Homogenization of Fish Faunas and Concurrent Anthropogenic Impacts on Plains Streams in Western Kansas: 1854–2003 Mark E

Fort Hays State University FHSU Scholars Repository Fort Hays Studies Series 2007 Homogenization of Fish Faunas and Concurrent Anthropogenic Impacts on Plains Streams in Western Kansas: 1854–2003 Mark E. Eberle Fort Hays State University, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://scholars.fhsu.edu/fort_hays_studies_series Part of the Biology Commons Recommended Citation Eberle, Mark E., "Homogenization of Fish Faunas and Concurrent Anthropogenic Impacts on Plains Streams in Western Kansas: 1854–2003" (2007). Fort Hays Studies Series. 74. https://scholars.fhsu.edu/fort_hays_studies_series/74 This Book is brought to you for free and open access by FHSU Scholars Repository. It has been accepted for inclusion in Fort Hays Studies Series by an authorized administrator of FHSU Scholars Repository. Fort Hays Studies Fort Fort Hays Studies Fourth Series Number 4 Fall 2007 4.4 Fall 2007 4.4 Fall Homogenization of Fish Homogenizations of Fish Faunas in W Homogenizations of Fish Faunas Faunas and Concurrent Anthropogenic Impacts on Plains Streams in Western estern Kansas: 1854–2003 Kansas: 1854–2003 www.fhsu.edu Copyright © 2007 by by Fort Hays State University Mark E. Eberle Fort Hays Studies Fourth Series Number 4 Fall 2007 Homogenization of Fish Faunas and Concurrent Anthropogenic Impacts on Plains Streams in Western Kansas: 1854–2003 by Mark E. Eberle Department of Biological Sciences Fort Hays State University Fort Hays Studies Fourth Series, Number 4, Fall 2007 Series Editor: Bradley Will Department of English Fort Hays State University Design, Layout, and Cover: Bradley Will Copyright © 2007 by Fort Hays State University Hays, Kansas 67601 www.fhsu.edu Support for this volume was provided by: Steven Trout Interim Dean of Graduate Studies and Research Fort Hays State University Larry Gould Provost Fort Hays State University Fort Hays State University is a thriving liberal and applied arts, state- assisted institution with an enrollment of about 8,000 students. It offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in many fi elds and provides a wide variety of cultural and intellectual resources, not only for its faculty, staff, and students but for the western Kansas region and beyond. Fort Hays State University occupies the southwest corner of Hays, Kansas, a city of about 20,000 people located halfway between Kansas City and Denver on Interstate 70. The city and its people make their livings from across a wide spectrum of industries—agriculture, education, light manufacturing, medical care, oil, retail, and technology. Fort Hays Studies is an irregular series sponsored by the Graduate School at Fort Hays State University. The series has been published since 1939 and presents the scholarship of faculty, students, alumni, and other individuals associated with Fort Hays State University. Acknowledgments As with any study, many people, some of whom are unknown to me by name, assisted with this research. From Fort Hays State University, I thank Rob Channell and Cheryl Schmidt, who provided advice on statistical analyses; Gene Fleharty (retired), who directed me to the published historical agricultural data; Elmer Finck, Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences, who supported me with time and money needed for this research; students Rachel Copeland, Jason Green, Jennifer Oelschlager, Eric Starkey, and Curtis Wolf, who provided computer assistance and helpful discussions; and especially, Bill Stark, who offered advice and observations for this study, and who joined Joe Tomelleri, Guy Ernsting, and me on our earliest forays into research on stream fi shes in western Kansas. I am also grateful to the Graduate School at Fort Hays State University (Tim Crowley, Dean), which provided funding for this publication. From Kansas State University, I thank Keith Gido, who provided a helpful review of the manuscript and suggestions for my research, and former student Jeff Falke for his assistance with data capture. I am grateful to Edie Marsh-Matthews at the University of Oklahoma and Tim Bonner at Texas State University, who took time from their busy schedules to read the manuscript and suggest improvements. From Oklahoma State University (more recently at the University of Kansas), I thank Geff Luttrell for providing data from his fi sh surveys conducted in the early 1990s. I thank all of the people who attended several oral presentations about this research and, perhaps unknowingly, contributed to improvements on the manuscript. I am also grateful to the numerous people who served on the fi eld crews for the Kansas Department of Wildlife and Parks, especially Ryan Waters for his responses to my numerous requests for information, and to those who served on the fi eld crews from Fort Hays State University, as well as all of the other collectors since 1885. Similarly, I am grateful for the important services provided by the museums, their staffs, and their students at the University of Kansas, University of Michigan, and Sternberg Museum of Natural History at Fort Hays State University. And lastly, but most especially, I am thankful for the valuable guidance and encouragement provided by the late Frank Cross (University of Kansas) and Tom Wenke (Fort Hays State University, retired) that ultimately led me to this research. Abstract The fish faunas of the Kansas and Arkansas river basins in western Kansas were signifi cantly dissimilar at the time the Kansas Territory was established in 1854. The faunas were no longer dissimilar 150 years later. This homogenization of the faunas resulted primarily from extirpations, although additions of nonnative species, which now constitute 40% of extant faunas, also contributed. Two periods of changes in the faunas were associated with concurrent anthropogenic changes to the landscape that altered stream habitats. Early extirpations of native species (prior to 1920) occurred in clear, perennial creeks and were concurrent with rapid increases in human population and row-crop agriculture associated with increased demands on perennial water sources and increased sediment yields in streams. Late extirpations of native species and widespread additions of nonnative species (after 1960) occurred in formerly large, often turbid rivers with seasonally variable fl ows and were concurrent with increases in groundwater mining and construction of impoundments associated with dewatered stream segments, stabilized fl ows in other stream segments, reduced peak fl ows in all rivers during summer, increased lentic habitat, and reduced turbidity. Contents Introduction.............................................................. 11 Study Area ................................................................13 Methods .................................................................. 17 Assessment of Fish Faunas .....................................................17 Anthropogenic Changes ........................................................ 20 Results .................................................................... 23 Extirpated Species .............................................................. 23 Nonnative Species .............................................................. 24 Faunal Similarity ................................................................ 24 Anthropogenic Changes ........................................................ 26 Discussion ................................................................ 35 Early Changes in the Faunas and Concurrent Landscape Changes ...... 36 Late Changes in the Faunas and Concurrent Landscape Changes ....... 40 Conclusions ...................................................................... 43 Literature Cited ......................................................... 47 Appendix A ............................................................... 57 Appendix B ............................................................... 67 Introduction Biotic homogenization is a process that increases similarity among ecosystems in space and time in their taxonomic, genetic, or ecological attributes (Olden et al., 2004; Olden and Rooney, 2006), typically through the replacement of unique elements of native communities by widespread, nonnative elements (McKinney and Lockwood, 1999). Although homogenization at regional scales can result primarily from introductions (Radomski and Goeman, 1995; Rahel, 2000; Marchetti et al., 2001; Carlson and Daniels, 2004), extinctions can play a dominant role in some ecosystems (Duncan and Lockwood, 2001). In North America, extinction rates of aquatic taxa are of particular concern and exceed those for terrestrial taxa (Ricciardi and Rasmussen, 1999). In addition to local impacts, the loss of unique taxa, alleles, or ecological attributes of ecosystems contributes to the impoverishment of global biodiversity. The loss of these elements from ecosystems can result from habitat changes, negative biological interactions with nonnative organisms, or both (e.g., Witte et al., 1992; Ricciardi et al., 1995; Rhymer and Simberloff, 1996; Lodge et al., 2000). Rahel (2002) summarized information on the homogenization of aquatic faunas, primarily in North America, and discussed the interactive roles of habitat alterations, introductions, and extirpations in this process. In some instances, introductions or extirpations of key species can initiate homogenization. For example, the introduction of Nile perch (Lates niloticus) into Lake Victoria, Africa, led to a decline in cichlid diversity, which altered ecosystem processes (Witte et al., 1992). Conversely,

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