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Effect of Stream Impoundment in Tennessee on the Fish Populations of Tributary Streams
Author(s) -
Ruhr C. E.
Publication year - 1957
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1956)86[144:eosiit]2.0.co;2
Subject(s) - dorosoma , gizzard shad , streams , tributary , fishery , environmental science , common carp , carp , population , hydrology (agriculture) , cyprinus , ecology , biology , fish <actinopterygii> , geography , geology , computer network , cartography , geotechnical engineering , computer science , demography , sociology
Data from a statewide survey of warm water streams in Tennessee were used to determine the extent to which gizzard shad (Dorosoma cepedianum), carp (Cyprinus carpio), smallmouth buffalo (Ictiobus bubalus), and drum (Aplodinotus grunniens) inhabit smallmouth bass‐rock bass streams. Reproduction of those species in tributary streams was minor or absent. By comparing samples from streams that were accessible from an impoundment and streams that were in an unimpounded watershed, it was shown that large populations of gizzard shad, carp, smallmouth buffalo, and drum in streams originate in impoundments. Mill dams on tributary streams were found to be effective barriers to the upstream movement of fish from the impoundment. Once reservoir fish populations were well established, there appeared to be no consistent variation in the populations of lake fish in tributary streams from one reservoir to another. In streams without migration barriers there was no decrease in the concentration of lake fish with an increase in the distance from an impoundment. Population pressure among fish of the various species in the impoundment is advanced as the reason for movement of gizzard shad, carp, smallmouth buffalo, and drum into streams. It is suggested that mill dams be preserved as barriers to movement of lake fish and that pre‐impoundment surveys include consideration of the effect not only on the inundated stream but on the streams above the full‐pool level of the proposed reservoir.