PisCES Fact Sheet
PisCES: Pis(cine) Community Estimation Software
Overview
PisCES predicts a fish community for any NHD-Plus stream reach in the conterminous United
States. PisCES utilizes HUC-based distributional information for over 1,000 native and non-
native species obtained from NatureServe, the USGS, and the Peterson Field Guide to
Freshwater Fishes of North America (Page and Burr 2011). In addition to using current
geographic distributions, PisCES can alter potential communities to reflect information on
species rarity, stream size preferences, and occurrence envelopes for water quality metrics (pH,
conductivity, turbidity, dissolved oxygen) and stream characteristics (watershed area, mean
width, depth, and slope). PisCES can also create an abundance distribution for a fish
community using an approach that associates abundance of a species to its maximum body
size.
Data
Stream segmentation was derived from the NHD-Plus dataset (http://www.horizon-
systems.com/nhdplus/). The PisCES database of species-specific information was derived from
Page and Burr (2011), the online NatureServe Explorer (http://explorer.natureserve.org/), and
FishBase (http://www.fishbase.us/), including
• The mapped distribution of species based on collection records
• The stream size (mean width) where species are generally sampled
• The rarity of each species inside its range
• The maximum size each species attains
• Other species-specific habitat preferences
Fish Distributions. PisCES output is based on known geographic distributions offish species,
obtained primarily from two sources:
• 8-digit HUC-based species distributions from NatureServe (2010)
• 8-digit HUC-based distributions of documented species introductions (both native and
non-native fishes) from the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Program.
Larry Page, Florida Museum of Natural History, provided distributional polygons for species
detailed in the Peterson Field Guide (Page and Burr 2011) for which the above two sources did
not have distributions.
Stream Width. PisCES can filter a predicted fish assemblage using a species stream size
preference under mean flow conditions. This information from the Peterson Guide is
categorized using narrative terms, and the Guide provides a guideline for relating these terms
to a mean stream width metric:
Headwater/Spring: 0-1 m
Creek: 1-5 m
Small River: 5-25 m
Medium River: 25-50 m
Large River: > 50 m
-------
PisCES Fact Sheet
References
Boicourt, W., Gallegos, C., Harding Jr., L,, Houde, E., Mallonee, M., McClain, C., and Roman,
M. 2004. Trophic indicators of ecosystem health in Chesapeake Bay. 2004 Progress Report.
USEPA Grant R828677C002.
http://cfpub.epa.gov/ncer abstracts/index.cfm/fuseaction/display.abstractDetail/abstract/612
6/report/2004
Caissie, D. 2006. River discharge and channel width relationships for New Brunswick rivers.
Canadian Technical Report of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 2637. Canadian Department of
Fisheries and Oceans, Moncton, NB.
Duplisea, D. and Castonguay, M. 2006. Comparison and utility of different size-based metrics
of fish communities for detecting fishery impacts. Can. J. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 63: 810-820.
Faustini, J., Kaufmann, P., and Herlihy, A. 2009. Downstream variation in bankfull width of
wadeable streams across the conterminous United States. Geomorphology 108: 292-311.
Han, B., and Straskraba, M. 1998. Size dependence of biomass spectra and size intervals: the
effects of size scales and size intervals. J. Theor. Biol. 191: 259-265.
NatureServe. 2010. Digital Distribution Maps of the Freshwater Fishes in the Conterminous
United States. Version 3.0. Arlington, VA. U.S.A.
Page, L. and Burr, B. 2011. Peterson Field Guide to Freshwater Fishes of North America North
of Mexico. 2nd Edition. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, Boston.
Pope, J., and Knights, B. 1982. Comparisons of length distributions of combined catches of all
demersal fishes in surveys in the North Sea and Faroe Bank. Can. Spec. Publ. Fish. Aquat. Sci. 59:
116-118.
Sheldon, R., Prakash, A., and Sutcliffe, W. 1972. The size distribution of particles in the ocean.
Limnol. Oceanogr. 18: 719-733.
Stranko, S., Hurd, M., and Klauda, R. 2005. Applying a large statewide database to the
assessment, stressor diagnosis, and restoration of stream fish communities. Environmental
Monitoring and Assessment. 108: 99-121.
USEPA Office of Wetlands, Oceans, and Watersheds. 2013. National Rivers and Streams
Assessment 2008-2009. USEPA/841/D-13/001, Washington, DC.
------- |