Fish Community Assembly At Multiple Spatial Scales In East Texas Streams

<p>Stream communities are structured by environmental processes that vary in strength across different spatiotemporal scales. Therefore, revealing how stream fish communities are influenced by environmental gradients may clarify how communities respond to disturbance associated with anthropogenic change. I investigated the relative role environmental variables play in the processes that structure the taxonomic and functional diversity of stream fish communities, as well as historical trends in occurrence and local habitat associated with a species of greatest conservation need within east Texas. The results of this study indicate that stream sites with more habitat complexity and stability support a more taxonomically and functionally diverse fish assemblage, while alterations in local habitat may be limiting the occurrence of rare minnow species within edges of its native Texas range. My research highlights the importance of environmental variables in the stream fish assembly process, and increases the ability to predict species distributional responses associated with environmental change.</p>

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Science - Environmental Sciences

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

Environmental Science

Year dc:date.available

2022

Author dc:creator

• Swanson, Jake R

Contributors dc:contributor

• Carmen G. Montana
• Christopher M. Schalk
• Matthew W. McBroom

• Stream Fish
• Taxonomic Diversity
• Functional Traits
• Land use
• Biodiversity
• Integrative Biology
• Other Ecology and Evolutionary Biology

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarworks.sfasu.edu/etds/440

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarworks.sfasu.edu:etds-1477