Pw. Lienesch et al., Seasonal and long-term changes in the fish assemblage of a small stream isolated by a reservoir, SW NATURAL, 45(3), 2000, pp. 274-288
Because reservoirs are known to affect upstream fish communities, we assess
ed change in fish assemblages of a reservoir tributary from surveys conduct
ed 10 and 50 years post-impoundment. We collected fishes front five section
s of Buncombe Creek (a tributary to Lake Texoma, Oklahoma-Texas) in each se
ason of 1995, and compared assemblages in each section among seasons. We al
so compared assemblages in each section pooled over all seasons to the asse
mblage present in 1954-1955. We used measures of persistence (species compo
sition, Jaccard's Index), stability (relative abundance, Percent Similarity
Index), and Detrended Correspondence Analysis to compare assemblages withi
n 1995 and between the two surveys. There was little change in assemblages
throughout 1995, with high stability in the most upstream section. The most
change occurred between spring and summer. We collected 31 of the 47 speci
es caught in 1954-1955, plus five additional species. The assemblage in the
most upstream section of the creek showed the least persistence and the le
ast stability between the two surveys. Longitudinal differences in fish ass
emblages of the creek were more pronounced in 1954-1955 than 1995. We discu
ss the possible role of isolation of Buncombe Creek from the free-flowing p
ortion of the Red River in the extirpation of Notropis buchanani, Labidesth
es sicculus, and Fundulus zebrinus.