Midwest Fish & Wildlife Conference 2018

AUTHORS. Mark Pyron, Mario Minder, Robert Shields, Nicole Chodkowski, Zach Laughlin - Ball State University

ABSTRACT. Long-term monitoring of large river fish assemblages are available to test for temporal variation and correlation with environmental data. The Ohio River Valley Water Sanitation Commission (ORSANCO) was founded to monitor water quality and curb overwhelming pollution throughout the Ohio River Basin. Biological assessments included lockchamber fish rotenone surveys from 1954-2014. We used multivariate procedures to detect temporal patterns in the fish assemblage, and we tested for correlation with landuse variation. Ohio River fish assemblages are modified from 50 years ago, with decreased omnivores and increased piscivores. Agriculture landuse decreased and forest landuse increased during this period, and these patterns were significantly correlated with fish assemblage variation. We will discuss sport fisheries modifications, food web effects and compare to other rivers with longterm fish assemblage results.