NEBRASKAland Magazine is dedicated to outstanding photography and informative writing with an engaging mix of articles and photos highlighting Nebraska’s outdoor activities, parklands, wildlife, history and people.
Issue link: http://mag.outdoornebraska.gov/i/581251
NOVEMBER 2015 • NEBRASKAland 47 Finescale dace, northern redbelly dace and pearl dace were the targeted glacial relict species in the researchers' three study streams in the watershed. The populations there are on an island. "These species of dace are very common in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and all the way up to the northeast part of the country and up to Canada," Gerdes said. "But that's their main range, and then there's this gap where you don't find them again until you get to basically the Sandhills of Nebraska and then across the border into South Dakota. The fish should have disappeared when the glaciers receded, and yet, "we've got here in Nebraska and South Dakota this really unique pocket where these fish have remained and that's solely because these streams sit over the Ogallala Aquifer." Typical Great Plains streams are "flashy," meaning that they often run dry and flood on a fairly frequent basis, providing unstable environments. Where these fish still exist, however, those prairie streams receive a constant influx of ground water from the aquifer, which not only buffers their tendency to go dry or to flood, but also buffers temperature, providing the fish with living conditions similar to their habitat farther north. As peripheral species in Nebraska and South Dakota, dace are at higher risk of extirpation than those fish that live in the main northern populations. This spurred the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks and the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission's Natural Legacy Project to partner in applying for SD State Wildlife Grant program funding, which would be used to continue efforts in understanding the fishes' distribution and environmental Research technician Miles Arnette from SDSU takes depth and velocity measurements in one of the transects in a Keya Paha Watershed stream. Cassidy Gerdes follows behind to record habitat measurements, including substrate and temperature. PHOTO BY ?????????????