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Habitat Selection and Partitioning Among Darters in Two Tributaries of the Clinch River, and Stream Restoration Effects on Substrate Profile

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Habitat Selection and Partitioning Among Darters in Two Tributaries of the Clinch River, and Stream Restoration Effects on Substrate Profile University of Tennessee, Knoxville TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange Masters Theses Graduate School 5-2014 Habitat Selection and Partitioning Among Darters in Two Tributaries of the Clinch River, and Stream Restoration Effects on Substrate Profile Daniel James Walker University of Tennessee - Knoxville, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes Part of the Aquaculture and Fisheries Commons, Population Biology Commons, and the Terrestrial and Aquatic Ecology Commons Recommended Citation Walker, Daniel James, "Habitat Selection and Partitioning Among Darters in Two Tributaries of the Clinch River, and Stream Restoration Effects on Substrate Profile. " Master's Thesis, University of Tennessee, 2014. https://trace.tennessee.edu/utk_gradthes/2761 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by the Graduate School at TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Masters Theses by an authorized administrator of TRACE: Tennessee Research and Creative Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. To the Graduate Council: I am submitting herewith a thesis written by Daniel James Walker entitled "Habitat Selection and Partitioning Among Darters in Two Tributaries of the Clinch River, and Stream Restoration Effects on Substrate Profile." I have examined the final electronic copy of this thesis for form and content and recommend that it be accepted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree of Master of Science, with a major in Wildlife and Fisheries Science. J. Larry Wilson, Major Professor We have read this thesis and recommend its acceptance: Arnold Saxton, Raymond Albright Accepted for the Council: Carolyn R. Hodges Vice Provost and Dean of the Graduate School (Original signatures are on file with official studentecor r ds.) Habitat Selection and Partitioning Among Darters in Two Tributaries of the Clinch River, and Stream Restoration Effects on Substrate Profile A Thesis Presented for the Master of Science Degree The University of Tennessee, Knoxville Daniel James Walker May 2014 Copyright © 2014 by Daniel Walker All rights reserved. ii Acknowledgments I am very grateful to Dr. Larry Wilson for allowing me the opportunity to pursue an advanced degree in fisheries science while conducting personally-interesting research. I would also like to thank Joyce Coombs for her guidance, along with Dr. Wilson, while I designed this research project from the ground up. I am also very grateful for the direction from my other committee members, Dr. Ray Albright and Dr. Arnold Saxton. Finally, I would not have been able to complete the field work for this thesis without the help of everyone in the Fisheries Lab, and I greatly appreciate all of their help and hard work. iii Abstract The group of fish referred to as darters is extremely biodiverse. Often, several closely related species will inhabit the same areas of streams, and prior research has investigated how these species may be partitioning the resources in low-order streams in which they are sympatric. The habitat partitioning of darters in two streams in the Clinch River system, Coal and Cove Creeks, was investigated. The study sites were picked due to their involvement in both physical and biological stream restoration efforts within the last several years, including the collection, translocation, and reintroduction of rainbow darters (Etheostoma caeruleum) from reference sites in Cove Creek to the impacted and restored sites in Coal Creek. Snorkel surveys were used to identify adult darters and mark their locations, and the substrate in the darters’ immediate surroundings was quantified. These measurements were compared to transect survey data to assess whether darters were selecting for habitat, and then compared among the subpopulations of darters encountered. The numbers of adult redline (Nothonotus ruffilineatum), snubnose (E. simoterum), and rainbow darters encountered were great enough to proceed with analyses of habitat usage. It was determined that darters were selecting for habitat nonrandomly, and that all three of the species most encountered associated with coarse rocky substrate. Differences in habitat associations among species appeared to be driven by the environmental factors each species encountered at the site scale. In a secondary study, effects of stream restoration were assessed by comparing substrate profiles of the sites where darter surveys were conducted. Each site was classified as either natural, impacted, or restored. Then, the collected substrate data from transect surveys at each site were compared. The substrate profile of the most upstream site in Coal iv Creek, a site that has undergone stream restoration efforts, most closely resembled those of the ‘natural’ reference sites in Cove Creek. Substrate profiles of the more downstream sites of Coal Creek did not resemble those of the reference sites as closely, regardless of stream restoration effort. v Table of Contents CHAPTER I: INTRODUCTION ............................................................................. 1 Study Objectives ............................................................................................. 4 CHAPTER II: LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................... 5 Darter Ecology Research ................................................................................ 5 Stream Restoration Research ....................................................................... 17 CHAPTER III: METHODS ................................................................................... 24 Study Sites .................................................................................................... 24 Habitat Surveys ............................................................................................ 26 Analyses ....................................................................................................... 29 CHAPTER IV: RESULTS .................................................................................... 32 Nonrandom Habitat Selection ....................................................................... 32 Species Habitat Partitioning .......................................................................... 33 Rainbow Darter Habitat Use ......................................................................... 40 Effects of Stream Restoration ....................................................................... 42 CHAPTER V: CONCLUSIONS ........................................................................... 48 Habitat Partitioning........................................................................................ 48 Reintroduction and Habitat Use .................................................................... 51 Stream Restoration and Substrate Profile ..................................................... 52 CHAPTER VI: SUMMARY .................................................................................. 55 LITERATURE CITED .......................................................................................... 56 APPENDIX .......................................................................................................... 62 VITA .................................................................................................................... 64 vi List of Tables TABLE 1. Results of each cell chi-square test for association between “site*species” and the 10 substrate categories ........................................ 37 2. Habitat associations compared across each species, with heat map color scheme applied .............................................................................. 38 3. Comparison of the cell chi-square values calculated for sympatric groups of species when n ≥ 5, analogous of the information in Figure 3 .................................................................................................... 39 4. Occurrences of each substrate category at each site .............................. 43 vii List of Figures FIGURE 1. Watershed map of Clinch River system near Norris Dam ........................ 25 2. Correspondence analysis of the habitat association data for all site*species observed ............................................................................. 34 3. Correspondence analysis of the habitat associations of all site*species where n ≥ 5 ............................................................................................. 35 4. Correspondence analysis of the habitat associations of the rainbow darters in Coal and Cove Creeks ............................................................ 41 5. Substrate profile for the Cove Creek sites taken from available habitat transect measurements ............................................................... 44 6. Comparison of the substrate profiles of the Coal Creek site at Briceville and those of the natural sites in Cove Creek ............................ 45 7. Comparison of the substrate profiles of the Coal Creek site at Fraterville and those of the natural sites in Cove Creek ........................... 46 8. Comparison of the substrate profiles of the Coal Creek site at The Wye and those of the natural sites in Cove Creek ............................ 47 viii CHAPER I: INTRODUCTION During the international Convention on Biological Diversity in 2002, world leaders committed to reducing the rate of global biodiversity loss significantly by the year 2010.
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