S-EPA
             United States
             Environmental Protection
             Agency	
               Region 5
               77 West Jackson Boulevard
               Chicago, Illinois 60604
tPA-905/9-91 /025 *C.-
November 1991
Development of Index of
Biotic Integrity Expectations for the
Ecoregions of Indiana
I. CENTRAL CORN BELT PLAIN

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vf                 DEVELOPMENT OF INDEX OF BIOTIC INTEGRITY EXPECTATIONS
 i*

^•>               FOR THE ECOREGIONS OF INDIANA. I. CENTRAL CORN BEEJT PLAIN
f.x
•H)
c-
Hi
                                       Thoanas P. Simon
                            U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
                               Environmental Sciences  Division
            Monitoring and Quality Assurance Branch:  Ambient Monitoring Section
                                   77 West Jackson, SQ-14J
                                     Chicago,  IL  60604
                                      November 5,  1991
                                                      W.S. Environmental Protection Agency
                                                      Region 5, Library (PH2J)
                                                      77 West Jackson Boulevard, 1211* fkw
                                                      Chicago,  IL  60604-3590
                           -;
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                                    NOTICE

Use of this document is intended for the objective facilitation of information
exchange between the States and Federal Water pollution control biologists for
which it was intended.  Mention of trade names or commercial products does not
constitute endorsement or recommendation for use.
When citing this document:

T.P. Simon. 1991. Development of Index of Biotic Integrity expectations for
the ecoregions of Indiana. I. Central Corn Belt Plain. U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency, Region V, Environmental Sciences Division, Monitoring and
Quality Assurance Branch: Ambient Monitoring Section, Chicago, IL. EPA 905/9-
91/025.


If requesting copies of this document:

U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Publication Distribution Center, DDD
11027 Kenwood Road, Bldg. 5 - Dock 63
Cincinnati, OH  45242

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                              TABLE OF CONTENTS

Section _ _^__^_                  Page

i.   List of Figures                                            iii
ii.  List of Tables                                             vii
iii. Executive Summary                                          ix
iv.  Acknowledgements                                           xi
1.0
     Definition of Reference Conditions                          3
     Criteria for Selecting Reference Sites                      4
2.0  STUDY AREA                                                  5

     Physiographic Provinces                                     5
     Ecoregions                                                  7
     Natural Areas                                               9
3.0  MATERIALS AND MEIHQOS                                       12

     Sampling                                                    12
          Site specific                                          12
          Habitat                                                14
          Community Analysis                                     14
     Metrics                                                     17
     Scoring Modifications                                       76


4.0  RESULTS AND DISCUSSION                                      77

     4.1 Kankakee River Basin                                    77
     4.2 Iroquois River Basin                                    82
     4.3 Lake Michigan Basins                                    83
           East Branch Little Calumet Division                   83
           Lake Michigan Division                                84

6.0  REFERENCES                                                  88

7.0  APPENDIX
  A. Adjacent State comparisons of tolerance classifications for computing the
      Index of Biotic Integrity for Indiana taxa.
  B. Adjacent State comparisons of feeding guilds  for computing the  Index of
      Biotic Integrity for Indiana taxa.
  C. Adjacent State comparisons of reproductive guilds for computing the Index
      of Biotic Integrity for Indiana taxa.
  D. Site Specific Index of Biotic Integrity scores for each of the  stations
      sampled in the Central Corn Belt Plain Ecoregion.
  E. Fish nomenclature changes for the species of  fish occurring within the
      political boundaries of Indiana.

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                               LIST OF FIGURES

Figure
Number	                                 Page

1     Map of Indiana and adjacent states shewing the major and minor
      drainage basins (from USGS drainage maps).                         6

2     Map of Indiana and adjacent states showing the ecoregions
      designation of Omernik and Gallant (1988)                           8

3     Map of northern Indiana indicating the natural areas designation
      of Hbmoya et al. (1985).                                          10

4     Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion indicating the location of
      197 headwater and wading sampled during 1990.                     13

5     Species diversity trends with drainage area for determining the
      separation of headwater and wading categories using polynomial
      curve fit graphing techniques.                                    27

6     Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in total
      number of species with increasing drainage area for the Kankakee
      River drainage.                                                   28

7     Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in total
      number of species with increasing drainage area for the Iroguois
      River drainage.                                                   29

8     Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in total
      number of species with increasing drainage area for the Lake
      Michigan drainage.                                                30

9     Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of darter species with increasing drainage area for the Kankakee
      River drainage.                                                   33

10    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of darter species with increasing drainage area for the Iroguois
      River drainage.                                                   34

11    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of darter species with increasing drainage area for the Lake
      Michigan drainage.                                                35

12    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the
      proportion of headwater species with increasing drainage area
      for the Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.                        38
                                     iii

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          ;               LIST OF FIGURES (CONTINUED)

Figure
Number _                                Page

13    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of sunf ish species with increasing drainage area for the Kankakee
      River drainage.                                                  39

14    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of sunf ish species with increasing drainage area for the Ircquois
      River drainage.                                                  40

15    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of sunf ish species with increasing drainage area for the Lake
      Michigan drainage.                                               41
16    MayiTmnn species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of minnow species with increasing drainage area  for the Kankakee
      River drainage.                                                   44

17    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of minnow species with increasing drainage area  for the Ircquois
      River drainage.                                                   45

18    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of minnow species with increasing drainage area  for the Lake
      Michigan drainage.                                                46

19    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of sucker species with increasing drainage area  for the Kankakee
      and Ircquois River drainages.                                     47

20    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of salmonid species with increasing drainage area for the  Lake
      Michigan drainage.                                                49

21    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of sensitive species with increasing drainage area for the
      Kankakee River drainage.                                          53

22    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of sensitive species with increasing drainage area for the
      Ircquois River drainage.                                          54

23    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number
      of sensitive species with increasing drainage area for the Lake
      Michigan drainage.                                                55
                                      iv

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                          LIST OF FIGURES  (CONTINUED)

Figure
Number	                                 Page

24    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the
      proportion of tolerant species with increasing drainage area for
      the Kankakee and Iroguois River drainages.                        58

25    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the
      proportion of tolerant species with increasing drainage area for
      the Lake Michigan.                                                59

26    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the
      proportion of omnivores with increasing drainage area for the
      Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.                                62

27    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the
      proportion of insectivores with increasing drainage area for the
      Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.                                64

28    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the
            rtion of pioneer species with increasing drainage area for
      the Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.                             67

29    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the
      proportion of carnivores with increasing drainage area for the
      Kankakee and Iroquois River drainages.                             68

30    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the
      proportion of carnivores with increasing drainage area for the
      Lake Michigan drainage.                                           69

31    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the
      catch per unit effort with increasing drainage area for the
      Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.                                 71

32    Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the
      proportion of simple lithophil species with increasing drainage
      area for the Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.                   74

33    Trends in water resource based on the Indiana Index of Biotic
      Integrity with increasing drainage area  for the Central Corn
      Belt Plain ecoregion.                                             81

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          :                      LIST OF TABLES
Table
Number _                                 Page

1     Attributes of fishes which make them desirable components
      of biological assessment and monitoring programs.                   2

2     Attributes of Index of Biotic Integrity (3BI)  classification,
      total H3I scores, and integrity classes from Karr et al.  (1986) .   18

3     Index of Biotic Integrity metrics used to evaluate headwater
      sites in the Kankakee and Iroquois Basins.                        19

4     Index of Biotic Integrity metrics used to evaluate wadable sites
      in the Kankakee and Iroquois basins.                              20

5     Index of Biotic Integrity metrics used to evaluate headwater
      sites in the Lake Michigan basin (East Branch  Little Calumet
      River Division.                                                   21

6     Index of Biotic Integrity metrics used to evaluate headwater
      sites in the Lake Michigan basin (lake Michigan Division) .         22

7     Index of Biotic Integrity metrics used to evaluate wadable sites
      in the lake Michigan basins (East Branch Little Calumet River and
      Lake Michigan Divisions) .                                         23

8     The distributional characteristics of Indiana  darter species
      (tribe: Etheostomatini) .                                          32

9     List of Indiana fishes considered to be headwater species for
      evaluating permanent habitat in headwater streams (Smith  1971) .    37

10    Distributional characteristics of Indiana sucker species  (family
                   .                                                    43
11    List of Indiana fish species considered to be sensitive to a a wide
      variety of environmental disturbances including water quality and
      habitat degradation.                                              52

12    List of Indiana fish species considered to be highly tolerant to
      a wide variety of environmental disturbances including water
      quality and habitat degradation.                                  57

13    List of Indiana fish species considered to be carnivores.          61

14    List of Indiana fish species considered to be indicators of
      temporally unavailable or stressed habitats (Larimore and Smith
      1963; Smith 1971).                                                66
                                     vii

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          :                LIST OF TABLES (CONTINUED)
Table
Number	                               Page

US    List of Indiana species considered to be sinple lithophilous
      spawners.                                                        73

16    Species list of taxa collected in the Karikakee,  Iroguois,  and
      Lake Michigan drainages, Indiana during ecoregion sampling 1990.  78

17    Reference sites determined by fish ccramunity composition in the
      Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.                               86
                                    viii

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                              EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

 The Clean Water Act Amendments of 1987 mandate the development of biological
 criteria for evaluating the nation's surface waters.  The requirements of
 Section 304 (a)  was  implemented in Indiana to determine water resource
 degradation.  A total of 197 headwater and wading stream sites were sampled in
 the Central  Corn Belt Plain ecoregion in order to develop and calibrate an
 Index of Biotic Integrity for use in Indiana.  Based on inherent variance
 within  the ecoregion, sub-basins were established based on the concept of
 natural areas as recognized by Homoya et al. (1985).

 Three sub-basins include the major drainage units of northwest Indiana;
 Kankakee River, Iroguois River, and lake Michigan drainages.  Graphical
 analysis of  the data enabled the construction of raxJTmrm species richness
 lines for calibrating the Index of Biotic Integrity for 17 metrics as modified
 for application to  the region of Indiana.  Metrics were primarily based on the
 previous works  of Karr  (1981), Karr et al. (1986), and Ohio EPA (1987).  A few
 additional metrics  are original to this study and were evaluated to quantify
 water quality degradation characteristics.

 Separate metrics were developed for headwater (< 20 miles2)  and wading sites
 (>  20 miles2) drainage area following the rationale of Ohio  EPA (1987).
 Separate scoring criteria and batteries of metrics were developed for the Lake
 Michigan drainage while the Kankakee and Iroquois River drainages were
 evaluated with  similar metric categories.  Within the Lake Michigan drainage,
 two divisions are recognized based primarily on the presence of salmonid
 species.  Trout and salmon, as keystone species, determine the fish community
 where they are residents.  The East Branch of the Little Calumet River
 division includes salmonid metrics and includes the area from Burns Ditch, the
 East Branch of the  Little Calumet River, and all tributaries (e.g. Salt Creek,
 Reynold's Creek, and the unnamed tributary in LaPorte County).  The Lake
 Michigan Division includes the West Branch of the Little Calumet River,  and
 tributaries  (e.g. Deep River, Hart Ditch, Turkey Creek), and the Grand Calumet
 River basin.  This  division does not include a salmonid metric for headwater
 sites.

 The water resources of the three drainages were evaluated based on criteria
 calibrated fear the  Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion using the Indiana Index.
 A water resource distribution approximating a normal curve was observed for
 the Kankakee and Iroquois River drainages,  with respect to site water
 classification.  A trend towards improved water quality with increasing
 drainage area was evident.   The Lake Michigan drainage showed a highly skewed
 site distribution towards the lower extremes of water resource quality.   The
trend was towards a declining water resource with increasing drainage area in
both divisions, although the East Branch Little Calumet River division
possessed a considerably better resource at the headwaters.   Site specific
data; locality information; species specific scoring criteria for tolerance
classification, trophic guilds,  and reproductive guild is included in the
appendix.

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                               ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

 The U.S.  Environmental Protection Agency wishes to express their appreciation
 to those  individuals which enabled this study to be completed.  Wayne Davis,
 Valerie Jones, and Boniface Thayil, USEPA-Region V, Ambient Monitoring
 Section,  and John Winters, Jim Ray, Dennis Clark, Lee Bridges, and Steve
 Boswell,  Indiana  Department of Environmental Management  (IDEM), managed and
 spent large amounts  of time meeting to discuss logistics and sampling needs.
 Special thanks to Richard Whitman, Chief Scientist, National Park Service,
 Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore  for arranging use of reference sites on the
 Lakeshore properties and John  Dustman, Department of Biology, Indiana
 Uhiversity-Northwest,  for their professionalism while in the Calumet region.
 Field assistance  was provided  by  Jim Ray, Andrew Ellis, Doug Campbell, Bill
 Klages, and Gregory  Nottingham, IDEM biologists; Lewis Richards and Thomas
 Sobat,  National Park Service,  Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore; Ronald Abrant,
 ESAT-Weston; Janeen  Winders-Jones, Indiana Uhiversity-Northwest, Kenneth
 Simon,  and  Edward Price.  We express our appreciation to all the Indiana
 landowners  which  allowed access across their property to facilitate River
 launching of gear.   We are indebted to Barry Chernoff and Marianne Rogers,
 Field Museum of Natural History,  Division of Fishes, for use of the collection
 and work  space to enable rapid processing of the large number of samples.
 Shelby Gerking, Arizona State University, provided notes and copies of
 valuable  information from his previous collection efforts in Indiana.
 Numerous  professional  courtesies were provided by colleagues which facilitated
 the start up of this project: special thanks to Marc Smith, Chris Yoder, and
 Ed  Rankin,  Ohio EPA, for their help in numerous aspects of this study: e.g.
 construction of our  collection gear, providing Ohio documentation; Thomas
 Lauer, Indiana Department of Natural Resources, provided copies of past stream
 survey reports; James Gammon and John Whitaker Jr.,  provided reprints of
 papers.  Much information was gained from conversations with colleagues
 cxsncerning  techniques and logistical aspects: William Matthews, Brooks Burr,
Melvin Warren, Jr., Lawrence Page, Douglas Carney,  James Gammon, Ann Spacie,
 John Whitaker, Jr., John Lyons, Phillip Cochran, Bob Hughes,  Phil Larsen, Jim
Cmernik,  Scott Mettee, Malcom Pierson, and Peter Howe.  Historic records were
provided by Susan Jewett,  National Museum of Natural History; Douglas Nelson
and Gerald  Smith,  University of Michigan Museum of Zoology; William Eschmeyer,
California Academy of Science; and Ted Cavender, Ohio State University.
Special thanks to John Lyons; Chris Yoder; Wayne Davis; John Miller; Lee
Bridges; and Dennis Clark for constructive review comments on a previous draft
of the manuscript.  The project manager,  chief scientist, and author of this
report was Thomas P. Simon, Aquatic Biologist.   All questions or
correspondence concerning this study should be directed to his attention: U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency,  Ambient Monitoring Section,  77 West Jackson,
SQ-14J, Chicago,  IL  60604.
                                     XI

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 1.0 INTRODUCTION

 Die reauthorization of the dean Water Act and requirement to adopt narrative
 and numerical biological criteria for assessing the nations' surface waters,
 has prompted an instream assessment of the water quality of the State of
 Indiana in order to develop numerical biological criteria.  Section 304 (a) of
 the dean Water Act (CWA) directs EPA to develop and publish water quality
 criteria and information on methods for measuring toxic pollutants on bases
 other than pollutant-by-pollutant, including biological monitoring and
 assessment methods.  The dean Water Act suggests using aquatic comnunity
 components ("... plankton, fish, shellfish, wildlife, plant life...11; sec.
 304(1) (a)) and community attributes ("... biological community diversity,
 productivity, and stability ..."; sec. 304(l)(c)) in any body of water and;
 factors necessary "... to restore and maintain the chemical, physical, and
 biological integrity of all navigable waters ..."(sec. 304 (2) (a)) for "... the
 protection and propagation of shellfish, fish, and wildlife for classes and
 categories of receiving waters..." (sec. 304 (2)(b)) and "...on the
 measurement and classification of water quality11 (sec. 304(2) (c)) .

 Die term biological integrity originated in the Water Pollution Control Act
 Amendments of 1972 (PL 92-500) and has likewise appeared in subsequent
 versions (PL 95-217; PL 100-1) .  Previous attempts to define this concept were
 based on a "pristine" or "pre-settlement" concept.  Die expectations that
 resulted however were unrealistic, and as a goal could not be accomplished.
 Die modification of expectations by utilizing "pristine" as a conceptual goal
 with consideration of past and present water and land uses has enabled the
 present definition.  Karr and Dudley (1981) defined biological integrity as,
 "the ability of an aquatic ecosystem to support and maintain a balanced,
 integrated, adaptive community of organisms having a species composition,
 diversity, and functional organization comparable to the best natural habitats
 within a region".  Die use of a biological component to evaluate the ambient
 lotic aquatic community of our nations surface waters has been well
elsewhere  (Karr et al. 1986; Ohio EPA 1990a, b, c; DSEPA 1987; Simon et al.
1987; Davis 1990; Karr 1991) .

Utilizing structural and functional components of the aquatic community has
been the major advancement in biological assessment techniques.  Structural
components include the concepts of diversity, taxa guilds, numbers, and
biomass.  Functional components include the feeding or trophic strategy,
reproductive behavior and guild classification, environmental tolerance to
perturbations, and individual stress or condition.

Die original Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI; Karr 1981; Fausch et al. 1984)
provides a framework for evaluating the concepts of structure and function for
stream fish communities in the Midwest.  Fish have been a major part of any
aquatic study designed to evaluate water quality for a number of reasons
(Table 1) .  Not only are fish a highly visible part of the aquatic resource
but they are one component which are relatively easily sampled by professional
biologists.  We are not advocating the exclusive use of fish over any other
taxonomic group; on the contrary, a similar effort in the State of Indiana is
also being conducted for the benthic macroinvertebrates.  Differing
sensitivity and recovery levels have required the development of criteria for
both taxonomic groups.

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Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecorecrion
Table 1. Attributes of fishes which make them desirable components of
         biological assessments and monitoring programs.
Goal/Quality
                        Attribute
Accurate
Assessment of
Environmental
Health
Visibility
Ease of
Use and
Interpretation
Fish populations and individuals generally remain in the
same area during summer seasons.

Communities are persistent and recover rapidly from natural
^ifghTf-foajxrepT  Comparable results can be expected from an
unperturbed site at various times.

Fish have larger ranges and are less affected by natural
nicrohabitat differences than smaller organisms.  This makes
fish extremely useful for assessing regional and
macrohabitat differences.

Most fish species have long life spans (3-10+ years) and can
reflect both long term and current water resource quality.

Fish continually inhabit the receiving water and assimilate
the chemical, physical, and biological histories of the
waters.

Fish represent a broad spectrum of community tolerances from
very sensitive to highly tolerant and respond to chemical,
physical, and biological degradation in characteristic
response patterns.

Fish are highly visible component of the aquatic community
to the public.

Aquatic life uses and regulatory language is generally
characterized in terms of fish (i.e. fishable and swimmable
goal of the Clean Water Act).

The sampling frequency for trend assessment is less than for
short-lived organisms.

Taxonomy of fishes is well established, allowing
professional biologists the ability to reduce laboratory
time by identifying many specimens in the field.

Distribution, life histories, and tolerances to
environmental stresses of most North American species are
well documented in the literature.

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                                                         Indiana Ecoreaions
Additional mechanisms for establishing a fish-based response for evaluating
use attainment of aquatic resources has been proposed in the past.  The Index
of Well-Being (Gammon 1976; Gammon 1980; Gammon et al. 1981) utilizes a
structural component in numbers, biomass, and species richness for evaluating
the water quality of large Rivers like the Wabash.  A second type of
structural and functional index similar to the Index of Biotic Integrity was
developed for larval fishes.  The Ichthyoplankton Index (I2) requires a sample
of fishes based on individuals less than 20 mm TL in size (Simon 1988)  for
water quality determination.  Neither the Index of Well Being or the
Ichthyoplankton Index will be discussed further for the purposes of this
study.

Six criteria have been proposed for evaluation of whether a biological
monitoring program meets the objectives of biological integrity.  Herricks and
Schaefer (1985) divided these into sensitivity, reproducibility, and
variability.  As demonstrated by Karr et al. (1986) and Ohio EPA (1987),  the
objectives are met by the IBI and the goals of assessing biological integrity
can be achieved (Fausch et al. 1990).

The objective of this study is to evaluate the biological integrity in Indiana
water resources based on "least impacted" reference sites for establishing
baseline conditions (Hughes 1986).  Least impacted reference sites are optimal
stream reaches, representative of the ecoregion under study, and represent the
least disturbance by anthropogenic change.  The following project goals will
be addressed during the completion of the entire Indiana ecoregion project:

o Develop biological criteria for Indiana ecoregions using the Index of Biotic
  Integrity and habitat classification;
o Identify areas of least disturbance within the ecoregions for use as
  reference stations;
o Verify Indiana ecoregion boundaries;
o Develop maximum species richness lines from reference stations for each
  Index of Biotic Integrity metric considering differences in stream order and
  proximity to Lake Michigan;

This technical report details specific Index of Biotic Integrity criteria,
through the development of metrics and maximum species richness lines,  to
delineate areas of least disturbance in the Central Corn Belt Plain.  In order
to verify ecoregional boundaries, additional study areas will need to be
collected to determine the heterogeneity of the dine areas.

Definition of Reference Conditions

In order to make accurate evaluations of the region in question, various
baseline geological, geographic, and climatic differences need to be
addressed.   The goal is not to provide a definition of pristine conditions,
since these types of conditions are either few in number or nonexistent in
heavily populated States (Hughes et al. 1982). Our expectations are determined
from the structurally and functionally attainable natural conditions of "least

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Central  Corn  Belt Plain Ecorecrion
impacted" or referenoe sites.  Assessment of these criteria need to be
modified nationally since different processes can be attributed to the
regional expectations determining distribution of fishes.   The concept of the
ecoregion is useful for separating large expanses of habitat  since these areas
are demarcated by the use of four different structural components.

In order to select stations for sampling it is necessary to know the
geographical boundary of the "ecoregions" within the State of Indiana.  A
valid ecoregion has boundaries where ecosystem variables or patterns  emerge
(Hughes et al. 1986).  Oroernik (1987) mapped the ecoregions of the
conterminous United States from maps of land-surface form,  soil, potential
natural vegetation, and land use.  Each ecoregion was then delineated from
areas of regional homogeneity.  Using scaling prooedures,  ecoregions  hcygqn» a
very xigeft*! y**"t>qn'*g»T> to determine community complexity and establish
boundaries associated with various land forms.

Ecoregions provide a geographical basis for determining the appropriate
response from streams of similar proportion and complexity.  By selecting
reference sites for establishing the areas of "least impact",  further
calibration of -the Index of Biotic Integrity and monitoring will reveal the
current conditions of the surface waters of Indiana.  Although ecoregional
expectations are determined, conditions do not remain static.   On the
contrary, repeat sampling of stations, both referenoe and  site specific will
need to be conducted in order to document improvement over tine in a  dynamic
equilibrium.

Because of the additional microhabitat differences within  ecoregion,  further
demarcation was made examining the role of basin or watershed within  the
context of natural areas.  Fish emigration is determined by the availability
of water of appropriate quality to endure existence, sustain  growth,  and
increase fitness through optimal reproduction.  Likewise,  species-specific
differences exist in ccmnunity structure which may not reveal differences in
current water quality but may be determined by historical  geomorphic  (Leopold
et al., 1964) or zoogeographic processes (Hocutt and Wiley, 1986).  Trends  in
Indiana water quality were evaluated using a basin approach,  within the
framework of the ecoregion concept.


Criteria for Selecting Reference Sites

Several procedures are available for determining reference stations.  Larsen et
al. (1986) and Whittier et al. (1987) chose sites after careful examination of
aerial photographs, sub-basin specific information review,  and on-site
reconnaissance.  This procedure is time extensive and requires that a limited
number of high-quality sites are sampled and scaled-up in  order to predict
regional expectations.  The methods chosen were based on evaluation of
Regional Water Quality Planning Maps (USGS undated) which  identified  all known
point and non-point sources which may influence site selection.  An equal
distribution of stations within all parts of the basins were  selected based on
historic collections sites (Jordan 1877; Meek and Hildebrand  1910;  Gerking

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                                                         Indiana Ecorecrions
 1945; Becker 1976; Ledet 1978; Robertson and Ledet 1981; Robertson 1987; IDEM
 1990) and were rigorously sampled in order to get representative, distance
 specific, quantifiable g^tiiinat'^s of the species nunibers and bioniass.  In order
 to avoid bias, these data points were determined for all metrics calibrated in
 the Index of Biotic Integrity.  Maximum species richness lines were then
 compiled, followed by calculations of Index of Biotic integrity values to
 reveal which stations were the "least impacted" stations for the Central Corn
 Belt Plain.  Evaluation of habitat and other physical parameters refined the
 final list of reference sites.  Sites which had habitat or water quality
 deficiencies but still attained high index ratings would have been removed
 from the final list.  This action was not required since these attributes
 affected various portions of the community which resulted in a lowered index
 score.  These sites are not pristine or undisturbed (few exist in the
 northwestern part of Indiana), but they do represent the best conditions given
 the background activities (i.e. entiiroponorphic; cultural eutrophicaticn)
 necessary for the current evaluation.

 Sampling was conducted in all stream sizes of the Central Corn Belt Plain
 ecoregion from small headwater streams (<20 square miles) to the largest main
 stem drainage.

 2.0  STUDY AREA

 Indiana has an area of 36,291 square miles, and drains the Ohio, the upper
 Mississippi, and Great Tflkps Regions (Seaber et al. 1984).  These three
 regions were further subdivided into nine subregions (Fig. 1), five of which
 drain 86% of the State (USGS 1990).  The State of Indiana lies within the
 limits of latitude 37° 46' 18" and 41° 45' 33" north, for an extreme length of
 275.5 miles in a north-south direction; and between longitude 84° 47' 05" and
 88° 05' 50" west with an extreme width in an east-west directicn of 142.1
 miles.

 The State has a maximum topographic relief of about 273 m, with elevations
 ranging from about 91 m above mean sea level at the mouth of the Wabash River
 to slightly more than 364 m in Randolph County in east-central Indiana.

 The current report considers only the Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion. The
 Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion has an area of 46,400 miles2. The ecoregion
 is located in extreme northwestern Indiana and forms the primary ecoregion in
 the adjacent State of Illinois.  In Indiana, the Central Corn Belt Plain
 drains direct tributaries to Lake Michigan, and the mainstem and tributaries
 of the Kankakee and Iroquois Rivers.

Physiographic Provinces

Fenneman (1946)  divided the State into two physiographic provinces based on
the maximum extent of glaciation.   The glaciated portion of the State contains
the Central Lowland province, which includes the Central Corn Belt Plain, and
the unglaciated portion is termed the Interior Low Plateaus province.

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  Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecoreqion
Fig. 1. Map of Indiana and adjacent states showing the major and minor drainage
      basins (from USGS drainage maps).

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                                                         Indiana Ecorecrions
Schneider  (1966) divided the State into three broad physiographic areas that
closely reflect the surface-water characteristics of the State.   The Central
Corn Belt Plain ecoregion is a part of the Northern Moraine and lake Region
(north of 41° latitude)  and is characterized by landforns of glacial origin.
The central third of the State is a depositional plain of low relief that has
been modified only slightly by postglacial stream erosion.   The third area is
located south of the Wisconsinan glacial boundary and represents a series of
north- and south-trending uplands and lowlands.   Landforms in this area are
principally due to normal degradation processes.

The last major glaciation event dramatically altered the northwestern portion
of Indiana during the Wisconsinan (14,000 to 22,000 years ago).   As glaciers
advanced and retreated, the topography was dramatically altered as the
landf arm was either scoured by advancing glacial ice or the scoured materials
were deposited by retreating glaciers.  Two distinct glacial lobes are known
to have advanced into Indiana, from the northeast out of the Lake Erie and
Saginaw Bay basins and from the north from the Lake Michigan basin.


Econ fictions

Qmernik and Gallant (1988) characterized the attributes of ecoregions of the
midwest states.  Indiana has six recognized ecoregions: Central Corn Belt
Plain, Southern Michigan-Northern Indiana Till Plain, Huron-Erie lake Plain,
Eastern Corn Belt Plain, Interior Plateau, and Interior River Lowland (Fig.
2).  Subsequent documents will detail the development of biological criteria
for each of these ecoregions.

The following is a description of the Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion,
summarized from Omernik and Gallant (1988).  Much of the ecoregion consists of
dissected glacial till plain mantled with loess.   The ecoregion is
characterized by low relief; however, some morainal hills occur in the
northern portion reaching 60.1 m.  Stream valleys are generally shallow
throughout the 46,400 miles2 of the ecoregion.  fimqT) streams have narrow
valley floors; larger streams have broad valley  floors.  Elevation varies from
about 121 m, in the southern portion of the ecoregion, to over 303 m on a few
of the hills in the north.  Precipitation occurs mainly during the growing
season and averages from 80 to 176 cm annually.   Except near Lake Michigan,
and in the meander corridors along major rivers,  few natural lakes occur.

Both perennial and intermittent streams are common in the ecoregion.
Constructed drainage ditches and channelized streams further assist in soil
drainage in flat, poorly drained areas (e.g.  claypans).  Stream density is
approximately one mile per square mile in the most typical portions of the
ecoregion, but ranges from one to two miles per  square mile in the "generally
typical" portions of the ecoregion (Fig. 2).

Major crops produced in the Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion are corn,
soybeans, feed grains, and some livestock forage.  Emphasis on livestock

-------
    Central  Corn  Belt  Plain  Ecorecrion
                                                 ,v«^    I' Lagrange
                                                  Gosher. , L

                                               I LKHART |	
                                                 	—I  Albion
       CENTRAL IRREGULAR PLAINS


       NORTHERN GLACIATED PLAINS


47 ga WESTERN CORN BELT PLAINS


46 |	1 RED RIVER VALLEY


49 [——j NORTHERN MINNESOTA WETLANDS


50 f rir^ NORTHERN LAKES AND FORESTS


51 I	! NORTH CENTRAL HARDWOOD FORESTS


52P**H DRIFTLESS AREA
             H.ute  T

        •V ' V?GO  I CLAY
                                                                                  53 | - 1  SOUTHEASTERN WISCONSIN TILL PLAINS
                                                                                         CENTRAL CORN BELT PLAINS


                                                                                         EASTERN CORN BELT PLAINS


                                                                                  56 j   [  SOUTHERN MICHIGAN/NORTHERN INDIANA TILL PLAINS


                                                                                  57 |^|  HURON/ERIE LAKE PLAIN


                                                                                  61 f  ^ ]  ERIE/ONTARIO LAKE PLAIN


                                                                                  70 PJJH  WESTERN ALLEGHENY PLATEAU


                                                                                  71 (——j  INTERIOR PLATEAU


                                                                                         INTERIOR RIVER LOWLAND


                                                                                         MISSISSIPPI ALLUVIAL PLAIN
                                                                                           Darker tones denote most typical areas
                                                                                  Eoongam 01 Ittt Cawmftous Urma Stuas (Onwm*. JM 1987 SucMnMrt K) trw
                                                                                  ANNALS OF THE ASSOCIATION OF AMERICAN GEOGRAPHERS W 77 No I) Tl»
                                                                                  nma nurnbH* WOT MM on bom nwpt tt MndMdoe cmioguing uras icnK tfw nabon
Fig. 2. Map of Indiana and adjacent states showing the ecoregions designation of
         Omernik and Gallant. (1988).
                                                              8

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                                                         Indiana Ecorecrions
 production is not as great as the adjacent ecoregions. Approximately, five
 percent of the ecoregion remains as woodland, primarily on wet floodplains,
 steeply sloping valleys, and morainal ridges.

 Host of the soils of the Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion developed under
 tall grass prairie.  They  are dark and fertile soils comprised of Hapludolls
 and Argiudolls on loess-covered till. Argiaquolls, Haplaquolls, and
 Ochraqualf 's occur on broad, flat uplands, especially in the claypan region of
 southcentral Illinois.   Fragiaqualf 's and Hapludalf 's are locally cannon on
 forested slopes and  loessal ridges.  Hapludolls, Haplaquolls, Udifluvents, and
 Fluvaquents are common on  the poorly drained silty and clayey alluvium on
 floodplains.   A few  Haplaquolls and Medisaprists have formed in poorly drained
 flats and wet depressions.

 The natural vegetation of  the area consisted of a mosaic of bluestem prairie
 and oak/hickory forest.  Most of the level uplands and broad floodplains were
 covered by tall grasses: big and little bluestem, indiangrass, prairie
 dropseed,  and switchgrass.  Hardwood forest originally occurred along the
 irregular topography of  streams and moraines.  Woodlands were originally a
 mixture of oak and hickory species: black oak, white oak, bur oak, red oak,
 shingle oak,  shagbark hickory, and bitternut hickory, with occasional black
 walnut,  yellow popular, white ash, sugar maple, basswood, elm, and beech.
 Riparian areas represent the remaining refugia for pin oak, silver maple, elm,
 ash,  cottonwood, willow, sycamore, and sweetgum in the heavily agricultural
 area.  Cattails, bulrushes, and common reeds grow in the organic soils of the
 marshes.
Natural Areas

An alternate method of dividing land expanses into smaller workable regional
divisions include the recognition of major natural features.  A natural region
is a major, generalized unit of the landscape where a distinctive assemblage
of natural features is present (Homoya et al. 1985).  It is similar to the
ecoregion concept in that it integrates several natural features, including
climate, soils, glacial history, topography, exposed bedrock, presettlement
vegetation, and physiography.  It differs from the ecoregion concept in the
utilization of species composition of the fauna and flora to delineate areas
of relative homogeneity.

The Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion incorporates the Grand Prairie Natural
Region and a portion of the Northwestern Morainal Natural Region.  The Grand
Prairie is identified by an area of tall grass prairie and occupies an area of
glacial plain which contains unconsolidated deposits from Wisconsinan
glaciation, including sand dunes, lacustrine sediments, outwash plain
sediments, and till (Fig. 3).  The extent of the area is defined by three
subsections: the Grand Prairie Section, Kankakee Sand Section, and the
Kankakee Marsh Section (Homoya et al. 1985).  The Northwestern Morainal
Natural Region is the glaciated area formed by the latest advances of the Lake
Michigan lobe of the Wisconsinan ice sheet.   This area consists of three

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   Central  Corn  Belt Plain Ecorecrion
                                      M     I
  in   r^s
                                                EXPLANATION
                                             1 Lake Michigan Natural Region
                                            2 Northwestern Morainal Natural Region
                                             A Valparaiso Moraine Section
                                             B Chicago Lake Ram Section
                                             C Lafcs Michigan Border Section
                                            3 Grand Frame Natural Regton
                                             A Grand Prame Section
                                             B Kankakee Sand Section
                                             C, Kankakee Marsh Section
Fig. 3. Map of northern Indiana indicating the natural areas designation of Homoya
        etal. (1985).
                                                   10

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                                                         Indiana Ecorecrions
 subsections,  the Valparaiso Moraine Section, Chicago Lake Plain Section, and
 Lake Michigan Border Section.  Only the Chicago Lake Plain Section is of
 concern in this ecoregional comparison.

 Three major drainage units  occur in the Indiana portion of the Central Corn
 Belt Plain ecoregion: the Calumet River basins, Kankakee River basin, and the
 Iroquois River Basin.  The  Calumet River basins include the Grand Calumet
 River and  the Little Calumet River and its tributaries.  The Grand Calumet and
 Little Calumet River are small and drain less than 2% of the State.  Flow
 reversals  and streams which cross basin divides makes this basin an extremely
 difficult  area to study.  The East Branch of the Little Calumet River flows
 directly into Lake Michigan after the construction of Burns Ditch (a dredged
 modification  of the  original stream channel).  A portion of the West Branch of
 the Little Calumet River likewise drains into Burns Ditch, while a portion
 flows west into Illinois.   Of the Little Calumet tributary segments, Deep
 River and  Salt Creek are the largest components, additional segments includes
 Hart Ditch, Kemper Ditch, Coffee Creek, Sand Creek, and a number of smaller
 tributary  elements in the East Branch.  The East Branch of the Calumet River
 includes much of the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore and the Heron Rookery.
 A number of natural  areas occur there as well, including the important Cowles
 Bog,  Clark and Pine  Lakes,  and many of the dunal ponds studied by Shelford.
 Much of this  area occupies  the Northwestern Morainal Natural Region, Chicago
 Lake Plain Section (Homoya  et al. 1985).  It was formed by the ridge-and-swale
 and lacustrine plain topography along Lake Michigan from the water-level
 fluctuations  of Lake Chicago.  The flow regime of the Grand Calumet River does
 not vary much,  determined primarily by Lake Michigan levels.

 The Kankakee  River watershed is the primary basin in the ecoregion, containing
 the Kankakee  River and its major tributary the Iroquois River.  The Kankakee
 Basin encompasses 3,006 square miles, approximately 7% of the State.  The
 Kankakee has  been dramatically altered since the 1850's when it was changed
 from a meandering stream in a marshy wetland to a large channelized stream.
 Much of  the baseflow derives from groundwater.  Levees have been constructed
 along the  length of the main stem and tributaries to reduce the chances of
 flooding.  The Kankakee extends from South Bend to the Illinois border flowing
 southwest, and includes a number of tributary elements, including the Yellow
 River, Kingsbury Creek, and Qvfor Creek.  Seme of the best water resource
 streams  of this ecoregion occur among the Yellow River.  A number of drainage
 ditches have modified the remainder of the streams and creeks to a relatively
 straight, homogeneous habitat.  Surprisingly,  a large amount of recovery has
 occurred, enabling the Central Corn Belt Plain to possess a diverse
 ichthyofauna.   The majority of this area occurs in the Kankakee Sand Section
 and Karikakee Marsh Section  (Homoya et al.  1985).   The Kankakee Sand Section is
 characterized by the predominance of prairie and savanna communities
 associated with sandy soils.  This area consists primarily of sand dune and
 outwash plain sediments.   The Karikakee Marsh Section is delineated by the high
proportion of marsh,  lake,  and wet prairie communities which existed along the
Karikakee River in presettlement times.   The marsh was several miles wide on
each side of the River for almost its entire course in Indiana.   Extensive
ditching began in the 1800's to enable agriculture and has all but eliminated

                                     11

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Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecorecrion
the natural wetlands.   Average discharge for the Karikakee River, near the
Illinois border at Shelby,  Indiana,  is 1,619 cubic feet per second with ranges
of 417 cubic feet per second during 7  day,  10 year low flow and 6,950 cubic
feet per second during 100  year flood  periods.

The Iroquois River basin is a major tributary segment of the Karikakee River
(comprising 780 square miles in Indiana)  connecting with the main stem
Karikakee River in Illinois  near Watseka.  The Iroquois River has been
channelized, but unlike the Karikakee River  it does not receive a substantial
amount of its streamflow from groundwater.  This is reflected in more extreme
high and low flows, and in  this regard the  Iroquois resembles the Wabash River
more than the Karikakee River.  The Iroquois River is much shallower, and is
not dredged as often as the Karikakee so the resident fish fauna has had a
greater opportunity for colonization and  stabilization.  The major tributary
segments of the Iroquois River includes:  Ryan ditch, Oliver ditch, Howe ditch,
and Carpenter Creek.  The Iroquois River  occurs in two natural area sections,
the Grand Prairie Section and the Karikakee  Sand Section.  The Grand Prairie
section is characterized by the predominance of loamy soil and previously
considered the epitome of the vast tall grass prairie of presettlement
periods.  The Karikakee Sand Section portion is in extreme northern portions of
the natural area and was discussed previously.  The average discharge of the
Iroquois River near Foresman (near the Illinois-Indiana political boundary) is
383 cubic feet per second with ranges  of  11 cubic feet per second during 7
day, 10 year low flow and 5,660 cubic  feet  per second during 100 year flood
periods.

3.0 MATERIALS AND METHODS

Sampling

  Site Specific

A total of 197 sample locations (Fig.  4)  were surveyed during July and August
of 1990 in order to compile the data needed to evaluate the mwJTmnn species
richness lines for calibration of the  Index of Biotic Integrity.  In order to
answer the basin specific questions, and  determine if ecoregion boundaries
were adequately defined, a  sufficient  number of samples were required to
calibrate the Index for various drainages.  Site location identifier
information for each site evaluated is contained in Appendix E of this report.
Since the primary purpose of this study was to evaluate the water quality of
Indiana using biological methodology,  no  further evaluation of site specific
data (e.g. site specific taxonomic species  lists) will be included other than
an overall taxa list for each basin.

To ensure repeat sampling at the exact same site, all locations are based on
latitude and longitude and narrative description mileage is reported from the
center point rather than the edge of the  nearest town since the boundaries of
many Indiana towns will change over the next century.  All sites were
evaluated based on drainage area since this provides the most reliable
quantification (Hughes et al. 1986) of stream size.  As drainage area

                                      12

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                                                      Indiana Ecoregions
       LAKE      PORTER

       Grand Calumet R'v!i
Fig. 4. Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion indicating the location of 197 headwater
      and wading sites sampled during 1990.
                                  13

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Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecorecrion
increases, and with it stream order,  fewer locations are available for
comparative analysis.

  Habitat

The range of habitats sampled has a major effect on data collection.  A
representative sample always requires that the entire range of riffle,  run,
pool, and extra-channel habitat be sampled, especially when large rivers are
surveyed.  Atypical samples result when unrepresentative habitats are sampled
adjacent to the sampling site.  Species richness near bridges or near the
mouths of tributaries entering large rivers, lakes, or reservoirs are more
likely to be characteristic of large-order habitats than the one under
consideration (Fausch et al. 1984).

A general site description of each established sampling location was conducted
using the field observation procedure of Ohio EPA (1987).   The Qiality  Habitat
Evaluation Index takes into account important attributes of the  habitat which
increases heterogeneity.  Scoring incorporates information on substrate
composition, instream cover, channel morphology, riparian  zone and bank
erosion, and pool and riffle quality*  The following physical parameters were
recorded for each sample site to help evaluate the biological data further:
dissolved oxygen, pH, temperature, specific conductivity,  and current
velocity.  Equipment utilized for physical water quality analysis was a
Hydrolab SVR2-SU, while current velocity was measured using a Teledyne  Gurley
pygmy meter following the specifications of the  manufacturer.

  Community Analysis

Sample Considerations

Although great attention has been given to sampling design and procedures,
biologists must exercise judgement to ensure that a sample is representative
of the system being assessed.  Gear must be capable of sampling all  species in
proportion to their relative abundance.  As streams increase in size and
structural complexity, sophisticated equipment such as long-lines, sport-yaks,
and boat- mounted electrofishing equipment is required  (USEPA 1988). However,
only one  electrof ishing gear type need be used at each  location (Jung and
Libosvarsky 1965; Ohio EPA 1987).  Long-line and sport-yak equipment was built
following specifications of Ohio EPA  (1987) and utilized the same generator, a
T&J pulsed-DC generator capable of 300 volt output. Boat electrofishing
equipment included the Oof felt 18 ft Jon boat rig with a bcw-raounted stainless
steel electrosphere.  The boat power source was a 5000 watt Honda generator
which was fished at 300 volt capacity through a WP-15 transformer.

The young of fish less than 20 mm in length are excluded from Index of Biotic
integrity analysis.  Early life stages exhibit high initial mortality  (Simon
1990), and are difficult to identify and to collect with gear designed for
larger fish  (Angermeier and Karr  1986).  Collection of fish from this category
will be retained for possible future use in State water monitoring programs


                                      14

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                                                         Indiana Ecorecrions
 (e.g. ichthyoplankton index (I2)).  Specimens were not included in IBI
calibration or composite totals, but they received notation on the data sheet.
Adult specimens from each stream reach were identified to species utilizing
the taxonomic keys of Gerking (1955), Trautman (1981),  and Becker (1983).
Cyprinid taxonomy follows Mayden (1989), changes in all species  nomenclature
are listed in Appendix E for comparability with previous investigations.

The length of stream reach sampled is an important consideration.  Karr et al.
 (1986) recommended sample reaches of 100 m sufficient in structurally simple
headwater streams.  In larger streams, selecting several contiguous riffle-
pool sequences rather than relying on a standard length may be more
appropriate.  When electrof ishing equipment was employed in larger rivers,
samples were taken in units of 0.5 to 1.0 km (Gammon et al. 1981).   The length
of the sample reach was long enough to include all major habitat types.
Distances of 11 to 15 stream widths were generally adequate to sample two
cycles of habitat (Leopold et al. 1964).  In addition,  the location of the
site was precisely recorded so sampling could be repeated in the future.
Photographs; township, range, and section numbers; latitude and  longitude;  and
county locations were recorded on the data sheet.

Selecting the appropriate time of year for sampling is critical.   Karr et al.
 (1986) found no single best period could be defined.  Periods of low-to
moderate stream flew are preferred and the relatively variable flow conditions
of early spring and late autumn/winter should be avoided.  Species richness
tends to be higher later in summer due to the presence of young-of-the-year of
rare species, but this can be avoided if sampling does not incorporate young-
of-the-year species.  Samples of limited area may be less variable in early
summer than comparable samples taken later in the year.

The aquatic community of each of the six Indiana ecoregions was  sampled at
approximately 200 sites to evaluate the water resource using the Standard
Operating Procedures of the USEPA Central Regional Laboratory (1988).
Sampling was conducted during low to moderate flow periods (June to
September).  A quantitative fish survey was conducted using the  Index of
Biotic Integrity (IBI) and all comments in the proceeding sections will deal
only with fish field procedures.  A total of 5% of the total sites were
resampled for precision and accuracy estimates.  Die station numbering system
used for the project followed the methods of the Central Regional Laboratory
 (1978).

Sample Site Selection

Fish sample sites were selected based upon several factors:

1).  Avoiding stream reaches affected by point source dischargers;

2).  Stream use designation issues (i.e. Grand Calumet basin);

3).  location of physical habitat features (e.g. dams,  changes in geology,


                                      15

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Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecoreaion
     changes in stream order,  presence of stream confluence, etc.);

4).  Location of non-point sources of pollution (e.g. cities/urban areas,
     and obvious farm runoff);

5).  Variations in habitat suitability for fish;

6).  Atypical habitat not representative of River reach or basin.

When possible sites were located upstream from pollution  sources and adjacent
tributaries (Gainrron 1973).  Should the upstream portion of the stream be
impacted, an alternate reference station was selected from another reach or
adjacent stream with similar geological and hydrological  conditions.  Stations
were selected from natural areas, parks (Federal, State,  County,  and Local),
exceptional designated streams, and from historical sampling locations
whenever available.

When non-impacted areas were not present, "least impacted" areas were selected
based on the above criteria.  Inferior impacts, sites which  exhibit  obvious
attributable disturbances, may include channelization of  rivers,  and proximity
to non-point sources.  Sites were chosen which indicate recovery from
channelization or potential non-point source areas, and which  have a suitable
riparian buffer on the shoreline.  When a series of point source dischargers
were located on a river, every effort was made to sample  upstream of the
discharger present on the highest upstream segment, or  to search for areas of
recovery between the dischargers (Krumholz 1946).

When impoundments or other physical habitat alterations had  been installed on
the river, sampling was conducted in the tailwaters of  a  dam (area immediately
downstream).  Tailwaters posses the greatest semblance  of the  unregulated
lotic habitat.  In areas where sampling cannot be accomplished downstream of
the physical structure due to lack of access, stream tributary segments were
located upstream of the dam away from the immediate influence  of the pooled
portion.  Likewise, bridges were always sampled on the  upstream side, away
from the immediate vicinity of the structure and bridge construction effects.

Fish from each location was identified to species and enumerated. A voucher
specimen of each taxa was retained.  Likewise, all smaller and more difficult
to identify taxa were preserved for later examination and identification in
the laboratory.  All fish collected were examined for the presence of gross
external anomalies.  Incidence of these anomalies was defined as the presence
of externally visible morphological disorders, and is expressed as percent of
afflicted fish among all fish collected.  Incidence of occurrence was computed
for each species at each station.  Specific anomalies include: anchor worms;
leeches; pugheadedness; fin rot; Aeromonas  (causes ulcers, lesions,  and skin
growth, and formation of pus-producing surface lesions acccnpanied by scale
erosion); dropsy  (puffy body); swollen eyes; fungus; ich; curved spine; and
swollen-bleeding mandible or opercle.

Hybrid species encountered in the field  (e.g. csentrarchids,  cyprinids)  were

                                      16

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                                                         Indiana  Ecorecrions
 recorded on the data sheet,  and if possible, potential parental combinations
 recorded.
 Index of Biotic Integrity

 The ambient environmental condition was evaluated using the Index of Biotic
 Integrity (Karr 1981; Karr et al.  1986).  This index relies on multiple
 parameters (termed "metrics") based on coanmunity concepts, to evaluate a
 complex system.   It incorporates professional judgement in a systematic and
 sound manner,  but sets quantitative criteria that enables determination of
 what is poor and excellent based on species richness and composition, trophic
 and reproductive constituents, and fish abundance and condition.  Hie twelve
 original Index of Biotic Integrity metrics reflect insights from several
 perspectives and cumulatively are  responsive to changes of relatively small
 magnitude,  as  well as broad ranges of  environmental degradation.

 Since the metrics are differentially sensitive to various perturbations (e.g.
 siltation or toxic chemicals), as  well as, various degrees or levels of change
 within the  range of integrity, conditions at a site can be determined with
 considerable accuracy.   The interpretation of the index scoring is provided in
 six narrative  categories that have been tested in Region V (Karr 1981; Table
 2).

 Several of  the metrics are drainage size dependent and require selection of
 numerical scores (Tables 3-7).  The ecoregion approach developed by USEPA-
 Oorvallis,  OR, was utilized to compare "least impacted" zones within the
 region (Omernik  1986).   Ohio EPA (1987),  modified several of the metrics in
 order to make  them more  sensitive to environmental effects from their
 experiences in Ohio.  The current  study utilizes the experiences of Ohio and
 Karr et al.  (1986)  in adapting an  index for Indiana.

 Metrics

 In general, the metrics utilized for the current study are those developed by
 the  State of Ohio (Ohio EPA 1987) for analysis of surface water use-
 attainment.  This includes a slight modification of several of the original
 Index of Biotic Integrity metrics as proposed by Karr (1981).

 Although the methodology and application of the ecoregional expectations are
 similar in approach to Ohio and much of the inf ormation below is taken
 directly from the Ohio documents (Ohio EPA 1988),  a significant difference
 exists between the  Indiana and Ohio data bases.   This difference exists in how
 the metric expectations are developed.  In Ohio,  the ecoregional reference
 stations were combined into a single data set for the entire State,  and later
modifications were developed for the Huron-Erie Lake Plain.   In Indiana,
 "least impacted" conditions will be developed on a regional basis, with
recognition of basin differences within ecoregion,  based on the natural areas
classification of Homoya et al.  (1985).  Further evaluation at the completion
of the study will determine if differential metric treatment  is warranted for

                                     17

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Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecoreaion
Table 2. Attributes of Index of Biotic Integrity (IBI) classification, total
          IBI scores, and integrity classes from Karr et al.  (1986).
Ttotal IBI
score
Integrity
  Class
Attributes
58-60       Excellent   Comparable to the best situation without human
                        disturbance;  all regionally expected species for
                        the habitat and stream size, including the most
                        intolerant forms, are present with a full array
                        of age (size) classes; balance trophic structure.

48-52       Good        Species richness somewhat below expectation,
                        especially due  to the loss of the most intolerant
                        forms; some species are present with less than optimal
                        abundances or size  distributions; trophic structure
                        shows some signs of stress.

40-44       Fair        Signs of additional deterioration include loss of
                        intolerant forms, fewer species, highly skewed trophic
                        structure (e.g. increasing frequency of omnivores and
                        other tolerant  species);  older age classes of top
                        predators may be rare.

28-34       Poor        Dominated by  omnivores, tolerant forms, and habitat
                        generalists;  few top  carnivores; growth rates and
                        condition factors commonly depressed; hybrids and
                        diseased fish often present.

12-22       Very Poor   Few fish present, mostly  introduced or tolerant forms;
                        hybrids common; disease,  parasites, fin damage, and
                        other anomalies regular.

            No fish     Repeated sampling finds no fish.
                                      18

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                                                         Indiana  Ecoreaions
Table 3. Index of Biotic Integrity metrics vised to evaluate headwater sites in
         the Karikakee and Iroguois River Basins.
Metric
Category
                        Metric
        Scoring Classification
         531
Species
Composition   Total Number of Species

              Number Darter/Sculpin/
              Madtom Species

              % Headwater Species

              Number of Minnow Species

              Number Sensitive Species

               % Tolerant Species
Trophic
Composition
               % Onmivores1
                 < 20 square miles

               % Insectivores1
                  < 20 square miles

               % Pioneer Species1
Fish
ttmditian
               Catch per Unit Effort

                % Simple Lithophils

                % DEL3? anomalies'


1 %eciri aaag j*oadun «e lapied nbcn IBB fan 25 irfvifal 6it me odgcfed.
Varies with drainage area  (Fig.  6-7)


Varies with drainage area  (Fig.  9-10)

     >26.6%  13.3%-26.6%   <13.3%

Varies with drainage area  (Fig.  16-17)

Varies with drainage area  (Fig.  21-23)

      < 25%   25.1-49.9%   >50.0%


  Varies with drainage area  (Fig.  26)


  Varies with drainage area  (Fig.  27)

     <24.7%    24.7-49.4%    >49.4%


  Varies with drainage area  (Fig.  31)

      >34%     16.5-33.9%  <16.5%

     <0.1%      0.1-1.3%   >1.3%
                                      19

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Central  Corn  Belt Plain  Ecoreqion
Table 4. Index of Biotic Integrity metrics used to evaluate wadable sites in
         the Kankakee and Iroquois River basins.
Metric
Category
                        Metric
        Scoring Classification
         531
Species
Composition   Total Number of Species

              Number of Darter Species

              Number of Sunfish Species

              Number of Sucker Species

              Number Sensitive Species

              % Tolerant Species
Trophic
Composition
              % Omnivores1
                 > 20 square miles

              % Insectivores1
                  > 20 square miles

              % Carnivores1
Fish
Condition
              Catch per Unit Effort

              % Simple Lithophils

              % DEXIT anomalies1


1 %nM floovg fxocafcra vc rayiod vtaa bn fan SO ndhadbri fidi MB odoctod.
Varies with drainage area  (Fig. 6-7)

Varies with drainage area  (Fig. 9-10)

      > 3       2-3       < 2

 Varies with drainage area (Fig. 19)

Varies with drainage area  (Fig. 21-22)

     < 25%   25.1-49.9%   >50.0%


      <19.3%  19.3-38.7%   >38.7%


      >50%   25.1-49.9%   <25%

      >5.0%   2.1-5.0%    <2.0%


  Varies with drainage area  (Fig. 31)

    >34%     16.5-33.9%  <16.5%

   <0.1%      0.1-1.3%   >1.3%
                                      20

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                                                         Indiana  Ecoreaions
Table 5. Index of Biotic Integrity metrics vised to evaluate headwater sites in
         the Lake Michigan basin  (East Branch Little Calumet River Division).
Metric
Category
Trophic
Composition
Fish
Condition
                        Metric
       Scoring Classification
        531
Species
Composition    Total Number of Species    Varies with drainage area (Fig.  8)

               Number Darter/Sculpin/
               Madtom Species             Varies with drainage area (Fig.  11)

               Number of Sunfish Species  Varies with drainage area (Fig.  15)

               Number of Salmonid Species Varies with drainage area (Fig.  20)

               Number Sensitive Species   Varies with drainage area (Fig.  23)
               % Tolerant Species

               % Carnivores1
                 < 20 square miles

               % Insectivores1
                  < 20 square miles
               % Carnivores1



               Catch per Unit Effort

                % Simple Lithophils

                % DELT anomalies1


1 ffrpecBi BQOQE prooeduCT MC royrel wm IBB tap 25 ntviAjri fifa MC ocfccfal.
     < 25%   25.1-49.9%   >50.0%


 Varies with drainage area (Fig. 26)


 Varies with drainage area (Fig. 27)

Varies with drainage area  (Fig.  30)


 Varies with drainage area (Fig. 31)

     >34%     16.5-33.9%  <16.5%

   <0.1%      0.1-1.3%   >1.3%
                                      21

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Central  Corn  Belt  Plain  Ecoreqion
Table 6. Index of Biotic Integrity metrics used to evaluate headwater sites in
         the Lake Michigan basin (Lake Michigan Division).
Metric
Category
                        Metric
                                 Scoring Classification
                                  531
Species
Cconpositi<
Trophic
Composition
Fish
Condition
               Total Number of Species    Varies with drainage area  (Fig. 8)
Number Darter/Sculpin/
Madton Species

Number of Sunf ish Species

Number of Minnow Species

Number Sensitive Species

% Tolerant Species

% Omnivores1
  < 20 square miles

% Insectivores1
   < 20 square miles

% Pioneer Species1


Catch per Unit Effort

 % Simple lathophils

 % DELJT anomalies1
I SpecU nriqg poootaa «e itqund who fen fan 25 idviU fib «c odactd
                                          Varies with drainage area (Fig. 11)

                                          Varies with drainage area (Fig. 15)

                                          Varies with drainage area (Fig. 18)

                                          Varies with drainage area (Fig. 23)

                                              < 25%   25.1-49.9%   >50.0%


                                          Varies with drainage area (Fig. 26)


                                          Varies with drainage area (Fig. 27)

                                             <24.7%   24.7-49.4%   >49.4%


                                          Varies with drainage area (Fig. 31)

                                              >34%     16.5-33.9%  <16.5%

                                            <0.1%      0.1-1.3%   >1.3%
                                      22

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                                                         Indiana Ecoreaions
Table 7. Index of Biotic Integrity metrics used to evaluate wadable sites in
         the lake Michigan basins (East Branch Little Calumet River and Lake
         Michigan Divisions).
Metric
Category
         Metric
     Scoring Classification
      531
Species
Composition
Trophic
Composition
Fish
Condition
Total Number of Species    Varies with

Number of Darter Species   Varies with

Number of Sunfish Species       > 3

Number of Salmonid Species Varies with

Number Sensitive Species   Varies with

% Tolerant Species             < 25%
           drainage area (Fig. 8)

           drainage area (Fig. 11)

              2-3       < 2

           drainage area (Fig. 20)

           drainage area (Fig. 23)

           25.1-49.9%   >50.0%
% Omnivores1
  > 20 square miles

% Insectivores1
  > 20 square miles

% Carnivores1
Catch per Unit Effort

 % Simple Lithophils

 % DECT anomalies1
   <19.3%  19.3-38.7%   >38.7%



   >50%    25.1-49.9%  <25.0%

    >5.0%  2.1-5.0%   <2.0%



Varies with drainage area (Fig. 31)

   >34%     16.5-33.9%  <16.5%

  <0.1%      0.1-1.3%   >1.3%
                                      23

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Central  Corn  Belt  Plain  Ecoreqion
basin specific or larger scale criteria.

The Index of Biotic Integrity is very sensitive to differences in collection
effort and gear type.  In order to account for these inherent biases, separate
expectations are developed for each of the three stream classification types
utilized in the current study.  Headwater sites were primarily sampled using a
long-line unit or common sense minnow seine, wadable sites were sampled using
a sport-yak or long-line unit, while larger unwadable rivers were sampled
using various boat-mounted equipment.

Below is a metric by metric definition of each of the twelve metrics utilized
for the calibration of the Indiana Index of Biotic Integrity.  Due to inherent
differences between the Lake Michigan and Mississippi River  drainages,
different metrics were necessary to evaluate both sections of the ecoregion.
Salmonid species in the Lake Michigan tributaries have  a dramatic effect  on
the fish community such that conventional (Karr et al.  1986; Ohio EPA 1987)
index metrics were not able to evaluate certain structural and functional
aspects of the community.  Several modifications were necessary for  headwater
streams and  wadable streams where salmonid species occurred.  Thus, two
different sets of metrics are included for Lake Michigan headwater tributaries
(Tables 5 and 6).  The provisional break is set at the  mouth of Burns Ditch
and includes the East Branch of the Little Calumet River and all tributary
segments of the East Branch to its origination in LaPorte  County (Table 5).
Likewise, the West Branch of the Little Calumet Kiver,  Grand Calumet River,
and all tributaries to these Rivers are more similar to the  Mississippi River
drainage and were evaluated using metrics in Table 6.  Cmernik (1987)
recognized a division of the Calumet Region and included a portion in the
adjacent ecoregion (Southern Michigan-northern Indiana  Till  Plain).  Further
analysis of this situation is required in order to determine the exact
delineation of the two ecoregional boundaries.

Maximum species richness lines were drawn following the procedure of Fausch et
al. (1984) and Ohio EPA (1989).  Scatter plot  data diagrams  of individual
metrics were first evaluated for basin specific patterns.  The maximum species
richness line method primarily used was the trisection  method.  This requires
the uppermost line to be drawn so that 95% of  the data  area  lies beneath.  The
other two lines were then drawn so the remainder of the area beneath the  95th
percentile line was divided into three equivalent areas.  In situations where
no significant deviation in relationship was observed within the three basin
segments, the segments were pooled to reflect  an ecoregional consensus.
Likewise, if no relationship with increasing drainage area was observed,  the
maximum species richness lines either leveled  off at the point where no
additional increases were exhibited or horizontal plots were delineated
indicating no increase with drainage area.

The drainage area, where differentiation between headwater and wading sites
was conceived, was indicated on the graphs by  a vertical dashed line on the
maximum species richness lines.  This relationship was  determined by searching
for bimodal patterns in the basin specific data set plots  of species richness.
A sixth order polynomial defined where a significant bimodal effect  was

                                      24

-------
                                                        Indiana  Ecoreaions
evident for each of the drainage basins (Fig. 5).  The tails of the data are
not significant, rather the point where the data differentiates into two
distinct peaks suggest that at approximately 20 miles2 the transition between
headwater and wading methods should be made.
                                    25

-------
Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecoreqion
Metric 1. Total Number of Fish Species (All methods)
Xnpetu
This metric is utilized for all of the stream classification types used for
calibrating the Indiana Index of Biotic  Integrity.  Unlike the Ohio metric,
exotic species are included in the total number of taxa.  The premise behind
this metric is based on the observation  that the number of fish species
increases directly with environmental complexity and quality of the aquatic
resource (Karr 1981; Karr et al. 1986).  Although the number of exotic or
introduced species may be indicative of  a  loss of integrity (Karr et al. 1986;
Ohio EPA 1987), the differences between  lower levels of resolution may be due
to colonization of habitats by pioneer or  tolerant taxa which mostly
incorporate exotic species.

This single metric is considered to be one of the most powerful metrics in
resolving water resource issues since a  direct correlation exists between high
quality resources and high numbers of species for warmwater assemblages (Ohio
EPA 1987; Davis and lubin 1989; Plafkin  et al. 1989).  As total number of
species increases, species become more specialized and have narrower niche
breadths, numerous higher levels interactions occur and presumably enable
greater efficiency in resource utilization.

The determination of headwater and wadable classifications for Indiana was
made primarily on the data from this metric.  A sixth order polynomial curve
fit line revealed two peaks at drainage  areas of approximately 20 square miles
(Fig 5).

        r ana Wading Sites
The number of species is strongly correlated with drainage area at headwater
and wading sites up to ca. 100 square miles.  Determining the Index of Biotic
Integrity scoring criteria for this metric requires the comparison of maximum
species richness lines for the appropriate basin and drainage area (Fig 6, 7,
8; headwater and wading sites).
                                      26

-------
                                                           Indiana Ecorecrions
    to
    O  1O
                                                                  A  Kankakee
                                                                     Drainage
                       1            10          10O

                        DRAINAGE AREA (SO.  Ml>
                                                           10OO
                                                                  o  Iroquois
                                                                     Drainage
                                                           1COO
                                                                     Lake
                                                                     Michigan
1COO
Fig. 5. Species diversity trends with drainage area for determining the separation of
      headwater and wading catergories using polynominal curve fit graphing techniques.
                                       27

-------
(O

00
    <

    O
       4O
       3O
    O  ^

    K
       20
10
         O
          0.1
                        Wading/Headwater Sites
                 Kankakee

                 Drainage
                              10
100
1OOO
                                                                O
                                                                fl>
                                                                3
                                                                rt
                                                                        O
                                                                        O
                                                                        w
                                                                        (0
                                                                W
                                                                O
                                                                O
                                                                fl

                                                                §
                                                                H-
                                                                O
                           DRAINAGE  AREA (SQ. Ml)
                Fig. 6. Maximum species richness lines determining trends in total number of

                    species with increasing drainage area for the Kankakee River drainage.

-------
                       Wading/Headwater Sites
to

ID
    yj
    O

    K
    <
                 Iroquois

                 Drainage
                                                     1OO
                        DRAINAGE  AREA  (SQ.  Ml)
1000
                                                                           3.
                                                                           .j*

                                                                           V

                                                                           3
        P


        .J*




        n
             Fig. 7. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in total number of species

                 with increasing drainage area for the Iroquois River drainage.

-------
     Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecorecfion
 a>
I
 05
 0
 D)


I
         i
      J32


      +
                                                      O
                                                      O
                                                      O
                     o
                     o
                                                   .  o
tf
                                                               "o
                                                                o>
                                                                Q.
                                                                V)
    .Q
    E
    =j
    c

    1 d>
                               c ^
                                r
                               
-------
                                                         Indiana Ecoreaions
 Metric 2. Number of Darter Species  (Headwater, Wading Methods)
Karr et al.  (1986) indicated that the presence of members of the tribe
Ethecstomatini are indicative of a quality resource.  Darters require high
dissolved oxygen concentrations, are intolerant to toxicants and siltation,
and thrive over  clean substrates.  Life history information for all of the 27
Indiana species  indicates darters are insectivorous, habitat specialists, and
sensitive to physical and chemical environmental disturbances (Page 1983;
Kuehne and Barbour 1983) .  Darters are excellent indicators of a quality
resource, generally in riffle habitats.

The darters  include the genera: Anrniocryptaf Crvstallariaf Etheostomaf and
Percina.  Of the 28 species recorded from Indiana, six are commonly found
throughout the State and are not restricted to a particular «tr**am size
 (Gerking  1945) .  Fifteen species are confined to the Ohio River basin; none of
the species  are  restricted to the Mississippi River basin; and a single
species occurs only in the Great lakes drainages (Table 8) .


        ar Sites
For headwater sites, those less than 20 square miles drainage area, this
metric also includes members of the family Oottidae (sculpins) and Ictaluridae
 (madtoms; genus Noturus,, tribes Noturus. Scnilbeodes, and Rabida).  The
sculpins and madtoms are benthic insectivores and functionally occupy the same
type of niche as darters.  Their inclusion enables a greater degree of
sensitivity in evaluating streams that naturally have fewer darter species.
This metric changes with drainage area, thus Tnaxinmm species richness lines
were prepared using Central Corn Belt Plain data (Fig. 9, 10, 11).  An
increase in the number of benthic insectivores increases with increasing
drainage area for each of the three basins.  In the Lake Michigan drainage,
few darters actually occurred so this metric was estimated based on the total
number of species which could be expected rather than actually observed during
the current study.


Wading Sites

The darter metric, as originally proposed by Karr (1981), is used only in
wadable habitats.  The criteria developed for the maximum species richness
lines was determined from the Indiana data set (Fig. 9, 10, 11) and indicates
a positive relationship with increasing drainage area.  Due to the reduction
of quality sites in higher drainage area categories for the Lake Michigan
drainage, the number of expected species in quality habitats was estimated.
Madtom and sculpin species are not included in cumulative scoring for drainage
areas greater than 20.0 square miles.

                                      31

-------
Central Corn Belt  Plain Ecorecrion
Table 8. The distributional
Etheostcsnatini) .
characteristics of Indiana darter species (tribe:
Distribution in Indiana Drainaaes
Species Statewide
AmnocrvDta Dellucida
&. clara
Etheostoroa asprigene
£• blennioides
£• canmrum
E» *^%\ • orosoxna
£• exile
£. gracile
£• histrio
£. kennicottj.
£• macula-fern

£• nictrum
£• spectabile
£• tippecanoe
£• variatum
E. zonale
JnEUu'wJLnci CglLffXXA'SS
£. copelandi
P. evades
£- maculata
£• phoxDoephala
P_. sciera
£. shumardi
X
X
X
X
X
X
Ohio Great Mississippi
River Takes River
X X
X X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X XX
X X
X
X
X
X X
X
X
X X
X
X
IRokitdto]
potncft
                                    32

-------
U)
    tr
    LLJ
    Q
         10
          8
          o
          0.1
                       Wading/Headwater Sites
                  Kankakee
                  Drainage
    -ft—'—' 'AM A''
1             10            100

  DRAINAGE AREA (SQ. Ml)
1000
            Fig. 9. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number of darter species
                 with increasing drainage area for the Kankakee River drainage.
       H

       Q.
       H-
       Q)
       3
       0)
                                                                          (D
                                                                          Q
                                                                          _l.
                                                                          0

                                                                          W

-------
                    Wading/Headwater Sites
         O    Iroquois

              Drainage
                                  o
                                  (D
                                  3
QC
UJ
O
    1O
     8
     2  -
     O

      0.1
                                                                     3

                                                                     w
                                                                     (D
                                  w
                                  O
                                  D

                                  (D
                                                                     o
10
100
10OO
                       DRAINAGE  AREA (SO. Ml)
        F/0. /O. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number of darter species
             with increasing drainage area for the Iroquois River drainage.

-------
                       Wading/Headwater Sites
             +    Lake
                  Michigan
Ul
CL
111
QC
3

5-
        10
         8
         O
          0.1
                                   10            1OO
                           DRAINAGE  AREA (SQ. Ml)
10OO
             Fig. 11. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number of darter species
                  with increasing drainage area for the Lake Michigan drainage.
a
H-
Q>

01

W
O
O
l-l
(D
Q
H-
O

en

-------
Central  Corn  Belt Plain  Ecorecrion
Metric 3. Proportion of Headwater Species (Headwater Methods)
          Number of Sunfish Species (Lake Michigan Headwater, Wading Methods)
Impetu
This metric follows Karr (1981)  and Karr et al.  (1986) by including the number
of sunfish species (family Centrarchidae),  and excluding the black basses
(Mcropterus spp).  Unlike the Ohio metric, the  redear sunf ish Lepomis
microlophus is included because it is native to  Indiana.  Hybrid sunfish are
not included in this metric following Ohio EPA (1987).

This metric is an important measure of pool habitat quality.   It includes all
members of the sunfish genera Ambloplites (rock  bass), Oentrarchus (round
sunfish), Lepomis (sunfish), and PnmnaHs (crappies), as well as, the
ecological equivalent Elassomatidae.  Sunfish normally occupy  slower moving
water which may act as sinks for the accumulation of toxins and siltation.
This metric measures degradation of rock substrates (i.e. gravel and boulder)
and instream cover (Pflieger 1975; Trautman 1981),  and the associated aquatic
macTOinvertebrate community which are an important  food resource for sunfish
(Forbes and Richardson 1920; Becker 1983).   Sunfish are  important components
of the aquatic community since they are wide ranging, and distributed in most
streams and rivers of Indiana.  They are also very  susceptible to
electrofishing gear.  Karr et al. (1986) found sunfish to occupy the
intermediate to upper ends of sensitivity of the index of biotic integrity.


Headwater sites

The amount of pool habitat is a limiting factor  in  many headwater streams
which prohibits colonization by sunfish due to their deep-bodied shape.  This
metric is replaced with the proportion of headwater species at sites with
drainage areas less than 20 square miles (OEPA 1987).  Nine headwater species
were defined by Ohio EPA (1987)  and their presence  indicates permanent habitat
with low environmental stress (Table 9).  The presence of headwater species
does not show a trend with increased drainage area  (Fig.  12).  Due to the
natural absence of most of the headwater taxa in the Lake Michigan drainage,
the number of sunfish species metric was retained (Fig.  15) since a direct
relationship was observed between number of species and  increasing drainage
area.


Wading sites

The number of sunfish species is not affected by increasing drainage area
using wading methods for any of the basins (Fig. 13,  14,  15).
                                      36

-------
                                                         Indiana Ecoreaions
Table 9. List of Indiana fish species considered to be headwater species for
         evaluating permanent habitat in headwater streams (Smith 1971).
Headwater Species

Least brook lanprey
American brook lamprey
Bedside cfac^
Blacknose dace
Southern redbelly
Brook stickleback
Fantail darter
Mottled sculpin
Banded sculpin
Scientific Name
Lampetra aepvptera
Lampetra appendix
Rhini rfithys atratulus
Phoxinus
       incoiisbans
Etfaeostoma
Oottus bairdi
Oottus carolinae
                                     37

-------
Central Corn Belt  Plain Ecoreqion
Sites
eadwate
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Drainage
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                               38

-------
                                                Indiana  Ecoreqions
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                                 40

-------
o
                              Wading Sites
          +    Lake
               Michigan
     10
      8
      O
       +•»++++


       ' * "• I'
       0.1
             10             100

DRAINAGE  AREA  (SQ. Ml)
1OOO
                                                                            H

                                                                            a.
                                                                            3
                                                                            3)
                                                                            D
                                                                            n
         F/ig. 15. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number of sunfish species
              with increasing drainage area for the Lake Michigan drainage.

-------
Central  Corn  Belt Plain  Ecorecrion
Metric 4.  Number of Minnow Species (Headwater,  Lake Michigan Division
            Headwater Methods)
           Number of Sucker Species (Wading Methods)
           Number of Salmonid Species (East Branch Little Calumet River
            Division Headwater, Wading)
Tnnwiai
The original Index of Biotic Integrity metrics included the number of sucker
species (Karr 1981; Karr et al. 1986).  Suckers represent a major component of
the Indiana fish fauna since their total biomass usually ranks them among the
highest contributors to the community.  The general intolerance of most sucker
species to habitat and water quality degradation (Phillips and Underbill 1971;
Karr et al. 1986; Trautman 1981; Becker 1983)  results in sensitivity at the
higher end of environmental quality.  Suckers due to their long life cycles
(10-20 years) provides a long-term assessment of past environmental
conditions.  Of the nineteen species extant in Indiana, Laaochila lacera is
considered extinct, seven species are widely distributed throughout the State
(Table 10).  Extant sucker genera include: Cvcleptus. Carpiodes. Catostomus.
TFjT*T ^ns^zori t Hvpsntilivrrn * Xotiocus/  MmvJtrjt.'jHm8i • stncl Moxostoros.*


Headwater Sites

The number of minnow species metric is substituted for the number of sucker
species at headwater sites because of the expected low numbers of sucker
species in small streams (OEPA 1987).  The number of sucker species decreases
rapidly with declining drainage area at sites with less than 20 square miles
(Fig. 19).  Examination of the Indiana data base suggested that the number of
minnow species would serve as a suitable substitute.  As many as ten different
minnow species have been observed at locations with drainage areas under 5
square miles.   The number of minnow species also correlates with increased
environmental quality.  Species including the hornyhead chub (Nocomis
biquttatus), sand shiner (Notropis ludibundus), and rosyf ace shiner (Notropis
rubellus) are examples of minnow species which occur in high quality headwater
streams.  Species such as creek chub (Semotilus atromaculatus), bluntnose
minnow (Pimephales notatus), and fathead minnow (P. promelas) are tolerant to
both chemical degradation and stream desiccation.  Environmental tolerance is
represented at both ends of the continuum.  A direct relationship exists
between the number of minnow species and drainage area for Indiana basins
(Fig. 16, 17, 18). Scaring is dependent on drainage area of the site.  In Lake
Michigan headwater tributaries the minnow metric is retained for the Lake
Michigan Division (West Branch of the Little Calumet River and tributaries and
Grand Calumet River).  In the East Branch of the Little Calumet River Division
the minnow metric is not used.  Instead the number of salmonid species is
substituted  (see explanation below).
                                      42

-------
                                                         Indiana Ecoreaions
 Table 10.  Distributional characteristics of Indiana sucker species (family
           Catostomidae).
 Species
                     Statewide
 Small
Streams
 Large
Rivers
Rare
Taxa
Cvcleotus _
Carpjodes carpio
C. cvprinus
C. velifer
Catostomus catostomus
C. wumtersoni
Erimyzon oblongus
1. sucetta
Hvpentilium nioricans
Ictiobus bubalus
.1.
I.
                        X
                        X
         . lacera
_ melanops
Moxostoma anisurum
M. carinatum

M. ervthrurum
M. macrolepidotum
M.
                                          X
                                          X
                                          X
                                          X
                        EXTINCT
                        X
                        X


                        x
                        X
                 X
                 X
                 X
                 X
                 X
                 X
                 X
                 X

                 X
                 X
                 X
                 X
                 X
                 X
                 X
                             X

                             X
Wading sites

A direct relationship exists between the number of sucker species and drainage
area at wading sites.  Scoring is thus dependent on the drainage area of the
site and is accomplished using Fig.  19.  No difference in ejgjectaticns was
observed for the Kankakee or Iroquois Rivers so the two basins were combined
for this metric.
                                     43

-------
                 Headwater Sites
          Kankakee
          Drainage
                                    o
                                    ID
                                    rt
15
12
 O
                                    n
                                    o
                                    1-1
                                    3

                                    M
                                    ID
                                                                    P-
                                                                    3

                                                                    W
                                                                    O
                                                                    O
                                                                    H
                                                                    0)
                                                                    Q
                                                                    H-

                                                                    §
  0.1
10
1OO
10OO
                    DRAINAGE  AREA  (SQ. Ml)
    Fig. 16. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number of minnow species
         with increasing drainage area for the Kankakee River drainage.

-------
              O   Iroquois

                  Drainage
                               Headwater Sites
01
    o
    O
         15
         12
          O
           O.1
10
1OO
                             DRAINAGE  AREA  (SQ. Ml)
1000
              Fig. 17. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the number of minnow
                   species with increasing drainage area for the Iroquois River.
                                                                             0,
3
P)

W
O
O
n
(D
Q
H-

B
tn

-------
                              Headwater Sites
*
         15
     .   12
    O
6
                  Lake

                  Michigan
                                                                    o
                                                                    fl>
                                                                    3
                                                                    rt
                                                                    n
                                                                    01
                                                                    o
                                                                    o
                                                                             OB
                                                                             (D
                                                                             0J
                                                                             H-
                                                                             3
                                                                    O
                                                                    0
                                                                    n
                                                                    (D
                                                                    Q
          0.1
                               10
100
1000
                            DRAINAGE AREA (SQ. Ml)
              Fig. 18. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the number of minnow

                   species with increasing drainage area for the Lake Michigan drainage.

-------
                              Wading Sites
     1O
 .     8
a

a

OC     6
      O
               Iroquois

               Drainage
        Kankakee

        Drainage
       10
1OO
                          DRAINAGE AREA (SQ.  Ml)
1OOO
H-
(II
3
P>




5
^


8
H-

§
Cfl
         /fir. 79. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the number of sucker

             species with increasing drainage area for the Kankakee and Iroquois River drainages.

-------
Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecoreaion
Lake Michigan Headwater and Wading Sites

Only a few species of sucker are expected,  and usually only one  (Catostomus
commersoni) is ever common in most Lake Michigan tributaries.  The presence of
C. commersoni reduces the elucidation capacity of the index, since this
species is considered tolerant,  in evaluating water quality.  Due to the low
expected number of sucker species in the Lake Michigan drainage, this metric
was replaced by the number of salmonid species.  Salmonids are keystone
species in Lake Michigan tributaries, their presence  determines the  remainder
of the community's composition and its function.  Salmonids are top-carnivores
and because of the stocking of various strains in Indiana and adjacent States,
they are present in Lake Michigan tributaries during  all months of the year.
Thermal avoidance is a particularly sensitive attribute  salmonids exhibit.
This makes them extremely important indicator organisms  when evaluating the
thermal barriers that industrial dischargers may establish between Lake
Michigan and the tributaries. The presence of a number  of salmonid  species
indicates good pool and quality habitat similar  to  the original intention of
the sucker metric by Karr et al. (1986).

It was determined that an inverse relationship between number of salmonid
species and drainage area was apparent, higher numbers exist in lower order
streams of the East Branch of the Little Calumet Division (Fig. 20). A total
of seven species occur in the drainage including the  genera Qncorhvnchus.
Salvelinus. and Salmo.  Stocking of these genera are  common, however, possibly
two of these species (Salvelinus fontinalis and  S_.  naTnaynigh) were native to
the area. Caution must be exercised in determining  whether species collected
were newly stocked or residents.  If only small  specimens, all the same size,
are collected in high numbers, these probably represent  recently stocked
individuals and should not be used in the biotic analysis.  Likewise,
collections should not be conducted during known peak spawning migrations
since transient individuals are present in much  greater  abundance than usual.
Indications of black or hooked mouths in males of several species are good
indications that sampling was conducted at an inappropriate time.
                                      48

-------
                        Wading/Headwater Sites
VO
Q



|


ft

tr
LLJ
          0.1
                 Lake

                 Michigan
                                 10
100
                           DRAINAGE  AREA  (SO. Ml)
1000
                                                                         a>
                                                                         3
                                                                         o
                                                                         0
                                                                         0


                                                                         CO
             Fig. 20. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number of salmonid

                  species with increasing drainage area for Lake Michigan.

-------
Central  Corn  Belt Plain  Ecoreaion
Metric 5. Number of Sensitive Species (All Methods)
Dnpetus

The number of sensitive species metric distinguishes between streams of
highest quality.  Designation of too many species as intolerant will prevent
this metric from discriminating among the highest quality resources.  Only
species that are highly intolerant to a variety of disturbances were included
in this metric so it will respond to diverse types of perturbations (Table 11;
see Appendix A for species specific information).

The criteria for determining intolerance is based on the numerical and
graphical analysis of Olio's regional data base,  Gerking's  (1945)
documentation of historical changes in the distribution of  Indiana species,
and supplemental information from regional ichthyofaunal texts (Pflieger 1975;
Smith 1979; Trautman 1981; Becker 1983; Burr and Warren 1986).  Intolerant
taxa are those which decline with decreasing environmental  quality and
disappear, as viable populations, when the aquatic environment degrades  to the
"fair11 category (Karr et al. 1986).  The intolerant species list was divided
into three categories, all are included in this metric  for  scoring:

 1).  conmuii intolerant species fl): species which are  intolerant, but
      are widely distributed in the best streams in Indiana;

 2).  uncommon or geographically restricted specigg (S); species that
      are infrequently captured or that have restricted ranges)

 3).  rare or possibly extirpated species fR);  intolerant species  that
      are rarely captured or which lack recent status data.

Commonly occurring intolerant species made up 5-10% of  the  common  species in
Indiana.  This was a recommended guideline of Karr (1981) and Karr et al.
(1986).  Although the addition of species designated uncommon or rare
sensitive species (categories 2 and 3), inflates the number of intolerant
species above the 10% guideline, nowhere in the State do all of the species
coexist at the same time.  Indiana taxa within the Central  Corn Belt Plain
were below Ohio criteria for Intolerant taxa expectations.   In order to
evaluate streams in the Central Corn Belt Plain, only the sensitive species
metric will be used until further resolution is possible with the  addition of
adjacent ecoregion sampling.  Until more sampling is completed or  improvements
in water quality warrants it, the intolerant classification metric of Ohio
will not be used.  The sensitive metric that is used only in the headwater
sites in Ohio (Ohio EPA 1987) will be included for all  stream classifications
in Indiana.
                                      50

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                                                        Indiana  Ecorecrions
Headwater Sites

The number of intolerant taxa is a modification of the original index
developed by Ohio EPA (1987).  The metric includes moderately intolerant
species when sampling at headwater sites.   This combination is called
sensitive species since few intolerant taxa are expected in headwater streams.
The moderately intolerant species meet most of the established criteria of
Ohio EPA (1987).  Sensitive species require permanent pools so use of this
metric will distinguish between streams with ephemeral characteristics.  An
absence of these species would indicate a severe anthropogenic stress or loss
of habitat due to fluctuating water levels.  This metric varies with basin
specific drainage area and scoring is conducted using criteria in Fig.  21,  22,
and 23.
Wading Sites

The expected number of intolerant species was anticipated to increase with
drainage area among the wading sites,  however, such a positive trend is not
evident in Central Corn Belt Plain data.   Intolerant taxa are scarce and may
even decrease at larger wading sites.   In order to provide meaningful stream
reach comparisons in Indiana, the sensitive species metric is currently
retained for wading sites until further evaluation can  be completed.
                                     51

-------
Central Corn Belt: Plain Ecoreqion
Table 11.  List of Indiana fish species considered to be sensitive to a wide
            variety of environmental disturbances  including water quality and
            habitat degradation.
Sensitive Species

Ocnnon Name          Scientific Name

Ohio lamprey         Ichthvanyzon bdellium
Northern brk lamprey I. foasor
Least brook lamprey  Lamcetra aepvptera
American brk lamprey L. appendj.x
Paddlefish

Goldeye
Mooneye

Bedside dace
Streamline chub
Gravel chub
Speckled chub
Bigeye chub
Pallid shiner
Rosef in shiner
Hornyhead chub
River chub
Pugnose shiner
Popeye shiner
Bigeye shiner
Ironcolor shiner
Blacknose shiner
Blackchin shiner
Sand shiner
Silver shiner
Rosyface shiner
Weed shiner
Mimic shiner
Pugnose minnow
Longnose dace

Blue sucker
Highfin carpaucker
Northern hogsucker
Silver redhorae
River redhorse
Black redhorse
Golden redhorse
Shorthead redhorse
Greater redhorse
Polvodon spatula

Hiodon alosoides
H. teraisus

Clinostcmus elonoatus
Erimystax disaimilis
E. x-txmctata
Extrarius aestavalie
Hvbopsls antolops
H. amnis
Lythrurus ardens
Nocomis biouttatus
N*
NotropiB anooenus
N. ariommus
WT  V-i_n-r-LMri_i-i
H. L«-*jpB
N. chalvbaeus
N. heterodon
   heterolepis
   ludibundis
   photOQenis
   rubelluB
   texanus
   volucellus
N
N.
N.
N.
N.
OpsopoeoduB eroiliae
Rhinichthvs cataractae

Cycleptus elonoatus
Carpiodes velifer
Hvpentilium nioricans
Moxostcma anisurum
M. carinatum
M. duouesnei
M. ervthurum
M. macrolepidotum
M. valenciennesi
OOKITOII Name

Mountain madtom
Slender madtom
Stonecat
Brindled madtom
Freckled madtom

Northern cavefish
Southern cavefish

Northern studfish
Starhead tcpninnow

Brook silverside

Rock bass
Longear sunfish
Smallmouth bass

Western sand darter
Eastern sand darter
Greenside darter
Rainbow darter
Bluebreast darter
 Harlequin darter
Spotted Apv+pr
Tippecanoe darter
Variegate darter
Banded  darter
Logpsrch
Channel darter
Gilt darter
Slenderbead darter
Dusky darter
                                                Scientific Name

                                                Noturus eleutherus
                                                N. exilis
                                                N- flavus
                                                N. miuruB
                                                N. nocLurnus

                                                amblvopsifl spelaea
                                                £. subterraneuB

                                                Fundulus catenatus
                                                F. dispar
                                                            sicculus
 ftmbloplites rupestris
 LepcmiB meoalotis
 MicropteruB dolonieui

 ftnuiocrvpta clara

Etheostcma blennioides
 E. caeruleurn
 E. camorum
  E.  histrio
 E. souamiceps
 E. tippecanoe
 £. variatum
 E. zonale
 Percina caprodes
 P. copelandi
                                                 P.  phoxocephala
                                                 P.  sciera
                                            52

-------
                   Wading/Headwater Sites
Ul   —
LU

P
O
              Kankakee
              Drainage
                                    10
                                                     1OO
1000
                        DRAINAGE AREA (SO. Ml)
        Fig. 21. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number of sensitive species
             with increasing drainage area for the Kankakee River drainage.
                                                                       H
                                                                       •a
                                                                           I
                                                                           •J*
                                                                           3

                                                                           01

-------
Ul
    lil


    P
    O
        15
        1O
         O
                       Wading/Headwater Sites
                  Iroquois

                  Drainage
                                   o
                                   ID

                                   [t

                                   1)
                                   o

                                   \


                                   w
                                   (D
                                   M
                                   ft

                                   ^
                                   M
                                   0>
                                   8
                                   O
                                   ^
                                   n>
                                   Q
                                   P-
                                   0
                                   3
          0.1
10
100
1OOO
                            DRAINAGE AREA  (SQ.  Ml)
              Fig. 22. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number of sensitive
                   species with increasing drainage area for the Iroquois River drainage.

-------
                      Wading/Headwater Sites
              +   Lake
                  Michigan
01
Ul
a
85
iii
F
                                        10
                                                 100
                            DRAINAGE AREA (SQ. Ml)
100O
            Fig. 23. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in number of sensitive species
                 with increasing drainage area for the Lake Michigan drainage.
                                                                          H

                                                                          0.
                                                                          h>-
                                                                          01

                                                                          01
                                                                      Q
                                                                      H-
                                                                      0

                                                                      in

-------
Central  Corn  Belt Plain Ecoreqion
Metric 6. Percent Abundance of Tolerant Species (All Methods)
Enpetu
This metric is a modification of the original index metric, the percentage of
green sunfish (Karr et al. 1986) , by Ohio EPA (1987) .  This metric detects a
decline in stream quality from fair to poor categories.  The green sunfish,
Lepomis cyanellus. is a species that is often present  in moderate numbers in
many Midwest streams and can become a dominant mgmhgr  of the community in
cases of degradation or poor water quality.   A tolerance to disturbed
environments enables the green sunfish to survive and  reproduce even under
perturbed conditions.  Although the green sunfish is widely distributed in the
Midwest, it is most conmonly collected in low order streams.  This introduces
an inherent bias for moderate to large rivers. Karr et  al.  (1986) suggested
additional species could be substituted  for the  green sunfish  if they
responded in a similar manner.  Several species in  Indiana meet this criteria
of increasing in proportion with increasing degradation  of stream.  This
increase in the number of tolerant species increases the sensitivity of this
metric for various sized streams and rivers.  Since different species  have
habitat requirements that are correlated with stream size, composition of the
tolerant species metric does not change with drainage  area.

Indiana's tolerant species are listed in Table 12.  This list is based on a
numerical and graphical analysis of Indiana catch data and historical  changes
in the distribution of fishes throughout Indiana  (Gerking 1945) .  Tolerant
species were selected based on the following criteria:

 1) .  present at poor or fair sites; Based on our data base of  Indiana
      collections these species are commonly collected at sites ranked
      either fair or poor.
 2) .  historically incenses in abur^gnce:  R»g**3  on historical
      collection information (Gerking 1945)  these species increase in
      abundance and have not indicated any reduction  in distribution.

 3) .  increased tolerance to degraded conditions: these species
      increased in community dominance when environmental conditions
      shifted from good to fair or poor environmental quality.

Headwater and Wading Sites

Headwater and wading sites were scored together for this  metric for the
Kankakee and Iroquois drainages (Fig. 24) .   No relationship was evident for
drainage areas greater than 100 square miles,  but an  inverse relationship
became apparent for sites with drainage sizes  less than 100 square miles.
Lake Michigan sites were scored separately because of the higher proportion of
tolerant taxa (Fig. 25) .
                                      56

-------
                                                         Indiana Ecorecrions
Table 12. List of Indiana fish species considered to be nicely tolerant to a
          wide variety of environmental disturbances including water quality
          and habitat degradation.
Tolerant Species
Common Name
Central mudminnow
White sucker
Goldfish
Redfin shiner
Carp
Golden shiner
Bluntnose minnow
Fathead minnow
Blacknose dace
Creek chub
Yellow bullhead
Brown bullhead
Eastern Banded killif ish
Green sunfish
      Scientific Nams
Umbra limi
Catostomus cmdwersoru.
Ca-raggjug aurat|ig
Cyprinella lutrensls
Cyprinus carpio
Notemiqonus crysoleucas
Piroephal<=^t notatus
Pirosphales promelas
Rhinichths
Ameiurus natalis
Fundulus diaphanus diaphanus
                                      57

-------
                       Wading/Headwater Sites
O    Iroquois

     Drainage
                                             A    Kankakee

                                                  Drainage
                                                                         o
                                                                         ro
                                                                         3
                                                                         rt
01

09
i
LU

O
IUU
7*S
f \j
RH
Ow
25
0.
i i ' i i i i i | i 	 1 — i i i i i i | 	 P 	 1 — r-ii
'. A A A i
A A A A :
A A : A
A A, :• A
AA"A:AA
A A: A
a&-~: — AA--Q
A ^ O 4 A^
" /"\ ^^ /V " /^ jf\
'c 0 A° * 00
' 5 A A
	 1 	 1 — i — i— j _L.I 1 1 A i i i i i i i i I A iVA ' '/'
1 1 10
!ii i i 1 1 	 1 	 1 — i — i i i 1 1
^A
A "
^_Q. 	 & 	 '_
G> A
A
i i 1 1 1 	
100 10(
                                                                             W

                                                                             (D
                                                                             3


                                                                             D
                             DRAINAGE AREA (SQ. Ml)
            Fig. 24. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the proportion of tolerant

                  species with increasing drainage area for the Kankakee and Iroquois River drainage.

-------
                    Wading/Headwater Sites
                  Lake
                  Michigan
Ul
vo
a*
9)
    oc
    LU
        1OO
         75
     5O
         25
          O
             •1

                                       -*r*

           0.1
                                    10            100
                            DRAINAGE AREA (SQ. Ml)
10OO
                                                                         H

                                                                         I
                                                                         H-
                                                                         V
                                                                         3
                                                                         P>
                                                                      8
                                                                      H-

                                                                      §
                                                                      0)
              r. 25. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the proportion of tolerant
                 species with increasing drainage area for Lake Michigan.

-------
Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecoreaion
Metric 7.  Proportion of Qmnivores (All Methods)
The definition of an omnivore follows that of Karr (1981) and Karr et al.
(1986), which requires species to take significant quantities of both plant
and animal Tnat«ri»?« (including detritus)  and have the ability,  usually
indicated by the presence of a long gut and dark peritoneum,  to  utilize both.
Gnmivores are species whose diets include at least 25% plant  and 25% animal
foods.  Fishes which do not feed on plants but  on  a variety of animal material
are not considered onnivores.  Dominance of omnivores suggests specific
components of the food base are less reliable,  increasing the success of more
opportunistic species.  Specialized filter-feeders are not  included  in  this
metric after Ohio EPA (1987) since these species are  sensitive to
environmental degradation, e.g. paddlefish, Polyodon  spathula and  lamprey
ammocoetes, Lampetra and Icfathyomyzon.  Species which tended  to  shift diet due
to degraded environmental conditions were also  not included as omnivores,  e.g.
Semotil11*8 atromaculatufs and Rh ^ nichthys atratviliiP. This metric  evaluates  the
intermediate to low categories of environmental quality (Table 13; see
Appendix B for species specific feeding guild classification).


Headwater and Hading Sites

Due to minor changes in ornnivore classification, only those species  which
consistently feed as omnivores were included in our analysis. These values
differ from the omnivore percentages of Karr et al. (1986)  but resemble Ohio
EPA's (1987) classification.  A relationship with  drainage  area  was  found  foe-
sites less than 20 square miles (Fig. 26), but  reached an asymptote  or
slightly declined with increasing drainage areas.
                                      60

-------
                                                         Indiana  Ecoreaions
 Table 13.  List of Indiana fish species considered to be omnivores.
 Qnnivores
 Common Name
 Gizzard  shad
 Threadf in shad
 Central  mudminnow
 Goldfish
 Grass  carp
 Carp
 Cypress  minnow
 Central  silvery minnow
 Eastern  silvery minnow
 Silver carp
 Bluntnose minnow
 Fathead minnow
 Bullhead minnow
 River carpsucker
 Quillback
 Highfin carpsucker
White sucker
Scientific Name
Dorosoina oepedianum
D. petenense
Umbra limi
          auratus
Ctenopharyngodon idella
Cyprinus carpio
Hvbocmathus havi
H. nuchalis
H. recfius
Hvpopthalmichthvs molitrix
Carpiodes carpio
Catostomus cc
:
-------
       100
(O
CO
111
CC
O



I
O
                      Wading/Headwater Sites
o    Iroquois

     Drainage
                                     Kankakee

                                     Drainage
                                                      Lake

                                                      Michigan
       o
       (D
       3
                                                                           O
                                                                           o
                                                                           n>
                                                                           M
                                                                           ft

                                                                           
-------
                                                         Indiana Ecoreaions
Metric 8.  Proportion of Insectivores (All Methods)
The proportion of insectivores is a modification of Karr et al. 's (1986)
original metric, proportion of insectivorous cyprinidae.  This metric is
intended to respond to a lowering of the benthic macroinvertebrate community
which comprises the primary food base for most fishes.   As disturbance
increases, the diversity of insect larvae decreases, triggering  an increase in
the omnivorous trophic level.  This metric thus varies  inversely with metric 7
with increased environmental degradation.  The inclusion of all  insectivorous
species was based on the observation that all regions of Indiana do not
possess high proportions of insectivorous cyprinids in  high quality streams.
This metric was recalibrated following the recommendation of Karr et al.
(1986; see Appendix B for species specific classification).

Headwater and Wading sites

Insectivorous species designation generally conforms to that provided in Karr
et al. (1986), however, I concur with Ohio EPA in the elimination of the
opportunistic feeding creek chub, Semotilus atromaculatusf  and blacknose dace,
Rhinichthvs atratulus. from the insectivore designation.  Leonard and Qrth
(1986) felt that the current trophic definitions of Karr et al.  (1986)  were
rather arbitrary since they observed a negative correlation between
insectivores and biotic integrity in a West Virginia stream.  Scoring criteria
indicated no relationship existed between drainage area and proportion
insectivorous fishes in headwater and wading sites (Fig. 27). However, due to
the proportional scarcity of true insectivorous fishes  in small  headwater
streams,  the criteria was lowered in order to provide a greater  emphasis on
their presence.
                                     63

-------
                        Wading/Headwater Sites
  tu
  QC
  O



  U
  LU
2 CO
      10O
       75
5O
       25
        O
             O   Iroquois

                 Drainage
         0.1
                             Kankakee

                             Drainage
                 Lake

                 Michigan
                 -44
                 1
10
                   o
                   n>

                   rt
                                                                       0

                                                                       3

                                                                       W
                                                                       (D
                                                                0»
                                 M
                                 O
                                 D

                                 D
                                 a
100
1OOO
                          DRAINAGE  AREA 
-------
                                                         Indiana  Ecoreaions
 Metric 9.  Proportion of Pioneer Species  (Headwater Methods, Lake Michigan
             Division)
           Proportion of Carnivores (Wading Methods, East Branch Little Calumet
             River Division Headwaters)
 TllB'M* 1.113

 Karr (1981)  developed the carnivore metric to measure community integrity in
 the upper trophic levels of the fish community.  It is only in high quality
 environments that upper trophic levels are able to flourish.  This metric
 includes individuals of species in which the adults are predominantly
 piscivores,  although some may feed on invertebrates and fish as larvae or
 juveniles.   Species  which are opportunistic do not fit into this metric, e.g.
 creek chub or  channel catfish,  Ictalurus punctatus (Karr et al. 1986; Ohio EPA
 1987).  Karr et al.  (1986) suggest that some members of this group may feed
 extensively  on crayfish and other vertebrates, e.g. frogs.


 Headwater Sites

 Headwater systems generally do  not have a high abundance of carnivores, and
 carnivores may not be able to persist there at all.  The alternative metric
 developed by Ohio EPA (1987)  indicates the permanence of the stream habitat.
 Smith (1971) identified a certain assemblage of small stream species which he
 termed "pioneer species" (Table 14).  These are species which are the first to
 colonize sections of headwater  streams after desiccation.  These species also
 predominate  in unstable environments affected by anthropogenic stresses and
 temporal desiccation.  A high proportion of pioneer species indicates an
 environment  temporally unavailable or stressed.  The metric does not change
 with increases in drainage area (Fig. 28).  m the East Branch of the Little
 Calumet River  Division the entire fauna may be pioneer species yet contain
 high proportions  of carnivores due to the presence of salmonid species.
 Within the Lake Michigan drainage, the carnivore metric was retained for
 headwater sites in the East Branch of the Little Calumet River Division (see
 explanation prior to metric sections),  but the pioneer metric is applied to
 the Lake Michigan Division.


 Wading Sites

 Karr  (1981) suggested that the proportion of carnivores should be a reflection
 of drainage area, however, neither Ohio EPA nor our study found such a
 correlation in streams greater than 20 square miles.   The proportion of
 carnivores was visually determined from the current data base and approximated
Karr et al. 's  (1986)  original numbers (Fig.  29).   Separate criteria were
established for the Lake Michigan tributary segments due to observed higher
number of predator species (Fig. 30).
                                      65

-------
Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecoreaion
Table 14. List of Indiana fish species considered to be indicators of
          temporally unavailable or stressed habitats  (Larimore and Smith
          1963; Smith 1971).
Pioneer Species
Common Name
Central stoneroller
Largescale stoneroller
Silverjaw minnow
Bluntnose minnow
Fathead minnow
Creek chub
Creek chubsucker
Lake chubsucker
Green sunfish
Johnny darter
Qrangethroat darter
Scientific Name
Caiiiputatoma ancmalum
Piaephales notatus
           promslas
          oblon1 lg
Erimyzon sucetta
Lepomis cyanellus
Etheostoma nigrum
Etheostoma spectabile
                                     66

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                             Headwater Sites
DC
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                 Drainage
     1OO
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o    75
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             Michigan

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                          100
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            Fig. 28. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the proportion of pioneer
                 species with increasing drainage area for the central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.
                                                                             §
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-------
Wading Sites
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-------
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F/ig. 30. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the proportion of carnivores
     with increasing drainage area for the Lake michigan drainage.
                                                                          o
                                                                          in

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Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecoreaion
Metric 10. Number of Individuals in a Sample (All Methods)
Tmpefai
This metric evaluates populations and is expressed as catch per unit of
effort.  Effort is expressed by relative number of individuals per length of
reach sampled, per unit of area sampled, or per unit time spent depending on
the gear used.  Karr et al. (1986) suggests that this metric  is most sensitive
at intermediate to low ends of the sensitivity continuum.   When  low numbers
of individuals are observed the normal trophic relationships  are  generally
disturbed enough to have severe effects on fish abundance. Because of this
effect, scoring adjustments are encouraged for headwater streams  in which less
than 25 individuals are collected or 50 individuals in wadable streams (see
next section for details).  As integrity increases, total abundance increases
and becomes more variable depending on the level of energy and other natural
chemical factors limiting production.  Under  certain circumstances,  e.g.
channelization, increases in the abundance of tolerant fishes can be observed
(Ohio EPA 1987).  Lyons  (personal communication) found that abundance,
excluding tolerant species, was highest at fair quality  sites and lower at
excellent classified sites.  Our catch per unit effort was determined  based on
the total number of individuals collected per 15 times the channel width
without modification for tolerant taxa.

Headwater and Wading Sites

Drainage area proportionally affects the number of individuals caught  at
headwater and wading sites (Fig. 31).  Since  the relationship is  not linear, a
log—transformed analysis of the relative number of individuals was conducted.
The expected numbers of individuals in "least impacted"  stream levels  off at
150 individuals.  These "least impacted" sites were cctnpfyrgct to a series  of
known impacted sites to derive the best and worst case situations.  The number
of individuals necessary to implement scoring adjustments was taken from Ohio
EPA (1987).  It is necessary to change most proportional metrics  when  fewer
than 25 individuals are collected in headwater strpgaros and 50 individuals in
wading streams greater than 20 square miles drainage area (see scoring
adjustments section for more information).
                                      70

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   75O
O
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m
   5OO
   25O
     O
      O.1
                    Wading/Headwater Sites
              Iroquois
              Drainage
A    Kankakee
     Drainage
Lake
Michigan
        10            1OO
                        DRAINAGE  AREA  (SO. Ml)
            100O
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O
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         Fig. 31. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the catch per unit effort with
              increasing drainage area for the Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.

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Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecoreaion
Metric 11. Proportion of Individuals as Simple Lithophilic Spawners  (All
            Methods)


Impetus

This metric is a replacement for the original index metric, proportion of
hybrids, by Ohio EPA (1987).  The hybrid metric was abandoned since  the
original intent of the metric was to assess the extent to which degradation
has altered reproductive isolation among species.   Difficulties of
identification, lack of occurrence often in headwater and impacted streams,
and presence in high quality streams among certain taxa,  e.g.  cyprinids and
oentrarchids, caused a lack of sensitivity for the hybrid metric.

Spawning guilds have been shown to be affected by habitat quality (Balon 1975;
Berkman and Rabeni 1987) and have been suggested  as an alternative index
metric (Angermeier and Karr 1986).  Reproduction  attributes of simple spawning
behavior which requires clean gravel or cobble for success  (i.e.  lithophilous)
are the most ensdronmentally sensitive (Ohio EPA  1987).   Simple lithophils
broadcast eggs which then come into contact with  the  substrate.  Eggs then
develop in the interstitial spaces between sand,  gravel,  and  cobble  substrates
without parental care.  Berkman and Rabeni (1987)  observed an inverted
correlation between simple lithophil spawners and the proportion  of  silt in
streams.  Historically, some simple lithophil spawners have experienced
significant range reductions due to increased silt loads in streams.  Some
simple lithophils do not require clean substrates for reproduction.   Larvae of
these species are buoyant, adhesive, or possess fast  developing eggs with
phototactic larvae which have minimal contact with the substrate  (Balon 1975)
and are not included in the above designation. Simple lithophils are
sensitive to environmental disturbance, particularly  siltation.  Species
specific designations are included in Table 15 (see Appendix C for species
specific ratings).


Headwater and Hading Sites

No relationship with drainage area was observed at headwater or wading sites
 (Fig. 32).  Scoring was completed using the alternate trisection method of
Ohio EPA  (1987).  Simple lithophils are major components of the fish
communities in these sized streams, indicating the importance of clean gravel
and cobble substrates.
                                      72

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                                                                   Indiana  Ecoreaions
 Table 15.  List  of Indiana species considered to be  simple lithophilous
             spawners.


 Simple T.< tfrepih^ 1 a
 Ouiuiun Name

 Padrtlefiah

 Lake sturgeon
 Shovelnose sturgeon

 Bedside dace
 Lake chub
 Streamline chub
 Gravel chub
 Cent silvery minnow
 Eastn silvery minnow
 Bigeye chub
 Pallid shiner
 Striped shiner
 Rosefin shiner
 Emerald shiner
 Popeye shiner
 River shiner
 Bigeye shiner
 Silver shiner
 Rosyface shiner
I Southn redbelly dace
I Blacknose dace
j Longnose dace

I Blue sucker
| Longnose sucker
I White sucker
 Northern hogsucker
 Spotted sucker
 Silver redhorse
j River redhorse
 Black redhorse
I Golden redhorse
 Shorthead redhorse
 Greater redhorse

 Burbot

 Western sand darter
 Eastern sand darter
 Rainbow darter
 Bluebreast
 Spotted
 Qrangethroat darter
 Tippecanoe 'fort01*
 Variegate darter
 Logperch
 Channel
Scientific name

Polvodon spatula

Aeipenser fulveseens
               platorvnchus
OonTOon Name
Clinostcmus elonaatus
Oouesius plumbeus
 Gilt
  Blackside
 Slenderhead
 DUSky
  River
 Sauger
 Walleye
Scientific Name

P. evides
P. tnaculata
P. phoxoceohala
P. sciera
P. shumardi
Etizostedion
S. vitreum
E. x^punctata
Hvboanathus havi
H. nuchalis
Hvbopeis amblops
H. amis
Luxilus chrvBocepha\UB
Lvthrurus ardens
Nbtropis atherinoides
N. aricmtus
N. blennius
N. boops
N. photoaans
N. rubellus
Rhinichthvs atratulus
R. cataractae

Cvcleotus elonaatus
Catostcmus catostomus
C. tajftiEjraom.
Hvpentilium nioricans
Minvtrema melanops
Moxostoma anisurum
M. carinatum
M. duouesnei
M. ervthurum
M. macrolepidotum
M. valenciennesi
Lota lota
           clara
A. pellucida
Etheostana caeruleum
E. camurum
E . maculatum
E. spectabile
E. tippecanoe
E. variatum
Percina caprcdes
P. copelandi
                                             73

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Wading/Headwater Sites
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Drainage Drainage Michigan
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Fig. 32. Maximum species richness lines for determining trends in the proportion of simple
lithophil species with increasing drainage area for the Central Corn Belt ecoreqion.
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-------
                                                                   Indiana  Ecoreaions
 Table  15. List of  Indiana species oonsidered to be simple lithophilous
            spawners.
 Simple
Scientific name               Ooctmon Name
Burbot

Western sand darter
Eastern sand rta»-^r
Rainbow «*«**»r
Bluebreaat darter
Spotted darter
Orangethroat darter
Tippecanoe darter
Variegate darter
Logperch
Channel darter
                                                                      Scientific Name
Paddlefish

Lake sturgeon
Shovelnose sturgeon

Bedside dace
Lake chub
Streamline chub
Gravel chub
Cent silvery minnow
Eastn silvery minnow
Bigeye chub
Pallid shiner
Striped shiner
Rosefin shiner
Emerald shiner
Popeye shiner
River shiner
Bigeye shiner
Silver shiner
Rosyf ace shiner
Southn redbelly dace
Blacknose dace
Longnose dace

Blue sucker
Longnose sucker
White sucker
Northern hogsucker
Spotted sucker
Silver redhorse
River redhorse
Black redhorse
Golden redhorse
Shorthead redhorse
Greater zedhoree
Polvodon spatula

AcJpenser fulvescens
Sfmrfr» r-hvnchus  latorvnchus
Clinostcnue elonoafcus
Oouesius Plumbeus             Walleye
•Rr^myatax Higa
-------
Indiana Ecoreaions

-------
                                                         Indiana Ecorecrions
Metric 12. Proportion of Individuals with Deformities,  Eroded Fins,  Lesions,
           and Tumors (All Methods)
This metric evaluates the status of individual fish in the community using the
percent occurrence of external anomalies and corresponds to the percent of
diseased fish in Karr's (1981) original index.  Studies of fish populations
indicate that anomalies are either absent or occur at very low rates
naturally, but reach higher percentages at impacted sites (Mills et al. 1966;
Berra and Au 1981; Baumann et al. 1987).  Common causes for deformities,
eroded fins, lesions, and tumors are described by Allison et al. (1977), Post
(1983) and Ohio EPA (1987).  Primary causes result from bacterial,  fungal,
viral, and parasitic infections, neoplastic diseases, and chemicals.  An
increase in the frequency of occurrence of these anomalies is an indication of
stress and environmental degradation caused by chemical pollutants,
overcrowding, improper diet, excessive siltation, and other perturbations.
The presence of black spot is not included in the above analyses since
infestation varies in degree and may be a natural occurrence not related to
environmental stress (Allison et al. 1977; Berra and Au 1981).  Whittier et
al. (1987) showed no relationship between Ohio stream quality and black spot.
Other parasites are also excluded due to the lack of consistent relationship
with environmental degradation.

In Ohio and in the current study/ the highest incidence of deformities, eroded
fins, lesions, and tumors occurred in fish communities downstream from
dischargers of industrial and municipal wastewater, and areas subjected to the
intermittent stresses from combined sewers and urban runoff.  Leonard and Orth
(1986) found this metric to correspond to increased degradation in  streams in
West Virginia.  Karr et al. (1986) observed this metric to be most  sensitive
at the lowest extremes of the index of biotic integrity.


AU Sites

The scoring criteria used for this metric follows Ohio EPA (1987) and was
developed by analyzing wading data.  For wading sites, the median score was
rounded to the nearest 0.1% for the highest expected score and 90th percentile
value.  According to Ohio protocols, if a single fish in a sample of less than
200 fish was captured with anomalies this would have been enough to exceed the
established criterion.  Ohio EPA scoring modifications enable a single fish at
a site to be present to score a "5" and two fish at a site to score a "3" when
less than 200 individuals are collected.
                                      75

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Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecoreqion	

Scoring Modifications

Samples with extremely low numbers in the catch can present a scoring problem
in sane of the proportional metrics unless adjustments are made to reduce the
possibility of rewarding degraded sites.   Aquatic habitats impacted by
anthropomorphic disturbances may exhibit a disruption in the food base and
comprise very few individuals.   At such low population sizes the  normal
structure of the community is unpredictable (Ohio EPA 1987).  Based on Ohio
EPA experiences,  the proportion of omnivores,  insectivorous fishes, and
percent individuals affected by anomalies do not  always  match expected trends.
Although scores are expected to deviate strongly  from those of high quality
areas, this is not always observed.  Kather, at times the opposite metric
score is achieved due to low numbers of individuals or absence of certain
taxa.

Scoring very degraded sites without modifying  scoring criteria for the
proportional metrics can overrate the total index score  for these sites.
Scoring modifications proposed by Ohio EPA (1987) were adopted for evaluating
Indiana sites with low numbers of individuals.

Proportion of omnivores for wading sites is assigned  a score of "1" if less
than 50 total individuals are collected,  likewise for headwater sites, if less
than 25 individuals are collected.  When 50 to 150  individuals are collected,
but are dominated (> 50%) by such species are  creek chub and blacknose dace a
"1" can be assigned when dominated by generalist  feeders.  This is left up  to
the biologists best professional judgement when at  the site.

Proportion of insectivores is scored a "1" when a high proportion of
insectivores is observed when less than 50 individuals are collected.  At
sites with 50 to 150 individuals this metric can  be scored "I11 if this metric
is dominated (> 50%) by either striped shiner, common shiner, or  spotfin
shiner, species that can act as omnivores under certain conditions  (Angermeier
1985).

Proportion of top carnivores metric should be scored a  "1" when dominated by
high numbers (> 50%) of grass pickerel in impacted wading areas.

Proportion of simple lithophils always scores a "l" at  sites with less than 50
total individuals.  Based on Ohio EPA data (1987) this  is rarely different
from its  score without the adjustment.
       lion of individuals with deformities, erosion, lesions and tumor
riropoir
anomalies are scored a "1" when less than 50 individuals are collected.  A
high proportion of young fishes may also be sufficient reason to score a "1"
since they will not have had sufficient time to develop anomalies from
exposure to chemical contaminants.

Proportion of pioneering species is scored a "1" at headwater sites if less
than 50 individuals are collected at drainage areas greater than 8 square
miles, and 25 individuals at drainage areas less than 8 square miles.

                                      76

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                                                        Indiana  Ecoreqions
No scoring adjustments are necessary for proportion of tolerant species.


RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
A total of 112 sites were sampled in the Kankakee River basin during Central
Corn Belt Plain ecoregion sampling during 1990.   A total  of 82  species were
collected (Table 16) and were numerically dominated by cyprinid species.  The
headwaters of the Kankakee River were depauperate of  cyprinids, and instead
were comprised of carnivores and benthic insectivores.

The overall water quality of the Kankakee River ranges between  a  low of very
poor (score of 12; numerous sites)  to excellent (score of 57; Yellow River)
based on Index of Biotic Integrity scoring criteria developed during the
current investigation (Fig. 33a) .  An increasing trend was evident in  going
from headwater to higher order tributaries in the overall water quality of  the
Kankakee basin.  The number of sites approximated a normal curve  based on
water quality determination from index scores.  The following was the  percent
           of total Kankakee stations (112) within each index classification:
excellent 1.78% (2 stations); good 16.07% (18 stations);  fair 36.6%  (41
stations); poor 28.57% (32 stations); very poor 16.07% (18 stations); no fish
0.89% (1 station).  The sites which had low index values  were primarily
attributed to poor habitat and to a limited extent  low dissolved oxygen
levels.   The Yellow River, a main tributary component of the upper  Kankakee
River, had very high index of biotic integrity scores for almost all sites
sampled.  This River deserves extra protection to ensure  that the quality  of
the resource continues for future generations.

Two stream types appear to exist in the Kankakee basin, those which  possess
stream flow, few aquatic macrophytes, and stable riparian bank vegetation, and
those which have little to no flow causing the accumulation of soft
substrates, heavy aquatic macrophyte growth, and little canopy cover.  These
latter streams contain several species of concern;  Notropis chalyfaaeus.  N.
texanus. N. heterolepis. and N. heterodon.  High numbers  of these intolerant
taxa existed in these nacrophyte chocked areas.  The biological  criteria
developed during the current study recognizes the importance of  these habitats
for the maintenance of the species plus a number of other low-gradient taxa
distributed in the Kankakee basin.

Due to possible improvement in water quality and habitat  since Gerking's
survey, two darters have been added to the Kankakee River drainage,  while  only
a single darter species has been extirpated from the basin.  Rainbow darter,
Etheostoma caeruleum. previously occurred in the headwaters of the Kankakee,
but not during the current investigation.  An equally plausible  explanation of
the discovery of new species, is the better coverage of the area and the use
of a more effective gear type.  New additions to the fauna include the
bluntnose darter,  E. chlorosoroa. and orangethroat darter, 1. spectabile.  A
number of studies have correlated the presence of darter  species with a

                                      77

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Central Corn Belt Plain Ecoreaion
Table 16.   Species list of taxa collected in the Kankakee, Iroquois, and Lake
             Michigan drainages,  Indiana during ecoregion sampling 1990.
                                                                    Drainaoe
                                                                             Lake
                                                        Kankakee  Iroouois  Michigan
   Petromvzontidfle ~ lamprey
Ichthvomvzon bdellium (Jordan), Ohio lamprey             X
I.. fOBsor Reighard and Cummins, northern brook lamprey   X
Lampetra aeovptera (Abbott), least brook lamprey         X                    X
L. appendix (DeKay), American brook lamprey              X                    X

Lepisosteifbxaes - gars
   Lepisosteijlae - gars
Jj. oaseua Linnaeus, longnose gar                         X

Aoiifomes - bowfin
   flmiidae - bowf in
Amia calva Linnaeus, bowfin                             X                    X

Clupeiformas - herring,  shad
   Clueoidae - herring
A. pseudoharenQus (Wilson), alewife                                           X
Dorosoroa oepedianum (Lesueur), gizzard shad              X             XX

Salmoniformes - trout, salmon, whitefiah
   Salrooni'jlflp — salmon and whitefish
Onoorhynchus mvkiss Walbaum, rainbow trout               X                    X
O. kisutch (Walbaum), coho salmon                                             X
O. tahawytscha (Walbaum),  Chinook salmon                                      X
Salvelinus fontinalis (Mitchell), brook trout                                 X
Salmo salar (Walbaum), Atlantic salmon                   X                    X
S. trutta LinneauB, brown trout                                               X
   Osmsridae - smelt
Oamerus mordax (Mitchill), rainbow smelt                                      X
   Pmbridae - nudminnows
Phfara limi (Kirtland), central nudminnnow                X             XX
   Esocidae - pikes
Esox americanus Qnelin,  grass pickerel                   X             XX
E. lucius Linnaeus, northern pike                        X             X

CrprJuniforaes - carps and minnows
   CvTTinidae — carps and minnows
Campostoma. ancttulum (Rafinesque), stoneroller                                 X
C. olioolepis Hubbs and Greene, largescale stoneroller   X             X
Carassius auratus (Linneaus), goldfish                                        X
Cyprinella lutrensis (Baled and Girard), red shiner      X             X
C. spiloptera Cope, spotfin shiner                       X             XX
C. vMpplei (Girard), steelcolor shiner                                X
Cyprinus carpio Linneaus,  carp                           X             XX
Ericvmba buccata Cope, silverjaw minnow                  X             X
Luxilus chrvsocenhalus (Rafinesque), striped shiner      X             X
L. cornutus (Mitchell),  uumuti shiner                    X                    X
Lythrurus umbratilis (Girard), redfin shiner             X             X
Nocomifl biguttatuB  (Kirtland), hornyhead chub            X             XX
Notemiaonus crysoleucuB (Mitchell), golden shiner        X             XX
Notropis atherinoides Rafinesque, emerald shiner                              X
N. chalvbaeus (Cope), ironcolor shiner                   X

                                            78

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Cyprini^ac* ( Continued)
N. dorsalis (Agassiz), bigmouth shiner
N. heterodon (Cope), blacknose shiner
N. heterolepis Eigenmann and Eigenmann, blackchin shiner
N. hudflonius (Clinton), spottail shiner
N. ludibundus Cope, sand shiner
N. rubellus (Agassiz), rosyface shiner
N. texanus (Girard), weed shiner
N. voluoelluB (Cope), mimic shiner
PhenacobiuB mirabilis (Girard) , suckermouth minnow

Pimephales notatus (Rafinesque) , bluntnose minnow
P. protnelas Rafinesque, fathead minnow
P. viailax (Baird and Girard) , bullhead minnow
RhinichthvB atratulus Agassiz, blacknose dace
R. cataractae (Valenciennes), longnose dace
Setnotilus atromaculatus (Mitchill), creek chub
Catostcmidae - suckers and buffalo
Carpiodes carpio (Rafinesque) , river carpsucker
C. cvprinus (Lesueur), quillback
Catostcmus cannuruuni Lacepede. white sucker
E. sucetta (Laoepede), lake chubsucker
Hvpentilium niqricans (Lesueur) , northern hogsucker
Ictiobus bubalus (Rafinesque) , smallmouth buffalo
i. cvprinellus (Valenciennes), bigmouth buffalo
Minvtrema melanops (Rafinesque) , spotted sucker
Maxostoma anisurum (Rafinesque) , silver redhorse
M. duquesnei (Lesueur) , black redhorse
M. ervthurum (Rafinesque), golden redhorse
M. macrolepidotum (Lesueur), shorthead redhorse
M. valenciennesi Jordan, greater redhorse
Silurif ormas - bullhead and catfish
TefcaiiiT-irtao - bullhead and catfish
Atneiurus melas (Rafinesque) , black bullhead
A. natalis (Lesueur) , yellow bullhead
A. nebulosus (Lesueur), brown bullhead
Ictalurus txmctatus (Rafinesque) , channel catfish
Noturus flavus Rafinesque, stonecat
N. gyrinus (Mitchill) , tadpole madtcm


Kankakee
X
X
X

X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X

X

X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X


X
X
X
X
X
X
DJ^A i T^ac

Iroouois _




X
X

X


X
X
X


X

X
X
x
X
X
X
X
X
X

X
X



X
x
X
X

X
IP
Lake
Mi_chi_nan



X
X





X
X

X
X
X



x
X











X
x

X

X
Percapsifbrne* - cavefish, pirate perch, trout-perch
            'eridae - pirate perch
             sayanus (Gilliams), pirate perch

AtherxDiformes - tcpnimows, silversides
   fXmduli^ao — toptniimows
Fundulus disoar (Agassiz), northern starhead topminnow
£• notatus  (Rafinesque), blackstripe topminnow
£• olivaoeus (Storer), blackspotted topminnow
   Atherinidae — silversldes
Labidesthes sicculus (Cope), brook silverside

Gasterosteifbraes - sticklebacks
   Gasterosteidae - sticklebacks
Culaea inconstans (Kirtland), brook stickleback
X
X
X
X
X
                     X
                                             79

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Central Corn Belt Plain  Ecoreqion
                                                                     Drainaoe
Percifoxmes - basses, sunfish, perch, darters
   Oentrarchidae - black bass and sunfish
flmbloplites nroestris (Raf inesque), rock bass
Lecomis cvanellus Rafinesque, green sunfish
L. oibbosus (Linnaeus),  pumpkinseed
   oulosus (Cuvier), wantouth
   humilis (Girard), orangespotted sunfish
   roacrocb'' ^us T^afi nqsnuig, bluegill
   msoalotis (Rafinesque), longear sunfish
Microoterus dolonieui Lacepede,  amallmouth bass
M. salmoides (Lacepede), larganouth bass
Pcmoxis anmilaris Raf inesque, white crappie
P. nioromaculatus (Lesueur),  black crappie
   Pereidae - perch and darters
Etheostana chlorosona (Hay),  bluntnose darter
E. flabellare Rafinesque, fantail rtartm-
E. microperca Jordan and Gilbert,  least  darter
£. nigrum Rafinesque, johnny darter
E. spBctabile (Agassiz), orangethroat darter
E. zonale (dope), banded da,tt,er
Perca flavesoens (Hitchill),  yellow perch
Percina caprcdes (Rafinesque), logperch
P. maculata (Girard), blackside  darter
P. phoxoceohala (Nelson), slenderhead darter
   Cottidae - sculpins
Cottus bairdi Girard, mottled sculpin
                                                                              Lake
                                                        Kankakee  Iroouois  Michigan
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X

                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X

                                                        X
                                                        X
                                                        X
              X
              X
              X

              X
              X
              X
              X
              X
              X
              X
              X
              X
              X
              X
              X
       X
       X
       X
       X
       X
       X
       X
       X
       X
       X
       X
       X

       X
Total Number of Species
82
56
                                                                             55
                                            80

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                                                             Indiana  Ecorecrions
                                                  100
                            DRAINAGE AREA (SQ. Ml)
                                                              1000
                                                              1000
1000
                                                                        Kankakee
                                                                        Drainage
                                                                        Iroquois
                                                                        Drainage
                                                                        Lake
                                                                        Michigan
                                                                        E  Br Little
                                                                        Calumet
Fig. 33. Trends in water resources based on the Indiana Index of Biotic Integrity with increasing
       drainage area for the Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.
                                         81

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Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecoreaion
quality resource (Gerking 1945;  Larimore and Smith 1963; Kuehne and Barbour
1983).

Gerking (1945) found 9 sunfish and 7 sucker species, while we found 11 sunfish
and 11 sucker species.  The abundance of sunfish generally conforms to an
increase in quality pool development, while sucker abundance correlates  with
run habitat.  Although, much of  the Kankakee basin has been and continues to
be dredged in order to maintain  agricultural ditches, a high proportion of the
sites have recovered and have the resemblance, of a quality riffle, run, and
pool habitat.  The ability of species colonization from the mainstem Kankakee
into most tributary segments enables the recovery of most stream reaches even
after periods of severe degradation.  The number of sunfish species should not
have substantially differed between seining and shocking techniques, however,
sucker species composition may have dramatically been skewed using seine
methods.
                  Basin
A total of 37 headwater and wading sites were sampled in the Iroquois River
basin during Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion sampling.  A total of 56
species were collected (Table 16)  and were numerically dominated by catfish
species.  The headwaters of the Iroquois River,  Oliver ditch and Ryan ditch,
were depauperate of cyprinids, instead were comprised of bullheads  and
centrarchids.  These areas were generally degraded due to fluctuating flows
and prohibited few species from maintaining permanent residence.

The overall water quality of the Iroquois River ranged between a low of very
poor (score of 16; one station) to a high of excellent (score of 56; one
station) based on Index of Biotic Integrity scoring criteria developed during
the current investigation (Fig. 33b) .  The biotic integrity of the  Iroquois
River basin did not vary much with increasing drainage area.  Like  the
Kankakee basin, the number of Iroquois basin sites approximated a normal  curve
with respect to water quality as determined from index scores.  The following
was the percent occurrence of total Iroquois stations (37)  within each index
classification: excellent 5.41% (2 stations); good 29.73%  (11 stations);  fair
45.95% (17 stations); poor 16.22% (6 stations); very poor 2.70% (1  station).
Fish were collected at all sites in the Iroquois basin.  Sites which had  low
index values were primarily attributed to poor habitat.  The low flows of some
tributaries caused the accumulation of soft substrates in adjacent  riffle and
pools effectively reducing available habitat, likewise dredged streams reduced
habitat complexity.  Sugar Creek was an exceptional stream in the Iroquois
basin.  Curtis and Carpenter Creek, main tributary components of the middle to
upper Iroquois River, had very high index of biotic integrity scores for
almost all sites sampled.

Species of concern collected in the Iroquois River include the presence of the
tolerant Cvprinella lutrensis. a species known from Illinois but previously
unknown from Indiana.  High numbers of these tolerant taxa existed in most of
the ditches feeding the mainstem Iroquois.

                                      82

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                                                        Indiana  Ecoregions
Only a single darter species has been added to the drainage list since the
last survey completed by Gerking (1945).  Blackside darter, Percina maculata.
previously unreported from the drainage was collected at a number of sites
during the current investigation.

Gerking (1945) found 5 sunfish and 3 sucker species, while we found 5 sunfish
and 7 sucker species.  The increase in sucker taxa is likely due to the same
reason as the Kankakee River, the recovery  of dredged ditches, greater number
of stations sampled, or better gear efficiency.  The Iroguois basin has been
and continues to be dredged in order to maintain agricultural irrigation
capability.  A high proportion of the sites have recovered and have the
resemblance of a quality riffle, run, and pool habitat.  Ihe ability of
species colonization from the mainstem Iroguois  into tributary segments is
less than the Kankakee since several lowhead  dams exist on the River, and
greater contributions of groundwater cause  natural fluctuations in flow during
various seasons.
   Lake Michigan Basin

Water quality trends evident in the Lake Michigan basin will be categorized
into the two stream divisions (East Branch Little Calumet River and other Lake
Michigan drainage tributaries)  in order to facilitate presentation.

     Branch j.it^ie Calumet River Division
This division of the Lake Michigan drainage includes Burns Ditch, the East
Branch of the Little Calumet River and its tributaries (e.g.  Salt Creek,
Reynold's Creek, and the unnamed tributary in the Rivers headwater) .

A total of 28 headwater and wading sites were sampled in the East Branch
Little Calumet River division during Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion
sampling.  A total of 48 species were collected (Table 13)  and were
numerically dominated by centrarchid species.  The headwaters of the East
Branch of the Little Calumet River, Reynold's Creek and the unnamed tributary,
possessed high biological integrity comprised of many salmonid species and
more tolerant species from Lake Michigan.  These areas were the best observed
in this basin segment although they only achieved a fair evaluation for water
resource classification.

The overall water quality of the East Branch Little Calumet River division
ranged between a low of very poor  (score of 12; three stations) to  a high of
fair (score of 45; one station) based on Index of Biotic Integrity  scoring
criteria developed during the current investigation (Fig. 33c) . The biotic
integrity of the East Branch Little Calumet River division declined with
increasing drainage area.  Unlike the other basin segments, the number of
sites approximated a highly skewed curve (towards degraded conditions) with
respect to water quality as determined from index scores.  The following was
the percent occurrence of total East Branch Little Calumet River Division
stations (28) within each index classification: fair 14.29% (4 stations); poor

                                      83

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Central  Corn Belt Plain Ecorecrion
46.43% (13 stations); very poor 39.29% (11 stations).  Fish were collected at
all sites in the division.  Sites which had low index values were primarily
because of poor habitat and anthropogenic influences from industrial and
municipal dischargers.  The low flows of some tributaries caused the
accumulation of soft substrates in adjacent riffle and pools, effectively
reducing available habitat, likewise dredged streams reduced habitat
complexity.  Reynold's Creek was an exceptional stream in the East Branch
division.  The unnamed tributary in the Little  Calumet headwaters, and the
Little Calumet headwaters near the Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore's  Heron
Rookery had relatively high index of biotic integrity scores.

Species previously uncollected in the State appearing in the basin division
included Atlantic salmon, Salmo salar. which either  emigrated through  Michigan
stocking efforts or were accidentally stocked by State personnel.  New
drainage records include the American brook lamprey  L. appendix and the
largescale stoneroller Carnpostoma oligolepis.  The lamprey occurred at several
high quality wading sites while the largescale  stoneroller was  ubiquitous.  No
specimens of the parasitic sea lamprey were collected.

Only a single darter species has been added to  the drainage list since the
last survey completed by Gerking (1945).  Blackside  darter, Percina maculata.
previously unreported from the drainage, was collected at a single site during
the current investigation.  No other taxa additions  were found  during  the
current investigation.


T *0ce Michigan Basin Division

This division of the Lake Michigan drainage includes the Grand  Calumet River
basin, the West branch of the Little Calumet River and its tributaries (e.g.
Deep River, Turkey Creek, and Hart Ditch).

A total of 20 headwater and wading sites were sampled in the Lake Michigan
division during Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion  sampling.  A  total of 36
species were collected (Table 13) and were numerically dominated by
centrarchid species.  Nowhere in this division  were  there outstanding
reference locations, however, the single location  which  scored  the highest was
on the Little Calumet River at Cline Avenue. This area  was the best observed
in this basin segment although it only achieved a  fair evaluation for  water
resource classification.

The overall water quality of the Lake Michigan  division  ranged  between a low
of very poor (score of 12; numerous stations) to a high  of fair (score of 44;
one station) based on Index of Biotic Integrity scoring  criteria developed
during the current investigation (Fig. 33c). The  biotic integrity of  the Lake
Michigan division was relatively degraded throughout, but a declining  trend
was evident with increasing drainage area.  Unlike the other basin segments,
the number of sites approximated a highly skewed curve  (towards degraded
conditions) with respect to water quality.  The following was the percent
occurrence of total Lake Michigan Division stations  (20) within each index

                                      84

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                                                         Indiana Ecoreaions
 classification: fair 5.0%  (1 station); poor 10.0% (2 stations); very poor
 85.0% (17 stations).  Fish were collected at all sites in the division.  Sites
 which had low index values were due to poor habitat and toxic influences
 caused by industrial and urban land uses.  The low flows of some tributaries
 caused the accumulation of soft substrates effectively reducing available
 habitat, likewise dredged  streams reduced habitat complexity.

 Species previously uncollected in the drainage division included bluntnose
 darter, Etheostoma chlorosoma. which may either be due to their rare
 occurrence or were misidentified as johnny darters in previous investigations.
 This  species  was only collected from Deep River.

 The West Branch of the Little Calumet River has a peculiar flow regime with a
 portion of the River flowing eastward towards Burns Ditch and a westward
 flowing segment towards Illinois.  The hydrologic division between the two
 occurs near Indianapolis Boulevard depending on Lake Michigan level.   The
 eastward flowing segment has relatively better quality potential than the
 westward flowing segment.  The barriers to overall improvements in water
 resource quality include the presence of landfills,  and frequent oil and
 hazardous waste spills into the river.  Waste diversions from municipalities
 also  are quite frequent resulting in only the most tolerant taxa existing as a
 resident community.  The headwaters of Deep River are extremely degraded and
 can be attributed to municipalities along the upper portions of Niles Ditch,
 Main  Beaver Dam Ditch, and Turkey Creek.

 The Grand Calumet River has been a well studied basin with numerous
 investigations conducted over the past three decades (USEPA 1985; Simon et al.
 in press).  Previous attempts at evaluating the biological integrity of the
 basin were based on criteria developed for the adjacent northeastern sections
 in Illinois (Bickers et al. 1988; UFA 1989)  since no equivalent study had
 been  completed in Indiana.  The current study is that evaluation which
 quantifies the expected natural variation in the Lake Michigan basin.  Based
 on the historic data set, similar trends in water quality were observed
 between the current and past surveys.  The overall quality of the River is
 very poor even though a high proportion of cattail marsh wetland lies along
 the basins margins.  Overall, habitat is not the limiting factor in the
 improvement of this basin since enough refuges exist to facilitate the
 colonization of impacted areas after the perturbations have been removed.  The
 high degree of industrialization along the Rivers banks is the principal cause
 of toxic influence impacting the aquatic camraunity.

Reference Sites

Few natural areas remain in the Central Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.  The list
of candidate sites is based on superior Index of Biotic Integrity scores,
typical habitat for the ecoregion,  and professional  judgement (Table  17).
                                     85

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Central  Corn Belt Plain  Ecoreqion
Table 17. Reference sites determined using fish communities for the Central
          Corn Belt Plain ecoregion.
Kankakee River
Iroguois River
                  Yellow River: Marshall County:  at South Redwood Road bridge,
                  4.5 mi SW Plymouth, Union Twp., T 33N R IE S 35. lat. 86°
                  23' 35" long. 40° 16' 14"  (site: 90-108) .

                  Carpenter Creek: Jasper County: at 680 W bridge, Carpenter
                  TWp., 2.5 mi N Remington.  T 27N R 7W S 12. lat. 87° 10' 23"
                  long. 40° 47'  55" (site: 90-134) .

                  Wolf Creek: Jasper County: at 1450 N bridge, 2 mi N
                  Wheatfield, Wheatfield TWp., T 32N R 6W S 14. lat. 87° 04'
                  42" long. 41° 13' 38"  (site: 90-157) .

                  Yellow River: Marshall County:  at Upas Road bridge,  7.5 mi
                  SW Plymouth, Union Twp., T 33N R IE S 31. lat 86°  27' 14"
                  long. 41° 16'  23" (site: 90-109) .

                  Bice Ditch: Jasper County: at CR 1000 S (SR 16) bridge,  4.75
                  mi S Rensselaer, Milroy Twp., T 28N R 6W S 22. lat.  87° 05'
                  30" long. 40° 52' 00"  (site: 90-136) .

                  Yellow River: Marshall County:  at North Hickory Road bridge,
                  5.5 mi S Breman, German Twp., T 34N R 3E S 28. lat 86° 11'
                  39" long. 41° 21' 06"  (site: 90-107) .

                  Sugar Creek: Benton County: at SR 71 bridge, 4 mi SW Earl
                  Park, York Twp., T 26N R 9W S 31. lat. 8T 29'  09" long. 40°
                  39' 39"  (site: 90-164).

                  Sugar Creek: Benton County: at 200 W bridge, 4 mi E Earl
                  Park, Richland Twp. T 26N R 8W S 17. lat. 87° 19'  37" long.
                  40° 41'  38" (site:  90-166) .

                  Curtis Creek: Jasper County: at SR 114 bridge, 5.5 mi W
                  Rensselear, Newton Twp., T 29N R 7W S 19. lat. 87° 15' 32"
                  long. 41° 56'  26"  (site: 90-170) .

                  Sugar Creek: Benton County: at CR 500 W Road, 0.5 mi N Earl
                  Park, Richland Twp., T 26N R 9W S 14. lat. 87° 25' 11" long.
                  40° 41'  56" (site:  90-167) .

                  Iroguois River: Jasper County: at CR 700 W bridge; 6.75 mi
                  NW Rensselear, Union Twp., T SON R 7W S 23. lat. 87° 10' 50"
                  long. 41° 01'  59"  (site: 90-151) .
                                      86

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                                                         Indiana Ecoreaions
Table 17. Reference sites determined using fish ccanmunities for the Central
          Corn Belt Plain ecoregion (continued).


                  Beaver Creek: Newton County: at CR 600 W bridge, 3.25 mi W
                  Morocco, Beaver Twp., T 29N R 10/9 W S 24/19. lat. 87° 30'
                  29" long. 40° 57' 10"  (site:  90-124).

Lake Michigan     Reynold's Creek: LaPorte County: at Snyder Road bridge, 1.5
                  mi W SR 421 and US 80/90 intersection, New Durham Twp. T 36N
                  R 4W S 6. lat. 86° 55' 21" long. 41° 35' 53" (East Branch
                  Little Calumet Division; site: 90-205).

                  Little Calumet River: Porter County: at CR 600 E bridge,
                  3.75 mi S Pines, Indiana Dunes National Lakeshore Heron
                  Rookery, Pine Twp.,  T 37N R 5W S 25. lat. 86° 57'  06"  long.
                  41° 37'  38"  (East Branch Little Calumet Division;  site:  90-
                  199).

                  Unnamed Tributary Little Calumet River: Porter County: at
                  old CR 1300 N bridge, 4.25 mi S Pine, Pine Twp., T 37N R 4W
                  S 36. lat. 86° 56' 48" long.  41° 37' 03" (East Branch Little
                  Calumet Division;  site:  90-303).

                  Little Calumet River: Lake County: at SR 912 (Cline Ave.),
                  Gary, Calumet Twp.  T 36N R 9W S 24 (Lake Michigan Division;
                  site: 90-189).

                  Deep River:  Lake County: at  County Line Road and Old
                  Lincolnway,  Deep River County Park at walkbridge, 2 mi N
                  Merrillville, Ross Twp., T 35N R 7W S 16/21. lat. 87°  13'
                  16" long. 41° 28" 36"  (Lake Michigan Division; site: 90-
                  184).
                                      87

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Central  Corn  Belt Plain  Ecoreaion
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                                      88

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                                                         Indiana Ecorecrions
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                                      89

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                                      90

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                                                         Indiana Ecorecrions
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