Fish Communities of the Buffalo River Basin and Nearby Basins of Arkansas and their Relation to Selected Environmental Factors, 2001-2002 Prepared in cooperation with the NATIONAL PARK SERVICE and the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOREST SERVICE Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5119 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey B A C D F E A - Richland Creek near Witts Springs B - Longear sunfish—common throughout the Ozark Plateaus C - Stippled darter—primarily restricted to small streams and is endemic to the Ozark Plateaus D - Banded sculpin (top) and Ozark sculpin (bottom)—banded sculpins are widely distributed throughout the Ozark Plateaus. Ozark sculpins are less widely distributed and are endemic to the Ozark Plateaus E - Smallmouth bass—an important game fish found throughout most of the Ozark Plateaus F - Buffalo River just downstream from Rush Creek (photograph by Billy G. Justus, U.S. Geological Survey) Fish Communities of the Buffalo River Basin and Nearby Basins of Arkansas and their Relation to Selected Environmental Factors, 2001-2002 By James C. Petersen Prepared in cooperation with the NATIONAL PARK SERVICE and the U.S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE FOREST SERVICE Scientific Investigations Report 2004-5119 U.S. Department of the Interior U.S. Geological Survey U.S. Department of the Interior Gale A. Norton, Secretary U.S. Geological Survey Charles G. Groat, Director U.S. Geological Survey, Reston, Virginia: 200X For sale by U.S. Geological Survey, Information Services Box 25286, Denver Federal Center Denver, CO 80225 For more information about the USGS and its products: Telephone: 1-888-ASK-USGS World Wide Web: http://www.usgs.gov/ Any use of trade, product, or firm names in this publication is for descriptive purposes only and does not imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. Although this report is in the public domain, permission must be secured from the individual copyright owners to repro- duce any copyrighted materials contained within this report. Contents III CONTENTS Abstract................................................................................................................................................................................1 Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................................1 Purpose and Scope.....................................................................................................................................................3 Acknowledgments .....................................................................................................................................................3 Description of Study Area and its Fishes ............................................................................................................................3 Methods of Study.................................................................................................................................................................6 Water-Quality Sampling ............................................................................................................................................6 Drainage Basin and Reach-Scale Characteristic Measurement and Data Processing ...............................................6 Fish Sampling............................................................................................................................................................9 Statistical Analysis ....................................................................................................................................................9 Environmental Characteristics of Sampling Sites .............................................................................................................11 Fishes of the Buffalo River Basin......................................................................................................................................11 Fishes of Nearby Basins of the White River System.........................................................................................................15 Comparison of Fish Community Metrics By Site Type....................................................................................................15 Comparison of Site Categories Based on Drainage Area, Basin Land Use, and Location .....................................15 Comparison of Buffalo River Basin Sites and Paired Out-of-Basin Sites...............................................................24 Comparison of Tributary Sites and Satellite Sites...................................................................................................27 Relations between Fish Community Metrics and Selected Environmental Factors..........................................................28 Results of Ordination Analysis..........................................................................................................................................34 Relations Between Ordination Analysis Results, Environmental Factors, and Community Metrics ...............................37 Results of Classification Analysis .....................................................................................................................................41 Relations Between Classification Analysis Results and Environmental Factors..............................................................44 Implications of Fish Community Information for Buffalo National River and the Ozark National Forest......................46 Summary............................................................................................................................................................................46 Selected References...........................................................................................................................................................49 Glossary.............................................................................................................................................................................51 ILLUSTRATIONS Figure 1. Map showing location of sampling sites.............................................................................................................2 2. Boxplots showing distribution of values of selected environmental factors by site category........................... 12 3. Boxplots showing distribution of relative abundance of minnows, darters, sunfish, and stonerollers by site category .................................................................................................................................................16 4. Boxplots showing distribution of metrics related to index of biotic integrity by site category ........................22 5. Boxplots showing distribution of index of biotic integrity scores by site category..........................................24 6. Graph showing relation between percent invertivores and percentage of cleared land in basin for mainstem, large tributary, and developed out-of-basin sites..........................................................................................28 7. Graph showing relation between stoneroller relative abundance and percentage of cleared land in basin for mainstem, large tributary, and developed out-of-basin sites........................................................................29 8. Graph showing detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) site scores for 52 sites.........................................35 9. Graph showing detrended correspondence analysis (DCA) site scores for subset of sites...............................36 10. Graph showing relation between detrended corresponded analysis (DCA) axis 1 score and drainage area for subset of sites..................................................................................................................................39 11. Classification of fish communities by two-way indicator species analysis (TWINSPAN) ..............................42 IV Contents TABLES Table 1. Fish community sampling site information........................................................................................................ 4 2. Drainage-basin and reach-scale characteristic variables, definitions, and data sources .................................... 7 3. Metrics used for calculation of index of biotic integrity for Ozark Highland streams in Arkansas .................10 4. Species richness and relative abundance of fish taxa at sites in study area ......................................................52 5. Fish community metrics by site ........................................................................................................................17 6. Comparison of fish community metrics for paired Buffalo River Basin sites and developed out-of-basin sites ...........................................................................................................................................25 7. Regression models of relation between fish community metrics and drainage area and land-use related factors ................................................................................................................................................26 8. Comparison of percent similarity index values and species richness between satellite sites and associated Buffalo River tributary and mainstem sites .................................................................................27 9. Correlation between