Life Sciences Commons^™

Homogenization Of Fish Faunas And Concurrent Anthropogenic Impacts On Plains Streams In Western Kansas: 1854–2003, Mark E. Eberle

Fort Hays Studies Series

The fish faunas of the Kansas and Arkansas river basins in western Kansas were signifi cantly dissimilar at the time the Kansas Territory was established in 1854. The faunas were no longer dissimilar 150 years later. This homogenization of the faunas resulted primarily from extirpations, although additions of nonnative species, which now constitute 40% of extant faunas, also contributed. Two periods of changes in the faunas were associated with concurrent anthropogenic changes to the landscape that altered stream habitats. Early extirpations of native species (prior to 1920) occurred in clear, perennial creeks and were concurrent with rapid increases in human …