Effect of culvert systems on fish assemblage structure and connectivity in the Uchee Creek Watershed

Abstract

Culverts are structures used to continue streams underneath roadways, yet improperly engineered culverts are common physical barriers in streams. Many studies have examined the negative effects that culverts have on stream ecosystems including changes in water velocity, excess sedimentation, habitat fragmentation, and reduced connectivity, but few have looked at the impacts of culverts on populations of small-bodied fishes. The goal of this study was to assess the effect of culverts on fish assemblages in streams of the Uchee Creek watershed in central Alabama. Diversity indices such as the Morisita similarity index and the Shannon-Wiener index suggest that there is no difference in abundance or diversity of fish populations above and below culverts. We believe that assemblages in this watershed are homogenous and the potentially simple populations that are not much affected by culvert barriers.