Stream Canopy and Its Relationship to Salmonid Biomass in the Intermountain West
- 1 September 1989
- journal article
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in North American Journal of Fisheries Management
- Vol. 9 (4) , 446-457
- https://doi.org/10.1577/1548-8675(1989)009<0446:scairt>2.3.co;2
Abstract
To assess prevailing stream canopy (riparian overstory) conditions on representative streams in the northern Rocky Mountains and the Great Basin of the western USA, we measured several riparian habitat components, including canopy density, light intensity, unobstructed sun arc, and average potential daily thermal input in grazed and ungrazed (rested) portions of each stream. We also determined to what extent, if any, these habitat components were correlated with salmonid biomass and whether either they or salmonid biomass differed significantly between geographic regions or between grazed or rested pastures. Unobstructed sun arc was significantly and positively correlated with thermal input (P < 0.01), and it was the best overall predictor of salmonid biomass per unit volume (r 2 = 0.58). Thermal input was a better predictor of salmonid biomass per unit volume in the Great Basin (r 2 = 0.92) than in the Rocky Mountains (r 2 = 0.50), where thermal regime may exert more influence on fish population...Keywords
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