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Drainage‐Wide Effects of Timber Harvesting on the Structure of Stream Fish Assemblages in Southeastern Oklahoma
Author(s) -
Rutherford D. Allen,
Echelle Anthony A.,
Maughan O. Eugene
Publication year - 1992
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(1992)121<0716:deotho>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - abundance (ecology) , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , drainage basin , watershed , biology , geography , fishery , cartography , machine learning , computer science
We examined associations between timber harvesting (clear‐cutting and associated activities) and structure of assemblages of stream fishes across 89 localities in the Little River drainage, Oklahoma. Timber‐harvesting activities were quantified as the percentage of the watershed (upstream from each locality) covered by clear‐cuts in each of eight different age‐classes. We found significant associations with one or more age‐classes of clear‐cut for three indices of species diversity, 14 of 29 common fish species, and three of five multivariate axes (principal components) of covariation among species abundances. Further analyses indicated a nonrandom association between life history strategy ( r ‐ or K ‐selection) and whether the abundance of individual species was related positively or negatively to clear‐cuts of different ages. The results suggest that r ‐selected species (small, short‐lived) may respond quickly to clear‐cutting perturbations whereas K ‐selected species (large, long‐lived) exhibit a delayed response. The results of this study, together with an earlier survey of faunal changes, suggest that the effects of clear‐cutting in the Little River system are limited to temporary changes in local fish assemblage structure.