Biological Diversity, Ecological Health and Condition of Aquatic Assemblages at National Wildlife Refuges in Southern Indiana, USA

The National Wildlife Refuge system is a vital resource for the protection and conservation of biodiversity and biological integrity in the United States. Surveys were conducted to determine the spatial and temporal patterns of fish, macroinvertebrate, and crayfish populations in two watersheds that...

Full description

Bibliographic Details
Main Authors:	Simon, Thomas P., Morris, Charles C., Robb, Joseph R., McCoy, William
Format:	Online
Language:	English
Published:	Pensoft Publishers 2015
Online Access:	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4304268/

id	pubmed-4304268
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	pubmed-43042682015-01-28 Biological Diversity, Ecological Health and Condition of Aquatic Assemblages at National Wildlife Refuges in Southern Indiana, USA Simon, Thomas P. Morris, Charles C. Robb, Joseph R. McCoy, William Taxonomic Paper The National Wildlife Refuge system is a vital resource for the protection and conservation of biodiversity and biological integrity in the United States. Surveys were conducted to determine the spatial and temporal patterns of fish, macroinvertebrate, and crayfish populations in two watersheds that encompass three refuges in southern Indiana. The Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge had the highest number of aquatic species with 355 macroinvertebrate taxa, six crayfish species, and 82 fish species, while the Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge had 163 macroinvertebrate taxa, seven crayfish species, and 37 fish species. The Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge had the lowest diversity of macroinvertebrates with 96 taxa and six crayfish species, while possessing the second highest fish species richness with 51 species. Habitat quality was highest in the Muscatatuck River drainage with increased amounts of forested habitats compared to the Patoka River drainage. Biological integrity of the three refuges ranked the Patoka NWR as the lowest biological integrity (mean IBI reach scores = 35 IBI points), while Big Oaks had the highest biological integrity (mean IBI reach score = 41 IBI points). The Muscatatuck NWR had a mean IBI reach score of 31 during June, which seasonally increased to a mean of 40 IBI points during summer. Watershed IBI scores and habitat condition were highest in the Big Oaks NWR. Pensoft Publishers 2015-01-12 /pmc/articles/PMC4304268/ /pubmed/25632261 http://dx.doi.org/10.3897/BDJ.3.e4300 Text en Thomas P. Simon, Charles C. Morris, Joseph R. Robb, William McCoy http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0 This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License 4.0 (CC-BY), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.
repository_type	Open Access Journal
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	US National Center for Biotechnology Information
building	NCBI PubMed
collection	Online Access
language	English
format	Online
author	Simon, Thomas P. Morris, Charles C. Robb, Joseph R. McCoy, William
spellingShingle	Simon, Thomas P. Morris, Charles C. Robb, Joseph R. McCoy, William Biological Diversity, Ecological Health and Condition of Aquatic Assemblages at National Wildlife Refuges in Southern Indiana, USA
author_facet	Simon, Thomas P. Morris, Charles C. Robb, Joseph R. McCoy, William
author_sort	Simon, Thomas P.
title	Biological Diversity, Ecological Health and Condition of Aquatic Assemblages at National Wildlife Refuges in Southern Indiana, USA
title_short	Biological Diversity, Ecological Health and Condition of Aquatic Assemblages at National Wildlife Refuges in Southern Indiana, USA
title_full	Biological Diversity, Ecological Health and Condition of Aquatic Assemblages at National Wildlife Refuges in Southern Indiana, USA
title_fullStr	Biological Diversity, Ecological Health and Condition of Aquatic Assemblages at National Wildlife Refuges in Southern Indiana, USA
title_full_unstemmed	Biological Diversity, Ecological Health and Condition of Aquatic Assemblages at National Wildlife Refuges in Southern Indiana, USA
title_sort	biological diversity, ecological health and condition of aquatic assemblages at national wildlife refuges in southern indiana, usa
description	The National Wildlife Refuge system is a vital resource for the protection and conservation of biodiversity and biological integrity in the United States. Surveys were conducted to determine the spatial and temporal patterns of fish, macroinvertebrate, and crayfish populations in two watersheds that encompass three refuges in southern Indiana. The Patoka River National Wildlife Refuge had the highest number of aquatic species with 355 macroinvertebrate taxa, six crayfish species, and 82 fish species, while the Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge had 163 macroinvertebrate taxa, seven crayfish species, and 37 fish species. The Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge had the lowest diversity of macroinvertebrates with 96 taxa and six crayfish species, while possessing the second highest fish species richness with 51 species. Habitat quality was highest in the Muscatatuck River drainage with increased amounts of forested habitats compared to the Patoka River drainage. Biological integrity of the three refuges ranked the Patoka NWR as the lowest biological integrity (mean IBI reach scores = 35 IBI points), while Big Oaks had the highest biological integrity (mean IBI reach score = 41 IBI points). The Muscatatuck NWR had a mean IBI reach score of 31 during June, which seasonally increased to a mean of 40 IBI points during summer. Watershed IBI scores and habitat condition were highest in the Big Oaks NWR.
publisher	Pensoft Publishers
publishDate	2015
url	https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4304268/
_version_	1613180086097281024

Biological Diversity, Ecological Health and Condition of Aquatic Assemblages at National Wildlife Refuges in Southern Indiana, USA

Similar Items