Biology  

Such diversity was rare in the United States outside of this region and resulted from a combination of factors, including: the area’s temperate climate; the tree-lined river banks; the gentle gradient of the riverbed with its resulting sequence of “pool,” “riffle” and “run” habitats; the mineral and nutrient-rich till soil and bedrock; and the ability of the indigenous aquatic life to repopulate the region following glaciation.

Today, scientists place the number of fish species in the Darby Creek system at 94 and the number of mollusk species at 38.

beanshell mussel © Tom Watters

The Darby Creek system is intensely monitored by the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency, which classified it as an “exceptional warm water habitat.” This water use designation means the waters are capable of supporting and maintaining an exceptional or unusual community of warm water aquatic organisms having a species composition, diversity, and functional organization comparable to the 75th percentile of the identified reference sites on a statewide basis.

rainbow darter © ODNR

Federally listed endangered species of the system include: Scioto Madtom (Noturus trautmani), Northern Riffle Shell (Epiblasma rangiana), and the Northern Club Shell (Pleurobema clava). In addition to the federally listed endangered species, the stream is home to four state listed endangered fish species: Lake Chubsucker (Erimyzon sucetta), Northern Brook Lamprey (Ichthyomyzon fossor), Spotted Darter (Etheostoma maculatum), and the Northern Madtom (Noturus stigmosus).

The stream is also home to an additional five state-listed endangered mollusk species: Elephant Ear (Elliptio crassidens crassidens), Ridged Pocketbook (Lampsillis ovata), Washboard (Megalonaias nervosa), Cob Shell (Quadrula cylindrica), and the Bean Shell (Villosa fablis).

In addition to the rivers’ aquatic diversity the Darby watershed at one time contained a tremendous diversity of terrestrial flora and fauna. Human activity over the last 200 years has had a devastating effect on these populations. The clearing of the watershed’s mature forests and the installation of drainage tiles in the tallgrass prairies greatly contributed to the elimination of many of these terrestrial plant and animal species.

Raymond A. Dobbins did the most detailed mapping of the original prairies in the Darby Plains and adjacent areas in 1937. Dobbins reported that prairie remnants, which contained characteristic plants, were scarce and fragmentary. Mature burr oaks and post oaks, common prairie associates, still survive in the Darby Plains, some from presettlement times. Unfortunately their numbers are constantly decreasing, and there is very little regeneration of these species on this intensely managed landscape.

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