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Historical Distribution of Bluehead Shiner
(Pteronotropis hubbsi)
Chad W. Hargrave1,* and Kaitlen P. Gary1
Abstract - We documented the historical distribution of Pteronotropis hubbsi (Bluehead
Shiner) based on a survey of museum records. To compile historical records, we searched 6
online databases and contacted 28 individuals associated with natural history museums, state
agencies, and public and private universities. Eleven individuals had records of Bluehead
Shiner in their collections. Geographically, the records were from 5 states, which included
a disjunct population in Illinois. In the core of the distribution (i.e., 4 states), all collections
were in the Red River and 4 major tributary rivers to the Red River. The number of different
localities within each of these waterways ranged from 1–17. These records spanned 57 y
(1949–2006), with the majority (95%) of records from the 1970s to the 1990s. The number
of specimens cataloged per locality ranged from 1 to 144 individuals. All major-tributary
drainages had at least 1 collection with more than 25 individuals archived. We argue that this
geographic analysis of the historical distribution of Bluehead Shiner illustrates a great need to
launch a modern field effort to document the current status of Bluehead Shiner throughout the
Red River drainage in Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Introduction
Pteronotropis hubbsi (Bailey and Robison) (= Notropis hubbsi) (Bluehead
Shiner) is a lowland species that inhabits quiet, backwater habitats of sluggish,
tannin-stained streams/bayous and oxbow lakes of the Gulf Coastal Slope (Bailey
and Robison 1978). Bluehead Shiners are often associated with submerged and
emergent aquatic vegetation over mud or mud/sand substrates (Bailey and Robison
1978). The species forages on a diversity of vegetative and invertebrate food items
found throughout the water column and benthos (Burr and Heidinger 1987, Fletcher
and Burr 1992). Localities supporting Bluehead Shiners typically have intact riparian
zones and are in watersheds with little anthropogenic disturbance (Burr and
Warren 1986). Thus, there is concern that the persistence of the Bluehead Shiner
throughout its native range in the Gulf Coastal Slope may be impacted by humanrelated
activities that threaten lowland habitats (Burr and Warren 1986, Fletcher
and Burr 1992, Pfleiger 1997, Phillippi et al. 1986, Robison and Buchanan 1988).
Based on distributional records listed in published references (e.g., The Fishes
of Arkansas), Bluehead Shiner occurs in the Red, Ouachita, White, and Atchafalaya
river systems of southern Arkansas, northern Louisiana, southeastern Oklahoma,
and northeast Texas (Douglas 1974, Miller and Robison 2004, Robison and
Buchanan 1988, Smith 2002, Thomas et al. 2007). A disjunct population also occurs
1Department of Biological Sciences and Texas Research Institute for Environmental
Studies, Sam Houston State University, Huntsville, TX 77340. *Corresponding author -
cwhargrave@shsu.edu.
Manuscript Editor: Jerry Cook
Proceedings of the 6th Big Thicket Science Conference: Watersheds and Waterflow
2016 Southeastern Naturalist 15(Special Issue 9):110–116
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in southwestern Illinois in Wolf Lake, likely as a result of an unintentional introduction
(Burr and Warren 1986).
To our knowledge, there is no publication that compiles existing Bluehead Shiner
records aimed at documenting the known historical distribution of this species
throughout its range. We believe a distributional field survey based on historical records
is needed as a general resource for researchers. For example, Bluehead Shiner
has been petitioned for federal listing under the US Endangered Species Act (ESA)
and is currently under review for a 12-month finding (Arkansas Natural Heritage
Commission 2001, Illinois Endangered Species Protection Board 1999, Jelks et al.
2008, Lemmons et al. 1997, Miller 1984, Texas Parks and Wildlife 2001). Therefore,
our analysis is the first step in understanding the current status of this species
throughout its range by providing researchers the opportunity to (1) identify distributional
gaps in historical records to provide areas for targeted sampling efforts,
(2) identify historical localities that can be targeted for resampling efforts, and
(3) conduct geospatial analyses on historical and current distribution records to evaluate
potential population trends over time. Herein, we report on the spatial, temporal,
and density patterns for the historical distribution of Bluehead Shiner in the US.
Methods
We searched for Blue Shiner records on 6 internet databases: Fishnet2 (http://
www.fishnet2.net/), FishBase (http://www.fishbase.org/), Global Biodiversity Information
Facility (http://www.gbif.org/), Fishes of Texas (http://www.fishesoftexas.
org/home/), University of Michigan Ichthyology Collection (http://www.lsa.umich.
edu/ummz/fishes/), and University of Alabama Ichthyology Collection (http://uaic.
as.ua.edu/). We contacted 29 individuals via email or telephone, including curators
from natural history museums, ichthyologists, and naturalists at public and private
institutions of higher education, as well as biologists from state agencies that potentially
held unpublished collection records of Bluehead Shiner. We asked these
individuals to search their museums and databases for Bluehead Shiner records.
We used GeoLocate Version 3.22 (Rios and Bart 2010) to georeference any collection
records that lacked geographical data. We used the locality string (name of
water body, county, and state information) and visual inspection of satellite imagery
to best identify the coordinates of the collection locality. Of the 170 records collected
from our museum search, we georeferenced 34 collection localities using
the method described above. Following georeferencing, we examined all data for
duplicate collection localities and deleted any we identified. We analyzed patterns
in Bluehead Shiner distribution using GIS.
Results and Discussion
Of the 29 individuals associated with natural history museums, state agencies,
and public and private universities, 28 responded to our requests and, of those
responses, 11 had Bluehead Shiner records in their collections (Table 1). Our search
resulted in a total of 100 independent records for Bluehead Shiner, representing 57
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different localities (46 stream/bayous and 11 lake/oxbows), from 15 counties and 5
states (Fig. 1).
All records from Illinois are from a single locality: Wolfe Lake, Union County.
This disjunct population in Illinois was introduced and may no longer persist (Ranvestel
and Burr 2004, Scharpf 2005). Thus, the native range of Bluehead Shiner
(i.e., the distribution excluding the population in Illinois) includes Arkansas, Oklahoma,
Louisiana, and Texas.
The records documented a native range of Bluehead Shiner that potentially
spanned 51,956 km2, and most (48) localities were tributaries and backwaters within
the Red River drainage (Fig. 1). In Arkansas, Bluehead Shiner was documented
from 6 counties (Ashley, Bradley, Calhoun, Clark, Ouachita, and Union) within the
Figure 1. Map showing the historical distribution (gray-filled circles) of Pteronotropis
hubbsi (Bluehead Shiner) based on 100 known archived records.
Table 1. List of museums/institutions and individuals contacted that held archived Blue Shiner records,
and the number of records held in their respective ichthyology collections.
Museum/institution Contact Records
Arkansas Tech University Dr. Charlie Gagen 2
Texas A & M University Dr. Kevin Conway, 2
Heather Prestridge
University of Arkansas-Fort Smith Dr. Tom Buchanan 2
Louisiana State University Museum of Natural Science Dr. Prosanta Chakrabarty 3
Oklahoma Department of Environmental Policy Randy Parham 6
University of Oklahoma Sam Noble Museum Sarah Cartwright 6
Illinois Natural History Survey Dr. Chris Taylor; Chris Mayer 9
Tulane University Royal D. Suttkus Fish Collection Dr. Hank Bart 13
Henderson State University Dr. Renn Tumlison 16
University of Texas Biodiversity Collections Dr. Dean Hendrickson, 23
Adam Cohen
Oklahoma State University Dr. Tony Echelle 24
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Ouachita River drainage. The Arkansas records were from 15 different localities (14
stream/bayou, 1 lake/oxbow) and spanned a geographic range of 2100 km2. In Oklahoma,
Bluehead Shiner was documented from 12 different localities (7 streams/
bayous, 5 lakes/oxbows) within the Little River drainage, McCurtain County, and
spanned a range of 140 km2. In Louisiana, Bluehead Shiner was documented from
2 parishes (Ouachita and Morehead) in the Ouachita drainage and 2 parishes in the
Red River drainage (La Salle and Rapides). The Louisiana collections were from
11 different localities (10 streams/bayous, 1 lake/oxbow) and spanned a geographic
range of 3995 km2. In Texas, Bluehead Shiner was documented from 3 counties
(Cass, Harrison, and Marion). All collections from Texas were within the Cypress
Creek drainage (including Caddo Lake), and represented 17 different localities
(14 stream/bayou, 3 lake/oxbow) that spanned a geographic range of 673 km2. In
Texas, 1 record was reported from Lake Texoma (Grayson County). C.W. Hargrave
has extensively sampled Lake Texoma (see Gido et al 2002) and never collected
Bluehead Shiner. Thus, we believe this record is suspect and suggest verification of
fish identification as well as locality based on field notes; we left this record out of
the distribution map and did not include the locality in the summary above or in the
temporal analysis below.
Three records did not have data identifying the date of the collection (1 collection
from Arkansas and 2 collections from Texas); we excluded these records from
our temporal analysis. Bluehead Shiner collection records existed for the following
decades: 1940s, 1 record; 1950s, 2 records; 1970s, 29 records; 1980s, 38 records;
1990s, 25 records; 2000s, 2 records (Fig. 2). In Illinois, all 8 records were from
1973 and 1974. In Arkansas, 15 records were from the 1970s, 4 from 80s, and 4
from 90s. Oklahoma collections were from the 1980s (21 records), 1990s (7 records),
and 2000s (1 record). Louisiana had 2 records from the 1970s, 5 from the
1980s, 6 from the 1990s, and 1 record from the 2000s. Texas had records from 5
decades: 1 record from 1949, 2 records from the 1950s, 4 records from 1970s, 8
from 1980s, and 8 from 1990s. A majority of all Bluehead Shiner collection records
from within the native range were from the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s (84; 94%).
We believe this may reflect a period of intensive sampling by field-active ichthyologists,
namely: W. Matthews, A. Echelle (Oklahoma), H. Robison, T. Buchanan
(Arkansas), R. Suttkus, R. Cashner, H. Bart (Louisiana), and Clark Hubbs (Texas).
Since the predominance of records were historical (20 to 40 y old), we argue that
there is a need for renewed sampling effort across this region.
The ability to use fish-count data from museum collections to infer natural density
is limited. Sampling efforts may not have been standardized across collections,
and, in many cases, it is impossible to know whether archived collections represent
all individuals collected or a subsample of individuals (e.g., voucher specimens).
Although these count data may be biased or inaccurately identified, all regions had
collections with high fish counts. For example, Oklahoma and Texas had 4 records
where more than 25 individuals were archived, Arkansas had 2 records with more
than 25 individuals archived, and Louisiana had 1 record where more than 25 individuals
were archived. This finding indicates there is currently no known area
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within the Red River drainage that is the epicenter of the native Bluehead Shiner
distribution. Rather, we believe these data suggest that large populations exist on
the periphery of a potential epicenter of this distribution. Our results may imply
that Bluehead Shiner is more widely distributed across this region, and collections
that document occurrence of Bluehead Shiner within the interior of this geographic
distribution may be lacking.
Our review of the museum records for Bluehead Shiner support the known
distribution reported in state and regional references (e.g., Robison and Buchanan
1988). However, because these sources often do not provide detailed collectionlocality
data (see Douglas 1974, Miller and Robison 2004, Thomas et al. 2007), our
study is important because it provides, to our knowledge, the most comprehensive
list of all Bluehead Shiner records throughout its range to date. Although, we made
a strong attempt to identify and contact all individuals within the region that likely
held records of Bluehead Shiner, we acknowledge that we may have missed records
Figure 2. Map showing the number of known archived records of Pteronotropis hubbsi
(Bluehead Shiner) by decade and locality for Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Texas.
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collected by individuals unknown to us. However, because we contacted a number
of major field biologists, ichthyologists, and associated museums throughout this
region, we feel that any missed records likely would not change our interpretation
of the results.
We suggest that this spatial and temporal analysis of historical museum records
for Bluehead Shiner result in 2 general conclusions. First, we believe that
our results illustrate that there are 4 known population centers of Bluehead Shiner
throughout its native range. These populations exist on the periphery of the species’
geographic range, and, thus, there is a large geographic area within this
boundary with no records. It is possible that there are localities within the center
of this boundary that may support Bluehead Shiner and that this finding illustrates
a great need to explore and sample suitable habitat within this region. Second, our
results show that the vast majority of documented records are between 20 and 40
y old—the typical length of an active field career. Thus, this temporal pattern may
represent intensive sampling by a few individuals throughout the 1970s, 1980s,
and 1990s. Unfortunately, the current status of Bluehead Shiner from historical
localities is unknown. Human populations continue to grow, and habitat alterations
continue to progress throughout this region; therefore, there is a great need
to revisit known localities.
There currently is interest in listing Bluehead Shiner as federally endangered
(USFWS 2011). This interest is driven by the perceived rarity of the species across
its range, the lack of current distribution data, the species’ affinity for lowland
aquatic habitat, and the continued threat to such habitats for agriculture, oil and gas
development, and urbanization. Our study, which provides a summary of historical
distribution data for Bluehead Shiner, supports the impetus to consider conservation
action for this species. However, our summary also illustrates a great need to invest in
sampling efforts that will illuminate the current status of Bluehead Shiner throughout
its native geographic range in the Gulf Coastal Slope of the Southeastern US.
Acknowledgments
This research was funded by the Texas Comptroller of Public Accounts to the authors.
We also would like to thank all individuals that provided collection records. These
individuals and their affiliations are listed in Table 1. Finally, we would like to acknowledge
a technical advisory panel, which helped oversee the technical aspects and quality
of this research.
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