That's an interesting data set, they've dropped out of other parts of their
range (and are barely hanging on in the Coosa) so the trend may be real, but
I'd be a little hesitant to claim a 64% range reduction from single site
visits where you didn't find flame chubs. A lot of factors could contribute
to failure to capture flame chubs at a site (seasonal movements, a tendency
to inhabit dense vegetation, patchy micro-distribution at a site, etc.), and
a lot of those UAIC collections are based on single or a few specimens... Do
you plan on expanding this to include Tennessee populations?
One thing is without doubt - they're awfully neat fish.
Cheers,
Dave
-- along the mighty Mississip', St. Louis, MO
>The list has been quiet this week, so I thought I'd throw in some food for >thought. For the past 15 months I've been working on a stream survey >project in the Tennessee Valley of north Alabama to determine the status of >the flame chub, Hemitremia flammea. I've been working off of a list of >historic collection records from the University of Alabama Ichthyology >Collection. My team (which varies...) has visited and been able to sample >50 of these historic collection sites, usually small creeks but sometimes >even smaller spring systems. We have found at least a single flame chub at >18 of these historic collection sites (often it IS only a single flame >chub, too). This is an apparent range reduction of 64%. This pattern is >fairly steady across the seven counties of north 'bama we've visited, >although the Cypress Creek system in the NW corner of the state is in the >best shape. We've also found 4 previously unreported populations, including >one in Hurricane Creek on the now-protected state lands of the Walls of >Jericho tract in the far NE corner of the state. Top officials in the State >Lands Office were actually interested to hear about flame chubs being >present in Hurricane Creek, so that population could become of the few >(maybe only?) actively protected populations in their current range. > >Some streams without flame chubs are obviously degraded by human >activities, others appear to be pristine. The last point is the puzzling >part of the story. > >--Bruce Stallsmith >we at least have some flame chubs left along the Tennessee >Huntsville, AL, US of A /----------------------------------------------------------------------- / This is the discussion list of the North American Native Fishes / Association (NANFA). Comments made on this list do not necessarily / reflect the beliefs or goals of NANFA. For more information about NANFA, / visit http://www.nanfa.org Please make sure all posts to nanfa-l are / consistent with the guidelines as per / http://www.nanfa.org/guidelines.shtml To subscribe, unsubscribe, or get / help, visit the NANFA email list home page and archive at / http://www.nanfa.org/email.shtml