Fish communities of three streams in the Sabine National Forest and their relationship to petroleum exploration

With the recent success of oil/gas wells on and near the Sabine National Forest, a study was conducted to determine the abundance and diversity of the fish communities in that area. Three streams were sampled seasonally for one year. The sampling of the streams utilized a variety of methods and the resulting data were compiled into the IBI (index of biotic integrity). Two of the streams were located in the oil field while the third was to function as a reference stream. The streams in the oil field proved to have high species diversity with mean IBI scores of 50.3 and 48.5. The stream located outside the oil field had a considerably lower number of species and a mean IBI score of 38.3. The variations between the fish communities of the streams were due to the differences in habitat rather than petroleum production.