The Fishes of Champaign County, Illinois, During a Century of Alterations of a Prairie Ecosystem

Abstract

Streams and their aquatic communities are directly and indirectly influenced by the past and present activities of humans. In Champaign County, marshes and tallgrass prairie have been converted to farmland, cities, and highways. With these changes, former natural areas have become the dumping ground of domestic and agricultural wastes, with farmland being subjected to intense fertilizer and pesticide applications. Such practices can be expected to have significant influences on aquatic communities. Historical information on the fish communities inhabiting the streams of Champaign County (Forbes and Richardson 1908; Thompson and Hunt 1930; and Larimore and Smith 1963) in conjunction with data collected in the present study provide a unique opportunity to relate a century of biological observations to dramatic changes in land use. The importance of such a study is not restricted to its geographic location, nor to a unique assemblage of fishes, but rather to long-term patterns in fish community composition and structure in a midwestern, agricultural setting. Understanding the long-term implications of such changing land-use practices on stream fish assemblages is critical to sound environmental management and planning.