8. Blackside darter……………………………………………………………. 82 9. Blackspotted topminnow………………………………………………… 83 10. Blackstripe topminnow…………………………………………………….. 84 11. Blacktail shiner…………………………………………………………... 85 12. Bleeding shiner…………………………………………………………….. 86 13. Bluegill…………………………………………………………………… 87 14. Bluestripe darter…………………………………………………................. 88 15. Bluntface shiner……………………………………………………………. 89 16. Bluntnose darter………………………………………………………….. 90 17. Bluntnose minnow……………………………………………….………. 91 18. Brook silverside………………………………………………………….. 92 19. Bullhead minnow…………………………………………………………. 93 20. Cardinal shiner…………………………………………………………… 94 21. Central stoneroller………………………………………………………… 95 22. Common shiner……………………………………………………………. 96 4 23. Creek chub…………………………………………………………………. 97 24. Creek chubsucker………………………………………………………….. 98 25. Duskystripe shiner…………………………………………………………. 99 26. Eastern redfin shiner………………………………………………………. 100 27. Emerald shiner…………………………………………………………… 101 28. Fathead minnow……………………………………………………………. 102 29. Freckled madtom………………………………………………………… 103 30. Ghost shiner……………………………………………………………… 104 31. Gilt darter………………………………………………………………… 105 32. Golden shiner…………………………………………………………….. 106 33. Gravel chub………………………………………………………………. 107 34. Greenside darter……………………………………………….................. 108 35. Green sunfish……………………………………………………………... 109 36. Hornyhead chub……………………………………………….................. 110 37. Johnny darter……………………………………………………………... 111 38. Largescale stoneroller…………………………………………………….. 112 39. Longear sunfish…………………………………………………………… 113 40. Meramec River saddled darter……………………………………………. 114 41. Mimic shiner……………………………………………………………… 115 42. Mississippi silvery minnow………………………………………………. 116 43. Missouri saddled darter…………………………………………………… 117 44. Mottled/Ozark sculpin………………………………………..................... 118 45. Northern logperch…………………………………………………………. 119 5 46. Northern orangethroat darter………………………………………………..120 47. Northern studfish………………………………………………………… 121 48. Ohio logperch…………………………………………………….................122 49. Orangespotted sunfish……………………………………………………… 123 50. Ozark chub……………………………………………………………….. 124 51. Ozark logperch…………………………………………………………… 125 52. Ozark madtom……………………………………………………………… 126 53. Ozark minnow………………………………………………….................... 127 54. Ozark shiner……………………………………………………………… 128 55. Pallid shiner……………………………………………………………… 129 56. Peppered chub……………………………………………………………… 130 57. Plains minnow……………………………………………………………. 131 58. Plains topminnow………………………………………………………… 132 59. Pugnose minnow…………………………………………………………… 133 60. Rainbow darter…………………………………………………………… 134 61. Red shiner………………………………………………………………… 135 62. Redspot chub…………………………………………………….................. 136 63. Redspotted sunfish…………………………………………………………. 137 64. Ribbon shiner……………………….…………………………………….. 138 65. Rosyface shiner…………………………………………………………….. 139 66. Sand shiner…………………………………………………………………. 140 67. Silver chub…………………………………………………………………. 141 68. Slenderhead darter…………………………………………………………. 142 6 69. Slender madtom……………………………………………………………. 143 70. Slough darter…………………………………………………….................. 144 71. Southern redbelly dace…………………………………………………… 145 72. Speckled darter…………………………………………………………… 146 73. Spotfin shiner…………………………………………………………….. 147 74. Steelcolor shiner…………………………………………………………….148 75. Stippled darter……………………………………………………………. 149 76. Stonecat…………………………………………………………………… 150 77. Striped fantail darter……………………………………………………… 151 78. Striped shiner…………………………………………………………….. 152 79. Suckermouth minnow…………………………………………................. 153 80. Tadpole madtom…………………………………………………………. 154 81. Telescope shiner………………………………………………………….. 155 82. Topeka shiner…………………………………………………………….. 156 83. Trout-perch……………………………………………………................. 157 84. Warmouth………………………………………………………………… 158 85. Wedgespot shiner………………………………………………………… 159 86. Weed shiner………………………………………………………………. 160 87. Western mosquitofish…………………………………………………….. 161 88. Western redfin shiner……………………………………………………... 162 89. White River orangethroat darter……………………………….................. 163 90. Whitetail shiner…………………………………………………………… 164 91. Yoke darter………………………………….…………………................. 165 7 ABSTRACT One of the strategic goals of the Missouri Department of Conservation is to preserve and restore the state’s biodiversity including the 232 fish species and subspecies in Missouri. Meeting this goal requires knowledge of changes in distribution and habitat of each species. I compared data from fish community samples made with seines throughout most of the state between 1938 and 1941 with samples made similarly between 1986 and 2001. My first objective was to investigate whether species distributions in Missouri had changed, where the most change occurred, and what species traits were associated with change. My second objective was to apply the International Union for the Conservation of Species (IUCN) criteria to each species to assess probability of extirpation in the state. My methods were based on five measures. For each species, I assessed change in distribution over time. In the reaches where a species was known to occur in the 1990s, I assessed total length of the reaches, the proportion of samples with the species, isolation of reaches, and an index of population size in isolated reaches. Of the 91 species with large enough sample sizes for analysis, four showed no change in distribution over time, 49 declined, and 38 expanded. Decline was greatest in the northern Ozarks; expansion was greatest in the western and southern plains. Over half of the species that showed decline in the Ozarks were plains species, and over half of the species that expanded into the plains were Ozark species. Out of 32 species’ traits tested, seven were associated with decline: membership in the family Cyprinidae (minnows), species characteristic of large Ozark rivers, large plains rivers, small plains rivers, plains headwaters, clear lowland ditches, and species with the northwestern edge of their range in Missouri. Membership in the family Cyprinidae was by far the most important trait 8 associated with decline. Over 96% of the species that declined were associated with at least one of these seven trait categories. Expansion was associated with species characteristic of small Ozark rivers, Ozark creeks, and lowland standing waters, but these were not strong relationships. I discuss nine alternative explanations for the general patterns I found: sampling bias, grazing in riparian forests, plowing of soils for row-crop agriculture, predation, range size, climate change, Missouri River modifications, drought, and channel downcutting. Four species met the IUCN criteria for highly endangered, eight species met the criteria for endangered, and eight species met the criteria for vulnerable. Agreement between the IUCN categories and the existing state ranks was fairly