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i <br />II <br />area during discharges over 325 m3/s. Wick (1997) hypothesized that reduction in peak <br />discharges since closure of Flaming Gorge Dam has resulted in sediment storage at lower <br />elevations in the channel and sediment transport occurring at a narrower range of lower <br />peak flow levels. Subsequent work using in-channel load sensors at the Green River <br />spawning site found deposition of about 20 cm of sediment occurred during the spawning <br />season (June 1999) at flows of about 500 m3/s at the Jensen, UT stream gage (Carpenter <br />et al. 2000). These studies support the hypothesis that during some years sediment <br />deposition on the spawning bar could adversely affect incubating eggs or pre-emergent <br />larvae. <br />Synthesis of larval and adult collection data (Modde 1996; Wick 1997) suggests <br />that a second reproductive bottleneck affecting recruitment of razorback sucker is limited <br />access to backwater and floodplain habitats. Based on length-frequency data, Modde et <br />al. (1996) found that the only recruitment observed since closure of Flaming Gorge Dam <br />has occurred following high flow years. Access to backwater and floodplain habitats <br />during high flows provides conditions needed for recruitment (Stanford 1994; Modde et <br />al. 2001) and may mediate predation by nonnative fishes on razorback sucker juveniles <br />(Modde 1996). High flows may directly reduce the density of nonnative cyprinids that <br />prey on young razorback sucker (Valdez 1990; Osmundson and Kaeding 1991) and also <br />facilitate faster growth by razorback sucker in food-rich backwaters which could reduce <br />vulnerability and increase survival (Modde et al. 1996; Modde et al. 2001). <br />Both of these potential bottlenecks are affected by the timing, frequency, <br />magnitude, and duration of annual and inter-annual flows. On an annual basis, migration <br />and spawning behavior are likely initiated by a series of cues related to the magnitude of