Fish Communities of Tallgrass National Preserve

Tallgrass Prairie National Preserve (TAPR) located in the Flint Hills region of Kansas, was established to protect, preserve, and interpret the tallgrass prairie ecosystem. An integral part of tallgrass systems is water quality/quantity and biotic integrity of prairie streams.  Thirteen stream reaches were sampled annually from 2001-2009, 2015. Additional sampling occurred in 2010, 2013 and 2014 at stream reaches where the T&E Topeka shiner had previously been recorded.  The long term objectives are to determine the status and trends in fish richness, diversity, abundance, community composition, and to correlate the long-term community data to overall water quality and habitat condition.  Biological metrics were calculated for the 13 reaches sampled to examine relationships between fish communities and habitat and water quality parameters. A non-metric multidimensional scaling analysis was used to determine sites with similar community composition and habitat variables important to fish communities at sites with and without Topeka shiners.