Coupled fish-hydrogeomorphic responses to urbanization in streams of Columbus, Ohio, USA

Despite a developing literature on urban streams, few studies have addressed the timing and mechanisms of urban-induced stream hydrogeomorphic adjustment on biotic assemblages. Here, we investigated the relationships between urbanization-driven annual changes in fluvial geomorphic characteristics and fish assemblages in 12 headwater streams in the Columbus Metropolitan Area (CMA), Ohio (USA) over 3–5 years. Multiple stream hydrogeomorphic characteristics changed over time including slope (0.1% decrease on average), discharge (39% decrease), and shear stress (29% decrease), some in concert with one another (e.g., slope and shear stress). Species-specific fish associations with hydrogeomorphic associations varied in nature and strength by year and thus were somewhat equivocal. At the assemblage level, we observed a negative relationship between D(50) (median sediment particle size) and % tolerant individuals as well as a positive trend between incision ratio and % generalists over study years. Study reaches with higher total catchment imperviousness were associated with both finer median sediment size (R(2) = 0.19) and lower assemblage diversity (R(2) = 0.55). These results contribute to current understanding of the drivers of fish assemblages in urbanizing catchments, and point to urban-induced hydrogeomorphic alterations as one mechanism through which land-use changes influence in-channel characteristics important to aquatic biota.