Lost from Oz? Status of the Sunflower State's Ozarkian Fish Fauna

There are 10 native Kansas fish species that occur only in the Spring River subbasin (SRS) and nowhere else in the state, which we term Kansas` Ozarkian fish fauna. Eight of these fishes are listed as species in need of conservation (SINC), highlighting their conservation value. The temporal trends and current statuses of Kansas` Ozarkian fishes is unclear, and as such our objective was to assess the historic and current prevalence of these species. We accomplished our objective by compiling historic data from three datasets distributed across three time periods (i.e., 1962-1964; 1993-1995; 1995-2013), which we then compared to data we collected in the SRS during 2017-2020. We calculated occupancy and relative abundance for each species during each of the four time periods, then we visualized changes in prevalence over time. We found that all species were a relatively rare component of the SRS fish assemblage as indicated by their low occupancies and relative abundances across all four time periods, yet some species were rarer than others. Among Kansas's Ozarkian fishes, the Spotfin Shiner and Northern Hog Sucker were the most prevalent and exhibited stable trends. The Banded Sculpin, Sunburst Darter, and Striped Shiner were the rarest and exhibited declining trends, and the Highland Darter and Ozark Minnow exhibited intermediate prevalence and stability. Finally, the Black Redhorse was always rare across all four time periods, and the Least Darter and Plains Topminnow had not been detected in Kansas since 1963. Even though Kansas` Ozarkian fishes currently have a similar conservation listing of SINC or not listed, our research indicated that the Black Redhorse, Highland Darter, and Ozark Minnow may require uplisting to threatened, and that the Banded Sculpin, Striped Shiner, and Sunburst Darter may require uplisting to endangered. Taking action by propagating and repatriating the remaining Ozarkian fishes to their historical ranges in Kansas, coupled with other conservation measures, may help prevent these fishes from ending up like the fictional character, Dorothy, such that they are not in Kansas anymore.