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<br />'a <br /> <br />Gorge remains impaired, owing to persistent fme sediments within and upon the substratum of the <br />river bottom which prevents establishment of a productive biofilm and restricts attachment sites for <br />zoobenthos. <br />This Gunnison River case history is a classic response to stream regulation. Similar results <br />have been recorded elsewhere (e.g., Petts 1986, Stanford and Hauer 1992). Indeed, an upstream <br />discontinuity clearly exists on the Colorado River (Voelz and Ward 1991) and the Green River <br />(Pearson and Franklin 1968, Pearson et al. 1968), although the latter is significantly reset toward <br />predam potamon conditions by the Yampa River (Annear and Neuhold 1983). <br /> <br />Conclusions Based Upon Review of the Ecolo~cal Literature Pertainin~ to the Endan~ered Fishes <br />and the Re~ulation of Flow <br />1) The endangered fishes remain relatively rare in the Upper Colorado River Basin as a <br />consequence of stream regulation and possibly predation and other interactions with nonnative <br />fishes. Recruitment of adults has not been clearly demonstrated for any of the species, but age <br />structure of squawfish suggests adult recruitment is occuning (Le., larvae, YOY, juveniles and adults <br />are collected each year in the Upper Colorado River Basin, although all age classes often are not <br />obselVed in the same river segments). Clear evidence for adult recruitment is lacking for the other <br />species. In recent years gravid razorback sucker and humpback chub were collected during <br />spawning season at a few sites and a few YOY were collected. Bony tail chub appear to be <br />extirpated. <br />2) The distribution, relative abundance and some important physical habitat preferences of <br />squawfish, humpback chub and razorback sucker (in that order) are reasonably well known (Figure <br />6) and documented in peer-reviewed literature. However, only the squawfish life history is fairly <br />well understood. Important aspects of the life history and habitat preferences for humpback chub <br />and razorback sucker remain to be documented. Indeed, much of what is known about the life <br />history and population dynamics of humpback chub is based on unpublished studies in the Grand <br />Canyon, which mayor may not be relevant to the Upper Basin (e.g., no population in the Upper <br /> <br />41 <br />