Updated model predictions of fish community metrics for nontidal streams in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed, USA from 1985 to 2023

This data release contains updated predictions of fish community metrics from Krause and Maloney (2021b) and Maloney et al. (2022). The analysis to produce these predictions follows the same analytical procedure described in Maloney et al. (2022) but at an enhanced spatial (1:24,000 scale) and temporal (annual predictions from 1985 - 2023) resolutions. The fish sampling data used to calculate these metrics were assembled from multiple monitoring programs conducted by state and federal agencies, county governments, universities, and river basin commissions throughout the watershed. Community metrics characterize fish assemblages in terms of composition, tolerance, habitat use, and functional traits. Analyses were performed across four aggregated Level III ecoregions: the Coastal Plains (CPL); the Northern Appalachians (NAP); the Southern Appalachians Northwest (SAP_NW), and the Southern Appalachians Piedmont (SAP_PIED; see Maloney et al. 2022 for more detail on these regions). Predictions were calculated for each regionally selected fish community metric annually from 1985 to 2023. These predictions were further summarized into deciles with higher scores inferring less biologically altered (i.e., better) conditions. Uncertainty measures were also calculated for annual predictions and summarized into deciles such that higher scores represent lower uncertainty measures.