Disturbances of land surfaces can increase sediment production and delivery to streams, thereby altering stream ecosystems.  In addition, there is a growing body of evidence that suggests anthropogenically induced sedimentation plays a role in the alteration of stream fish assemblage composition.

This study is a landscape-level assessment of South Carolina’s wadeable streams, with focus on sedimentation and freshwater fish assemblages.  It is a component of a long-term assessment of South Carolina’s streams, headed by the South Carolina Department of Natural Resources.  The primary objective of the study is to quantify relationships among watershed land use percentages, sedimentation measures, and fish assemblage composition while taking into account the natural variability of different physiographic regions.  Specific focus will be on the alteration of South Carolina’s benthic-oriented stream fish assemblages.

The study spans 2 years and includes fish composition, abundance, watershed and habitat data from approximately 200 randomly selected stream sites across 12 of the 30 South Carolina ecobasins-- a sampling unit stratified by the combination of ecoregion and unique river basin.  Data will be analyzed using ordinations and multiple regressions.  Results from the first year of data collection (approximately 100 sites from 6 ecobasins) will be reported.