Fish communities in streams of the Maryland-Washington, DC-Virginia developed Piedmont, 2024

From May 27 to June 21, 2024, a Virginia Tech team of 5 sampled the fish community in 30 streams spanning a gradient of the developed landscape, including Potomac River, Rappahannock River, and upper Chesapeake Bay tributaries of Maryland, Washington, D.C., and Virginia, USA. These fish surveys were part of a larger stream-health study including other teams who surveyed geomorphology, water quality, flow, temperature, and macroinvertebrates at the same 30 streams. Upstream drainage area of these 30 streams ranged from approximately 7 to 32 sq. km, and width from 2 to 10 m. At each stream, we sampled fish from two reaches using two-pass backpack electrofishing and seining. Reach A was the main reach surveyed by all the interdisciplinary teams; Reach B was surveyed for fish communities only. Reach length was 20 wetted channel widths, capped at 150 meters. Fish were identified to species, assigned to a length class, inspected for anomalies, and released. Other measurements included water temperature, electrical conductivity, and clarity.