Anthropogenic land-use change intensifies the effect of low flow on stream fishes Areas with high energy development near streams can reduce the quality of the water habitat, and that can have a negative effect on the ability of fish to persist over time. That's according to new research by the Wyoming Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Unit that was published in the Journal of Applied Ecology. Richard Walker is the researcher behind the study, and is currently a postdoc with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). His research tries to understand how fish interact with the environment they live in and what factors change their population, specifically how fish that live in a freshwater environment are responding to things like energy development.