ECOLOGICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF MARYLANDS STREAM FISHES AND CONNECTIONS WITH ABIOTIC VARIABLES FOR IMPERILED SPECIES MANAGEMENT
Patrick Ciccotto; Maryland DNR, Annapolis, Maryland; [email protected]
Effective fish conservation efforts typically rely on knowing the ecology of the focal species. The purpose of this study was to develop a detailed understanding of the importance of inherent qualities and external environmental factors in the distribution and status of Marylands freshwater fishes. Species were assigned classifications according to 12 inherent ecological attributes and compared using univariate and multivariate analyses. The potential influence of external environmental variables on species presence was investigated using multivariate and logistic regression analyses on 23 abiotic variables. Limited natural geographic distributions were found to be the intrinsic ecological attribute most strongly associated with imperiled species. Certain abiotic variables were found to be related with individual species presence. Individual analyses were difficult for many rare species due to the limited number of occurrences however. Based on the limited distributions of these species, the most stringent protection efforts are currently recommended until sufficient information from within Maryland or adjacent states can be acquired. |
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