The Fishes of Champaign County, Illinois, as Affected by 60 Years of Stream Changes

Abstract

The fishes of Champaign County Illinois have received probably as intensive and prolonged study as those in any area of equal size in the New World. The long period of observation has furnished an unusual opportunity to evaluate the ecological changes that have occurred in a highly developed agricultural and urban region and to relate these changes to the distribution and abundance of stream fishes. Throughout this study, emphasis has been placed on changes—changes in the county resulting from agricultural development and population increase, changes in the streams resulting from natural and human modifications, changes in aquatic habitats resulting from new developments in land use practices, and changes in the fishes as these adaptable animals adjusted to new conditions in their naturally unstable aquatic environment.