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Seasonal differences in pooled fish abundance (lowest in spring, intermediate in summer, <br />and relatively high in autumn) were what we expected. Spring abundance was lowest <br />presumably because of high overwinter mortality or few fish occupying relatively cold <br />backwaters, summer abundance increased because of successful reproduction, and autumn <br />abundance was perhaps highest because most fish were susceptible to the capture gear used. <br />Several abundant non-native species are very small at hatching and are difficult to capture in <br />summer because they are not susceptible to the mesh size of the seine, but grow sufficiently by <br />autumn so that capture efficiency is high. Highest fish abundance in 2003 seine samples was <br />likely due to presence of a few very large samples of sand shiner, red shiner, and reside shiner in <br />some reaches or seasons. <br />Highest species richness in seine samples in summer and autumn is likely due to <br />increased presence and abundance of age-0 life stages of rare species that survived to that point <br />in the year. Highest species richness in 2003 was due to presence of a few rare species that were <br />absent in other years and to the large number of fish captured, which increased our chances of <br />detecting rare species. <br />Reach and seasonal abundance patterns of each fish species depended, in large part, upon <br />individual thermal tolerances and timing of spawning, and differed among native and non-native <br />fishes. Relatively high abundance of most native taxa in summer (bluehead sucker, <br />flannelmouth sucker, and speckled dace) was likely because most were late-spring or early- <br />summer spawning species. Thus, age-0 fish were not present during spring seine sampling, but <br />were relatively abundant and large enough in summer to be captured in seines. Mortality <br />resulted in lower autumn abundance. Additional reasons for lower autumn abundance could be <br />that fish in some taxa grew sufficiently to move from backwaters to main channel habitat or were <br />fast enough to avoid capture by seines. Overwinter mortality and habitat shifts likely resulted in <br />additional reductions in native fish abundance in the subsequent spring. <br />Seasonal abundance patterns were similar in the Green River in the mostly regulated <br />reach upstream of the Yampa River and in the partially regulated reach downstream of the <br />Yampa River. Highest abundance of native taxa in Lodore and Whirlpool canyons is likely a <br />43