1724 D. B. OSMUNDSON ET AL. Ecological Applications
<br />Vol. 12, No. 6
<br />the same dimensions, covered with water, and the water
<br />volume measured. To derive the percentage of substrate
<br />G2 mm, five interstitial substrate samples (500 mL)
<br />were collected near the Hess samples with a 3 cm di-
<br />ameter, clear, PVC, core tube; oven dried in the lab at
<br />68°C; and sieve separated into size fractions. Mid-col-
<br />umn water velocity was measured at each Hess sample
<br />location with a Model 201 portable water current meter
<br />(Marsh McBirney, Gaithersburg, Maryland, USA). To
<br />derive median substrate particle size (total Dso and Dso
<br />of particles >!2 mm), substrate size distributions were
<br />quantified from pebble counts (Wolman 1954); one
<br />count was made parallel to shore at each run and riffle
<br />sampling site in the vicinity of the Hess sampling de-
<br />scribed above.
<br />Mapping was used to quantify the surface area, with-
<br />in each reach, of seven major mesohabitat types (riffles,
<br />runs, shoals, backwaters, low velocity, slack water, and
<br />vegetated), with two to six possible subtypes. This was
<br />done once during base flows of fall 1996. Habitats were
<br />drawn in the field on. hard copies of airborne videog-
<br />raphy, orthocorrected, and transferred to a GIS base
<br />map for interpretation.
<br />Additional parameters were measured during a syn-
<br />optic survey that immediately preceded each sampling
<br />period, and included light extinction, dissolved or sus-
<br />pended nutrients, and turbidity. This survey was con-
<br />ducted in one day and data were collected at one site
<br />within each sample stratum. Light was measured at
<br />multiple depths with a model LI-193SA spherical quan-
<br />tum sensor (LICOR, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA) that col-
<br />lected scattered as well as surface light. Water samples
<br />were collected from midchannel at a depth of - 15 cm.
<br />One 1-L water sample was split into two parts: one
<br />part was filtered in the field with a 0.45-µm mesh type
<br />HA Millipore filter for ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and
<br />orthophosphorous analyses; the other part remained as
<br />a whole-water sample for total nitrogen and total phos-
<br />phorous analyses. All water samples were acidified
<br />with concentrated sulfuric acid. Time between collec-
<br />tion and laboratory analysis varied but was always
<br />within holding periods specified in Standard Methods
<br />(American Public Health Association et al. 1992). All
<br />nutrients were analyzed in the laboratory with a Spec-
<br />tronic 301 (Milton Roy Company, Rochester, New
<br />York, USA), utilizing a 5-cm cell. Methodologies for
<br />nutrient analyses followed Standard Methods. Turbid-
<br />ity was measured in situ (midchannel) with a Hydrolab
<br />Surveyor 3 (Hydrolab, Austin, Texas, USA). Main-
<br />channel temperatures were monitored year-round at
<br />seven sites within the study area (strata 1, 6, 7, 8, 9,
<br />10, and 11) as part of another study and methods and
<br />results were previously reported by Osmundson et al.
<br />(1998).
<br />Biological parameters
<br />Biomasses of periphyton, benthic macroinverte-
<br />brates, and benthic detritus were estimated at each riffle
<br />and run sample location. Benthic macroinvertebrates
<br />were collected at the same five Hess-sample sites de-
<br />scribed in the preceding section. All substrate particles
<br />above the level of embeddedness were dislodged or
<br />rubbed by hand to loosen macroinvertebrates as par-
<br />ticles were removed from the Hess sampler for the
<br />interstitial void volume analysis described above. In
<br />the laboratory, formalin-preserved samples were sorted
<br />and dry mass of invertebrates was estimated from dis-
<br />placement volumes using family-specific regression
<br />equations developed for this study. Detritus, or coarse
<br />particulate organic matter (CPOM), collected with the
<br />invertebrate samples was oven dried at 68°C and
<br />weighed with an analytical balance.
<br />Chlorophyll a was used as a relative index to live
<br />periphyton biomass (Steemann Nielsen and Jorgensen
<br />1962); this was because periphyton samples contained
<br />dead tissue, detritus, and deposited silt particles that
<br />could not be easily separated. Five cobble-sized rocks
<br />adjacent to each Hess sample were selected to provide
<br />periphyton samples. Periphyton scraped from a 2.5 cm
<br />diameter circle (5 cm2) scribed on each rock was cov-
<br />ered in tin foil to exclude light, frozen in the field with
<br />dry ice, and stored frozen until analyzed in the lab.
<br />Chlorophyll a concentrations were measured with a
<br />Model 111 fluorometer (Turner Associates, Palo Alto,
<br />California, USA) within 30 d of collection.
<br />Electrofishing catch rates were used as an index of
<br />relative abundance of main-channel fish species. We
<br />assumed these rates were proportionally related to the
<br />total fish biomass within a study reach. Only fish ?100
<br />mm in total length (TL) were targeted under the as-
<br />sumption that pikeminnow ?550 mm TL require forage
<br />items of at least this size (Osmundson et al. 1998).
<br />Within each study reach, both shorelines were elec-
<br />trofished in a downstream direction with a 5 m long,
<br />hard-bottomed, electrofishing boat. In reaches contain-
<br />ing rapids, a 5-m rubber raft outfitted for electrofishing
<br />was sometimes used. Each craft was equipped with a
<br />Coffelt VVP-15 (Coffelt Manufacturing, Flagstaff, Ar-
<br />izona, USA) that produced pulsed DC. In strata 7-11,
<br />where fish were abundant, two people were required to
<br />dipnet stunned fish from the bow of the boat; in strata
<br />1-6, where fish were few, only one person was needed
<br />to net all fish. Each shoreline within each reach was
<br />treated as a separate sample, resulting in six samples
<br />per stratum.
<br />Netted fish were transferred to one of two live wells
<br />on the boat and held until a shoreline sample was com-
<br />pleted: fishes from run habitats went in one and fishes
<br />from riffles went in the other. Elapsed shocking time
<br />(s) through each habitat type (counted on the VVP me-
<br />ter) was recorded. Fishes were identified, measured for
<br />TL (to the nearest 1 mm), weighed with an electronic
<br />balance (to the nearest gram), and released.
<br />Adult Colorado pikeminnow densities per stratum
<br />were derived from mean annual population estimates
<br />(see Osmundson and Burnham 1998 for methods), the
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