Tuesday, May 27, 2008
292

Identifying coolwater streams in Illinois

Leon C. Hinz Jr.1, Brian A. Metzke2, and John Epifanio2. (1) Illinois Natural History Survey, University of Illinois, One Natural Resources Way, Springfield, IL 62702-1271, (2) Division of Ecology and Conservation Science, Illinois Natural History Survey, One Natural Resources Way, Springfield, IL 62702-1271

The Illinois DNR developed a candidate list of coolwater streams based on distributions of 17 fish species and a statewide model of groundwater potential.  Thirteen of these species are listed in the Wildlife Action Plan as in greatest need of conservation suggesting their habitats are rare and in need of protection.  This project combines the collection of temperature, habitat, and biological information to evaluate the coolwater selection criteria, verify candidate site status, and characterize conditions in coolwater streams.  Thermal records from 112 sites have been summarized with 40% of evaluated candidate sites meeting our coolwater criteria (July mean < 22 C) suggesting that further evaluation of selection criteria is warranted.  Several species (e.g., blacknose dace, largescale stoneroller) have promise as good indicators of cool waters in Illinois but many candidate species appear to be eurythermal, have limited geographical distributions, or are too rare to evaluate.  Catchment summaries and temperature records from 72 stations were used to develop MLR models of maximum (R2adj=0.48, SE=1.7) and minimum (R2adj=0.63, SE=1.4) summer temperature that predict coolwater conditions for roughly 16% of all stream reaches in Illinois.  Further data collection and analysis are planned to assist in the identification of coolwater stream resources.


Web Page: Temperature, habitat, fish

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