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Effects of Wooded Riparian Cover in Two Soil Runoff Conditions on Fish Communities [Abstract] in 59th Midwest Fish and Wildlife Conference--Managing NaturalResources: Integrating Ecology and Society, Milwaukee Wisconsin, December 7-10, 1997

Stauffer, J.C., Lee, K.E. Hanson, P.E., and Goldstein, R.M.

The effects of wooded riparian cover on fish communities are being investigated in 20 wadeable, perennial streams in the Minnesota River Basin. Wooded riparian cover provides channel stability, sediment and nutrient filtration, instream habitat, and shade. Agricultural practices that remove wooded riparian cover can significantly alter water quality and aquatic communities. Removal of wooded riparian cover is often associated with increased erosion, sedimentation, and turbidity as well as loss of instream habitat volume. Data are being collected as part of the U.S. Geological Survey National Water Quality Assessment Program in the Upper Mississippi River Study unit. Sites were selected to investigate the effects of wooded riparian cover in two different soil runoff potentials on fish communities. An Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) adapted for the Minnesota River Basin, and species composition will be used to evaluate fish communities. Based on literature and historical data, it is expected that sites with extensive wooded riparian cover significantly influence fish communities and that these sites will have greater IBI scores, species abundances, and species diversity regardless of soil runoff potential.