Stream Fish Assemblages Around the Clemson Experimental Forest

The southeastern USA harbors high aquatic diversity in the temperate region. Yet, stream fish suffer high imperilment rates due to anthropogenic activities such as habitat loss and water quality degradation. From the biodiversity conservation perspective, it is important to document what and where species occur in a landscape. The purpose of this Creative Inquiry project was to survey stream fish assemblages in and around the Clemson Experimental Forest. We surveyed local streams using electrofishing and seining techniques in Fall 2014 and recorded abundance of fish species captured. We collected common species such as bluehead chub (Nocomis leptocephalus) and yellowfin shiner (Notropis lutipinnis), as well as locally rare species such as blackbanded darter (Percina nigrofasciata). Although we hypothesized that larger streams would contain higher species richness than smaller streams, our data did not support this hypothesis based on a linear regression analysis. Our study showed that fish fauna around campus is diverse and we should be aware of these important water resources for conservation