Stream Fish Ecology: A Landscape PerspectiveLand use, which influences the terrestrial-aquatic interface, can affect fish populations and their community dynamics

M ore than 40 years ago, conservationist Aldo Leopold articulated the need for a "land ethic," or self-imposed limitation on the degree to which a person will modify the landscape, to protect overall ecosystem quality (Leopold 1949). Since Leopold made that plea, land use has continued to be a primary factor causing the decline of fishery resources in stream ecosystems (Karr et al. 1985, Salo and Cundy 1987). The pervasiveness of degradation of these resources indicates that most land-use decisions have been made with little understanding or regard for their effect on adjacent and more distant components of the landscape. Landscape ecology (Forman and Godron 1986) offers new opportunities for improving understanding of landscape dynamics and strengthening decisions regarding the influence of land-use disturbances on fishery resources. Landscape ecology focuses on three interrelated characteristics of the environment: structural relationships among landscape elements; functional interactions among these elements, including the flow of water, organic matter, nutrients, and species; and natural and anthropogenic changes in structural and functional relationships of landscape elements over time. In this article, I briefly review the basic life cycle of stream fish and the

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