Pennsylvania is facing increasing problems with incursions of aquatic invasive species (AIS). One of the most recent invaders is New Zealand Mudsnail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum) (NZM), which was discovered in Spring Creek in 2013. This was the first known occurrence of the species on the U.S. Atlantic slope. NZM have the potential to create a negative competitive impact on benthic communities of infested waterways, thus disrupting the base of the food web upon which higher organisms, such as fish...
The following article has been condensed from the publication “The Fishery of Spring Creek – A Watershed Under Siege” by Robert F. Carline, Rebecca L. Dunlap, Jason E. Detar, and Bruce A. Hollender.
Urban influences in the upper part of the watershed are having negative effects on Spring Creek’s trout fishery. Given the extensive development in and around the Borough of State College and the PSU campus, impacts on Spring Creek are not surprising. The effects of urbanization on stream ecosystems...
January 10, 2017
Whether a headwaters trout stream or a larger river, all waterways have something in common; they are dynamic systems, which means they are ever-changing and reacting to other processes, both natural and man-made. This is a natural process as the waterway tends to seek equilibrium with a stable pattern, profile and dimension. If a stream is channelized and made wider, shallower and straighter, it will inevitably begin to narrow and deepen itself again and re-establish its natural meandering patt...