This geospatial dataset includes one point feature class file and associated FGDC-compliant metadata representing datasets to support development of ecological limit functions for the Cumberland Plateau in northeastern Middle Tennessee and southeastern Kentucky. Knight and others (2012, 2014) developed a methodology of relating fish species richness to changes in hydrologic conditions for sites within the Tennessee River Basin; this dataset applies this methodology to 138 sites within the the Cumberland Plateau. Information contained within this dataset represents values of basin characteristics (see Table II in Knight and others, 2012), estimates of streamflow characteristics (see Table I in Knight and others, 2012), measures of individual and cumulative departure of streamflow characteristics from reference hydrologic conditions, and fish species richness for 138 sites in the study area. Characteristics describing each basin were estimated and standardized (see Table III in Knight and others, 2012) and include: percent forest, percent agriculture, percent of basin in the Interior Plateau Level 3 Ecoregion, percent of basin in Blue Ridge Level 3 Ecoregion, mean basin elevation, index of Hortonian overland flow, soil factor, geologic factor, monthly mean precipitation, January precipitation deviation, August temperature deviation, temperature range, and rock depth as well as the interaction of soil factor, geologic factor, and rock depth with monthly mean precipitation. Basin characteristics were used as independent variables to estimate streamflow characteristics, also in standardized form, following Knight and others (2012). Estimated streamflow characteristics include measures of the magnitude, duration, frequency, timing, and rate of change of the annual hydrograph (Knight and others, 2012). Departure values for individual streamflow characteristics were determined by calculating the numerical distance (difference) outside the reference range for each streamflow characteristic. Reference hydrologic conditions for the study area were determined using methods presented in Knight and others (2012; 2014). Reference ranges are included in the metadata in the entity and attribute descriptions for the fields representing individual hydrologic departure values. Cumulative hydrologic departures represent the sum of individual departure values that were identified as statistically significant (p < 0.05) in quantile regression analysis based on Knight and others (2014), stratified by fish group. Fish species richness for 11 fish groups is presented for each site and represents trophic, taxonomic, reproductive, and habitat preferences (see Table I in Knight and others, 2014) as well as fishes that are considered as rare, threatened, or endangered by Withers (2009). Knight, R.R., Gain, W.S., and Wolfe, W.J., 2012, Modelling ecological flow regime: an example from the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins: Ecohydrology, v. 5, p. 613–627, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eco.246 Knight, R.R., Murphy, J.C., Wolfe, W.J., Saylor, C.F., and Wales, A.K., 2014, Ecological limit functions relating fish community response to hydrologic departures of the ecological flow regime in the Tennessee River basin, United States: Ecohydrology, v. 7, p. 1262–1280, http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/eco.1460 Withers, D., 2009, Tennessee Natural Heritage Program rare animals list: Division of Natural Areas, Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, Nashville, TN, 61 p, last accessed November 19, 2015, at https://www.tn.gov/assets/entities/environment/attachments/na_animal-list.pdf

This data release contains input data files (R scripts and supporting data files) and results tables associated with analyses that describe the predicted effects of surface-water withdrawal scenarios on specific stream flow characteristics (SFC), changes in fish species richness, and ecological withdrawal thresholds from stream sites within the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins. Surface-water withdrawal scenarios were constructed using two different models: 1) Percent-of-flow (POF) withdrawal model; 2) Constant-rate (CR) withdrawal model. The POF model simulated water withdrawal scenarios by reducing each daily streamflow value by a set percentage ranging from 0 to 40% withdrawal. The CR model simulated water withdrawals by reducing daily streamflow by a constant value (regardless of ambient/background daily streamflow values) ranging from 0.003 to 1.415 cubic meters per second (equal to 0.1 to 50.0 cubic feet per second). Additionally, four minimum flow levels were applied under each withdrawal model to investigate the potential effects of different levels of low-flow protection on fish species richness response to water withdrawals. The primary INPUT files consist of three R scripts that contain executable code as well as detailed instructions, comments, and descriptions to fully reproduce the output results files. All files required to successfully reproduce output results are contained within the “INPUT” folder and “SupportingFiles” sub-folder that accompany this data release. Some of the supporting INPUT files consist of various datasets originally reported in previously published journal articles and were used to format and/or calculate various hydrologic or ecologic metrics (see citations below). Basic site information (i.e., site number, site name, spatial coordinates, drainage area, ecoregion, etc) for each stream site is contained within siteInfo.txt file. Results tables for both POF and CR withdrawal models are contained within "SFC", "Richness", "Thresholds", and "SumThresholds" folders. References: Knight, R.R., Cartwright, J.M., and Ladd, D.E., 2016, Streamflow and fish community diversity data for use in developing ecological limit functions for the Cumberland Plateau, northeastern Middle Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky, 2016: U.S. Geological Survey Data Release: http://dx.doi.org/10.5066/F7JH3J83. Knight, R.R., Gain, W.S., and Wolfe, W.J., 2012, Modelling ecological flow regime: an example from the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins: Ecohydrology, v. 5, no. 5, p. 613–627. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.246. Knight, R.R., Murphy, J.C., Wolfe, W.J., Saylor, C.F., and Wales, A.K., 2014, Ecological limit functions relating fish community response to hydrologic departures of the ecological flow regime in the Tennessee River basin, United States: Ecohydrology, p. 1262–1280. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco1460. R Core Team (2018), R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL https://www.R-project.org/

This data release contains input data files (R scripts and supporting data files) and results tables associated with analyses that describe the predicted effects of surface-water withdrawal scenarios on specific stream flow characteristics (SFC), changes in fish species richness, and ecological withdrawal thresholds from stream sites within the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins. Surface-water withdrawal scenarios were constructed using two different models: 1) Percent-of-flow (POF) withdrawal model; 2) Constant-rate (CR) withdrawal model. The POF model simulated water withdrawal scenarios by reducing each daily streamflow value by a set percentage ranging from 0 to 40% withdrawal. The CR model simulated water withdrawals by reducing daily streamflow by a constant value (regardless of ambient/background daily streamflow values) ranging from 0.003 to 1.415 cubic meters per second (equal to 0.1 to 50.0 cubic feet per second). Additionally, four minimum flow levels were applied under each withdrawal model to investigate the potential effects of different levels of low-flow protection on fish species richness response to water withdrawals. The primary INPUT files consist of three R scripts that contain executable code as well as detailed instructions, comments, and descriptions to fully reproduce the output results files. All files required to successfully reproduce output results are contained within the “INPUT” folder and “SupportingFiles” sub-folder that accompany this data release. Some of the supporting INPUT files consist of various datasets originally reported in previously published journal articles and were used to format and/or calculate various hydrologic or ecologic metrics (see citations below). Basic site information (i.e., site number, site name, spatial coordinates, drainage area, ecoregion, etc) for each stream site is contained within siteInfo.txt file. Results tables for both POF and CR withdrawal models are contained within "SFC", "Richness", "Thresholds", and "SumThresholds" folders. References: Knight, R.R., Cartwright, J.M., and Ladd, D.E., 2016, Streamflow and fish community diversity data for use in developing ecological limit functions for the Cumberland Plateau, northeastern Middle Tennessee and southwestern Kentucky, 2016: U.S. Geological Survey Data Release: http://dx.doi.org/10.5066/F7JH3J83. Knight, R.R., Gain, W.S., and Wolfe, W.J., 2012, Modelling ecological flow regime: an example from the Tennessee and Cumberland River basins: Ecohydrology, v. 5, no. 5, p. 613–627. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco.246. Knight, R.R., Murphy, J.C., Wolfe, W.J., Saylor, C.F., and Wales, A.K., 2014, Ecological limit functions relating fish community response to hydrologic departures of the ecological flow regime in the Tennessee River basin, United States: Ecohydrology, p. 1262–1280. https://doi.org/10.1002/eco1460. R Core Team (2018), R: A language and environment for statistical computing. R Foundation for Statistical Computing, Vienna, Austria. URL https://www.R-project.org/

These data from Evaluation and Review of Ecology-Focused Stream Studies to Support Cooperative Monitoring, Fountain Creek Basin, Colorado were used to describe temporal trends in fish communities in the basin. Fish data were collected at U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) sites between 2003 and 2022. Datasets include fish frequency of occurrence, flathead chub catch per unit of effort, and a list of fish species collected.

These data from Evaluation and Review of Ecology-Focused Stream Studies to Support Cooperative Monitoring, Fountain Creek Basin, Colorado were used to describe temporal trends in fish communities in the basin. Fish data were collected at U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) sites between 2003 and 2022. Datasets include fish frequency of occurrence, flathead chub catch per unit of effort, and a list of fish species collected.

These data were used for an analysis as part of a long-term project monitoring the biological communities, habitat, and water quality of the Fountain Creek Basin. Biology, habitat, and water quality data have been collected at 10 sites starting in 2003. These data include annual samples of aquatic invertebrate communities, fish communities, water quality, and quantitative riverine habitat collected from 2003-2016. These data will provide insight into trends in biological communities from 2003-2016 and relationships between biological communities and abiotic variables (antecedent streamflow, physical habitat, and water quality). This USGS data release contains all the input and output data and files necessary to reproduce results of the report describing an analysis of ecological trends from 2003-2016 in the Fountain Creek Basin, Colorado, USA (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20175162). Data preparation of these data files is fully described in the report mentioned previously. These data are outputs from the two-step trend analysis and provide the statistical measures of trend significance, potential drivers of trends, and the change in each biological metric over this trend period (2003-2016).

These data were used for an analysis as part of a long-term project monitoring the biological communities, habitat, and water quality of the Fountain Creek Basin. Biology, habitat, and water quality data have been collected at 10 sites starting in 2003. These data include annual samples of aquatic invertebrate communities, fish communities, water quality, and quantitative riverine habitat collected from 2003-2016. These data will provide insight into trends in biological communities from 2003-2016 and relationships between biological communities and abiotic variables (antecedent streamflow, physical habitat, and water quality). This USGS data release contains all the input and output data and files necessary to reproduce results of the report describing an analysis of ecological trends from 2003-2016 in the Fountain Creek Basin, Colorado, USA (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20175162). Data preparation of these data files is fully described in the report mentioned previously. These data are outputs from the two-step trend analysis and provide the statistical measures of trend significance, potential drivers of trends, and the change in each biological metric over this trend period (2003-2016).

These data were used for an analysis as part of a long-term project monitoring the biological communities, habitat, and water quality of the Fountain Creek Basin. Biology, habitat, and water quality data have been collected at 10 sites starting in 2003. These data include annual samples of aquatic invertebrate communities, fish communities, water quality, and quantitative riverine habitat collected from 2003-2016. These data will provide insight into trends in biological communities from 2003-2016 and relationships between biological communities and abiotic variables (antecedent streamflow, physical habitat, and water quality). This USGS data release contains all the input and output data and files necessary to reproduce results of the report describing an analysis of ecological trends from 2003-2016 in the Fountain Creek Basin, Colorado, USA (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20175162). Data preparation of these data files is fully described in the report mentioned previously. These data are used for a two-step analysis of trends in biological communities and the abiotic drivers of these trends. All files with a _1 suffix are used for the analysis of streamflow drivers of trends in these biological communities. All files with a _2 suffix contain data from unexplained trends after the first analysis and are used for an analysis exploring if these trends are explained by water quality or habitat characteristics.

These data were used for an analysis as part of a long-term project monitoring the biological communities, habitat, and water quality of the Fountain Creek Basin. Biology, habitat, and water quality data have been collected at 10 sites starting in 2003. These data include annual samples of aquatic invertebrate communities, fish communities, water quality, and quantitative riverine habitat collected from 2003-2016. These data will provide insight into trends in biological communities from 2003-2016 and relationships between biological communities and abiotic variables (antecedent streamflow, physical habitat, and water quality). This USGS data release contains all the input and output data and files necessary to reproduce results of the report describing an analysis of ecological trends from 2003-2016 in the Fountain Creek Basin, Colorado, USA (https://doi.org/10.3133/sir20175162). Data preparation of these data files is fully described in the report mentioned previously. These data are used for a two-step analysis of trends in biological communities and the abiotic drivers of these trends. All files with a _1 suffix are used for the analysis of streamflow drivers of trends in these biological communities. All files with a _2 suffix contain data from unexplained trends after the first analysis and are used for an analysis exploring if these trends are explained by water quality or habitat characteristics.

These data were used for an analysis as part of a long-term project monitoring the biological communities, habitat, and water quality of the Fountain Creek Basin. Biology, habitat, and water quality data have been collected at 10 sites starting in 2003. These data include annual samples of aquatic invertebrate communities, fish communities, water quality, and quantitative riverine habitat collected from 2003-2016. These data will provide insight into trends in biological communities from 2003-2016 and relationships between biological communities and abiotic variables (antecedent streamflow, physical habitat, and water quality).