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4 <br />METHODS <br />LITERATURE SEARCH -- On-line computer searches were conducted of the three <br />major scientific data bases: Biological Abstracts, Wildlife and Fisheries Review, and <br />Zoological Records. These subsume a number of other powerful databases. <br />Independent searches also were made of the Comprehensive Dissertation Index, which <br />cross-references with Masters Abstracts International, Dissertation Abstracts <br />International, and American Doctoral Dissertations data bases We also used the Fish <br />and Wildlife Reference Service (Bethesda MD) web site at www.fws.gov, which <br />selectively covers published and unpublished reports resulting from Federal Aid in Fish <br />and Wildlife Restoration, Anadromous Sport Fish Conservation, Endangered Species <br />Grants programs, and the Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Units, and contacted <br />the U.S. Fish and Wildlife reference library in Fort Collins CO. All searches were <br />comprehensive of the international literature and incorporated information on target <br />species of the lower Colorado River regardless of where (geographically) the <br />information was generated. <br />Data-base searches were driven by three categories of key words: fish names, words <br />and phrases, and authors (APPENDIX 1). Fish names included Latin (scientific) and <br />common names, including variations, synonyms, and permutations of 11 native and 28 <br />non-native species known from the lower Colorado River. Words and phrases included <br />a suite of descriptive terms associated with fish habitat, behavior, and species <br />interactions. Authors were selected among those making substantial theoretical or <br />pragmatic contributions to the general understanding of aquatic ecology, with emphasis <br />on fish-habitat relationships, mechanisms of community structuring, and species <br />associations and interactions. Coverage included both published and grey literature, <br />and was comprehensive from at least 1980 to 1996. Period-of-record varied among <br />data bases from 1861 to date to 1980 to date.