RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN COMMUNITY STRUCTURE OF YOY FISHES AND WATER QUALITY 
VARIABLES FROM POOL 26 OF THE UPPER MISSISSIPPI RIVER:  A CROSS-COMPONENT 
ANALYSIS OF LTRMP DATA
  
John H. Chick, , Lori A. Soeken-Gittinger, Eric N. Ratcliff, Eric J. Gittinger, 
and Benjamin J. Lubinski
Illinois Natural History Survey, Great Rivers Field Station, 8450 Montclair Ave, 
Brighton, IL  62012.
      
      Data from the LTRMP water quality and fish components were combined in a 
cross-component analysis.  Patterns of fish community structure for all size 
classes did not correlate with LTRMP water quality data or riverine discharge, 
but patterns of young-of-the-year (YOY) community structure were significantly 
correlated with spring Chl-a, spring discharge, and summer temperature.  
Significant positive relationships were found between CPUE of YOY black crappie, 
sauger, and smallmouth buffalo with discharge.  We found multiple regression 
models with R2 > 0.50 for YOY black and white crappie, channel catfish, 
largemouth bass, sauger, and common carp with combinations of these 
environmental factors and the abundance of stock-sized fishes (i.e., an index of 
parental abundance).  Multivariate correlations for age-1 fishes with 
environmental factors during the spring and summer from the previous year 
support our findings for YOY fishes.  The value of these analyses lies primarily 
in generating testable hypotheses, and with the possibility of repeating them as 
further data is collected over the coming years and decades.  

Keywords:  YOY Fishes, Water Quality, LTRMP, Monitoring Data