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Abstract Floods play an important role in regulating ecological patterns and processes in river–floodplain ecosystems. Yet, the hydrologic connectivity between many river–floodplain ecosystems has been severed by anthropogenic activities that have markedly altered these ecological processes. Superimposed over anthropogenic reductions in river–floodplain connectivity, climate change is also shifting flood characteristics to produce more intense, unpredictable floods. To more efficiently manage river–floodplain ecosystems, additional research characterising the ecological consequences of unpredictable floods on fish movements is required. In this study, we used a modified fyke net to characterise the patterns and identify the important drivers of lateral movements of fish emigrating from the floodplain during contraction of a high‐magnitude, late‐summer flood in the Fourche LaFave River, Arkansas, in 2007. We captured approximately 43,200 fish emigrating from the floodplain over an 8‐day period, representing 38 distinct species from 12 families. We related fish‐emigration patterns to different stages of flood contraction and linked species‐specific emigration to water‐level fluctuations and associated changes in floodplain habitat availability and quality. We also show that some species exhibit body‐size emigration patterns, where larger individuals emigrated from the floodplain earlier than smaller individuals. To meet conservation goals for maintaining healthy riverine ecosystems and the biodiversity they support, it will be necessary to continue characterising and identifying the ecological consequences of shifting flood characteristics within river–floodplain ecosystems.
Walker et al. (Sun,) studied this question.