Responses of Epilithic Algae to Regulation of Rocky Mountain Streams

Dufford, Richard; Zimmermann, Helmut; Cline, L. D.; Ward, J. V.

doi:10.1007/978-1-4684-5392-8_27

Cited by 26 publications

(16 citation statements)

References 8 publications

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“…Biggs and Close, 1989;Duncan and Blinn, 1989;Stevenson et al, 1996), and periods of constant flow, which can occur below dams, can lead to high levels of biomass (e.g. Lowe, 1979;Petts, 1984;Dufford et al, 1987;Biggs, 2000). Biggs and Close (1989) and Biggs (2000) suggested that the hydrologic regime is as important as nutrients in determining levels of periphyton.…”

Section: Periphytonmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…Dams can cause major deviations from the natural flow regime of downstream reaches (Poff et al, 1997), and can alter discharge volume, water temperature and sediment deposition (Vinson, 2001). Furthermore, stabilization of flow in regulated rivers can induce higher algal production (Lowe, 1979;Williams and Winget, 1979;Petts, 1984;Dufford et al, 1987), and in turn can alter the invertebrate community composition with certain taxa such as chironomids and oligochaetes becoming numerically dominant (Munn and Brusven, 1991). Flow also determines habitat structure including substrate composition which can also alter biotic composition.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

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Invertebrate drift patterns in a regulated river: dams, periphyton biomass or longitudinal patterns?

Tonkin¹,

Death²,

Joy³

2009

River Research & Apps

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Macroinvertebrate drift was sampled at 15 sites along the Tongariro River, New Zealand above and below two hydroelectric dams. Sixty-seven invertebrate taxa were collected in the drift. Trichoptera (31) were the most diverse, followed by Diptera (13), Ephemeroptera (8) and Plecoptera (8). However, chironomidae were the numerically dominant taxa in the drift throughout the river and represented over 80% of all animals collected. Of these, Orthocladiinae and Diamesinae were the most abundant. Taxonomic richness declined with distance downstream and peaked at sites with intermediate levels of periphyton biomass. The per cent of Ephemeroptera, Plecoptera and Trichoptera (EPT) was 3-4 times higher in the unregulated section of the river and declined exponentially with both distance downstream and increase in periphyton biomass, but densities were similar along the river. Of the measured environmental variables periphyton biomass was most closely linked with drift community structure. Periphyton biomass was six times higher in the lower section of the river than the upper unregulated section. The autocorrelation between periphyton biomass and distance downstream complicates the interpretation of results. However, because of the distinct differences between above and below dam sections of river in periphyton biomass and the strong link between it and invertebrate drift we suggest that the alteration of flow patterns by the hydroelectric dams and the associated shift in periphyton biomass is the most likely explanation for invertebrate drift patterns in the river.

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Section: Periphytonmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Invertebrate drift patterns in a regulated river: dams, periphyton biomass or longitudinal patterns?

Tonkin¹,

Death²,

Joy³

2009

River Research & Apps

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…The effects of river or flow regulation have been documented for a variety of biota including algae, invertebrates, fish and riparian vegetation (Ward and Stanford, 1979;Peterson, 1986;Dufford et al, 1987;Petts et al, 1993). Ward and Stanford (1979) suggested that there are four ways in which flow modification in a regulated river is likely to cause ecological effects.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Ecological effects of flow regulation on macroinvertebrate and periphytic diatom assemblages in the Hawkesbury–Nepean River, Australia

Growns

2001

Regul. Rivers: Res. Mgmt.

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The effects of flow regulation on macroinvertebrates and periphytic diatoms were examined in the HawkesburyNepean River system in Australia. Regulated sites below eight dams or weirs were compared with unregulated sites above the impoundments and sites on two nearby unregulated streams. The management of the water supply during the study created two types of flow regulation, sites with water supply releases and sites with comparatively small or no releases. The macroinvertebrate communities in three habitats and periphytic diatoms below the storages and weirs differed from the biota at unregulated sites above the weirs and on unregulated systems. The number of macroinvertebrate taxa in riffle and pool-rock assemblages was significantly lower at regulated sites when compared with unregulated sites and the number of stream edge macroinvertebrate and diatom taxa was unaffected by regulation. Riffle and pool-rock macroinvertebrate assemblages differed between the two types of regulation. However, periphytic diatom and edge habitat macroinvertebrate assemblages did not differ between the two types of flow regulation. Examination of environmental variables associated with the change in the biota suggested that the principal effect of the management of the water supply system in the Hawkesbury-Nepean River was changed hydrology rather than altered water quality.

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“…A dominance of Chrysophyceae with the presence of Cyanophytae in summer is observed in sector A (low stable flow) whereas in sector B (variable flow) the algal community is on average dominated by diatoms with the presence of Chlorophytae in summer. The abundance of Chrysophyceae (particularly Dinobryon) in sector A indicates good water quality (Angeli, 1980) and is indicative of important contamination of the river flora by upstream reservoir phytoplankton (Décamps et al, 1979;Dufford et al, 1987;Wehr and Descy, 1998). Although typical lake algae (Dinobryon) are present in the canal (sector B) river phytoplankton predominate (Barbe, 1986;Descy, 1993;Noppe et al, 1999).…”

Section: Algae Datamentioning

confidence: 96%

Effects of hydrological regime on the drift algae in a regulated Mediterranean river (River Verdon, southeastern France)

Bertrand

Siauve

Fayolle

et al. 2001

Regul. Rivers: Res. Mgmt.

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The lower part of the River Verdon is profusely regulated by hydroelectric impoundments and the exploitation of canals by the water supply company. This study is an attempt at determining the effects of mean daily flow on the suspended algae in this river. The sampling sectors were localized downstream to the last hydroelectric dam. Two patterns of hydrological regime were analyzed in this hydrosystem: the river manifests a stable and low residual flow and the canal is characterized by a stronger and annually variable flow.In the canal, the algal community has a lower species richness, cell density and diversity than in the river. The abundance of drift algae decreases significantly with the flow. The composition of the algal community also varies in accordance with the flow. The response of drift algae to hydrological regime shows strong seasonal variations; the hydrological disturbance was heavily linked to the freshwater needs.

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Responses of Epilithic Algae to Regulation of Rocky Mountain Streams

Cited by 26 publications

References 8 publications

Invertebrate drift patterns in a regulated river: dams, periphyton biomass or longitudinal patterns?

Invertebrate drift patterns in a regulated river: dams, periphyton biomass or longitudinal patterns?

Ecological effects of flow regulation on macroinvertebrate and periphytic diatom assemblages in the Hawkesbury–Nepean River, Australia

Effects of hydrological regime on the drift algae in a regulated Mediterranean river (River Verdon, southeastern France)

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