HYDRAULIC GEOMETRY AND LONGITUDINAL PATTERNS OF HABITAT QUANTITY AND QUALITY FOR RAINBOW TROUT (Oncorhynchus mykiss)
ABSTRACTWe developed predictions of habitat quantity and quality for three life stages of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, across a range of stream sizes characterized by mean annual discharge of 1 to 50 m3 s−1. The physical habitat template was created by nesting a reach‐scale two‐dimensional hy...
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Published in | River research and applications Vol. 30; no. 5; pp. 593 - 601 |
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Main Authors | , , |
Format | Journal Article |
Language | English |
Published |
Bognor Regis
Blackwell Publishing Ltd
01.06.2014
Wiley Subscription Services, Inc |
Subjects | |
Online Access | Get full text |
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Summary: | ABSTRACTWe developed predictions of habitat quantity and quality for three life stages of rainbow trout, Oncorhynchus mykiss, across a range of stream sizes characterized by mean annual discharge of 1 to 50 m3 s−1. The physical habitat template was created by nesting a reach‐scale two‐dimensional hydrodynamic model (River2D) within a downstream hydraulic geometry system using published coefficients for low‐gradient and high‐gradient watersheds. This provided both longitudinal and transverse estimates of depth and velocity profiles that, when combined with habitat suitability curves for the life stages, resulted in predictions of habitat quantity (weighted usable area) and habitat quality (the proportion of the stream profile that provided useable habitat) for rainbow trout along the stream continuum. Habitat quantity increased asymptotically for all life history stages but increased more rapidly in the low‐gradient watershed. Habitat quality decreased non‐linearly for young‐of‐the‐year and peaked at intermediate stream sizes for juveniles in both low‐gradient and high‐gradient watersheds. Adult habitat quality peaked in the high‐gradient watershed but increased asymptotically in the low‐gradient watershed, presumably due to lower mean velocities at larger stream sizes. Incorporation of transverse variation in depth and velocity in our physical habitat template provides a more realistic representation of habitat quantity and quality than do earlier assessments based on simple modal estimates of depth and velocity. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. |
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Bibliography: | ArticleID:RRA2666 istex:A5426C30F1712915050E695D7B1B2DF3E0468D9D ark:/67375/WNG-RBB4THDW-8 ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 |
ISSN: | 1535-1459 1535-1467 |
DOI: | 10.1002/rra.2666 |