Fluvial geomorphic evolution and stream fish community trajectories in the Bayou Pierre, Mississippi

Changing environments place stresses on ecosystems, and are contributing to widespread losses of biodiversity and ecosystem function. Comparisons of historical and contemporary data offer considerable utility in understanding how ecosystems respond to, adapt to, or recover from changing environments. Stream fishes offer a particularly interesting study system for this topic, as streams are naturally dynamic environments and human needs have placed increasing pressure on aquatic systems. The effects of fine sediments on stream fishes and aquatic ecosystems more broadly have been well studied. Yet studies from fluvial geomorphology have resulted in models of watershed morphological evolution which encompass far broader processes and changes to aquatic systems. Our dataset integrates a fluvial geomorphic approach to characterize stream channel and habitat evolution over a four decade period in the Bayou Pierre, Mississippi, an ecological approach to study related change in stream fish comm...