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Presented at the NABS Annual meeting, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 2002
in Conservation Ecology
SPATIAL AND TEMPORAL VARIATION IN THE FAUNA OF OKLAHOMA SPRINGS.
S.N. Jones and E.A. Bergey. Oklahoma Biological Survey and Department of Zoology, University of Oklahoma, Norman, OK 73019
Springs are discrete habitats with faunas that are often characteristic. However, springs may be isolated from one another by dry land or intervening streams. Springs also vary in physical and chemical characteristics (e.g. discharge, substrate, hardness, pH, mineral concentrations, etc.) that may influence spring faunas. In this study, we examined the fish and crayfish faunas in a set of 50 Oklahoma springs. Our objectives were (1) to compare the 2001 faunas with the faunas found twenty years ago and (2) to determine the relative influence of aquifer and watershed source on spring fish and crayfish assemblages. Including both surveys, 22 of the 50 springs contained fish and 29 contained crayfish. The fish fauna comprised 25 species, most were characteristic stream species; a few were spring specialists or were stocked. The fish assemblages changed little over the 20 year period. Most differences were likely the result of intermittent use of the springs by stream fishes, although habitat changes also impacted fish in some springs (e.g., drainage of pools or inundation of the spring). Both aquifer and watershed location affected the distribution of fish among springs, suggesting that both water characteristics (physical and chemical) and stream conduits among springs affect spring fish assemblages.
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