PRECISION OF CHANNEL WIDTH AND POOL AREA MEASUREMENTS1

ABSTRACT: The precision of width and pool area measurements has rarely been considered in relation to downstream or at section hydraulic geometry, fisheries studies, long-term or along a continuum research studies, or agency monitoring techniques. We assessed this precision and related it to other stream morphologic characteristics. Confidence limits (95 percent) around mean estimates with four transects (cross-sections perpendicular to the channel center-line) ranged from ± 0.4 to 1.8 m on streams with a width of only 2.2 m. To avoid autocorrelation, transects should be spaced about three channel widths apart. To avoid stochastic inhomogeneity, reach length should be about 30 channel widths or ten transects to optimize sampling efficiency. Precision of width measurements decreased with decreased depth and increased with stream size. Both observations reflect variability caused by features such as boulders or coarse woody debris. Pool area precision increased with pool area reflecting increased precision for flat, wide streams with regular pool-rime sequences. The least precision occurred on small, steep streams with random, boulder or coarse woody debris formed pools.     

HIERARCHICAL DIVERSITY OF COMMUNITIES OF AQUATIC INSECTS AND FISHES1

ABSTRACT: Hierarchical diversity analysis of data on fish and aquatic insects showed that the component of diversity contributed by the species level was generally very small compared with the component at the generic level or with the total diversity. Very high rank correlations between generic diversity, in which genera were discriminated but not identified, and species diversity suggested that the purposes of environmental monitoring might best be served by working at the generic level rather than the species level. This is particularly true when an index of diversity is to be used as the major comparative and communicative tool. The savings of time and money could be appreciable.     

TEMPORAL AND GEOMORPHIC VARIATIONS OF STREAM STABILITY AND MORPHOLOGY: MAHOGANY CREEK,NEVADA1

ABSTRACT: Detailed studies of long-term management impacts on rangeland streams are few because of the cost of obtaining detailed data replicated in time. This study uses government agency aquatic habitat, stream morphologic, and ocular stability data to assess land management impacts over four years on three stream reaches of an important rangeland watershed in northwestern Nevada. Aquatic habitat improved as riparian vegetation reestablished itself with decreased and better controlled livestock grazing. However, sediment from livestock disturbances and road crossings and very low stream flows limited the rate of change. Stream type limited the change of pool variables and width/depth ratio, which are linked to gradient and entrenchment. Coarse woody debris removal due to previous management limited pool recovery. Various critical-element ocular stability estimates represented changes with time and differences among reaches very well. Ocular stability variables tracked the quantitative habitat and morphologic variables well enough to recommend that ocular surveys be used to monitor changes with time between more intensive aquatic surveys.     

FOURIER INFERENCE: SOME METHODS FOR THE ANALYSIS OF ARRAY AND NONGAUSSIAN SERIES DATA1

Fourier inference is a collection of analytic techniques and philosophic attitudes, for the analysis of data, wherein essential use is made of empirical Fourier transforms. This paper sets down some basic results concerning the finite Fourier transforms of stationary process data and then, to illustrate the approach, uses those results to develop procedures for: 1) estimating cloud and storm motion, 2) passive sonar and 3) fitting finite parameter models to nonGaussian time series via bispectral fitting. This last procedure is illustrated by an analysis of a stretch of Mississippi River runoff data. Examples 1), 2) refer to data having the form Y(x_j, y_j, t) for j = 1, …, J and t = 0, …, T-l say, and view that data as part of a realization of a spatial-temporal process. Such data has become common in geophysics generally and in hydrology particularly. The goal of this paper is to present some new statistical procedures pertinent to problems in the water sciences, equally it is to illustrate the genesis of those procedures and how their properties may be approximated.     

ANALYSIS AND MODELING OF LONG-TERM STREAM TEMPERATURES ON THE STEAMBOAT CREEK BASIN,OREGON: IMPLICATIONS FOR LAND USE AND FISH HABITAT1

ABSTRACT: Steamboat Creek basin is an important source of timber and provides crucial spawning and rearing habitat for anadromous steelhead trout (Oncorhynchus mykiss). Because stream temperatures are near the upper limit of tolerance for the survival of juvenile steelhead, the possible long-term effect of clear-cut logging on stream temperatures was assessed. Twenty-year (1969–1989) records of summer stream temperature and flow from four tributaries and two reaches of Steamboat Creek and Boulder Creek (a nearby unlogged watershed) were analyzed. Logging records for the Steamboat Creek basin and air temperature records also were used in the analysis. A time-series model of the components of stream temperature (seasonal cycle of solar radiation, air temperature, streamflow, an autoregressive term of order 1, and a linear trend variable) was fitted to the water-temperature data. The linear trend variable was significant in all the fitted models except Bend Creek (a tributary fed by cool ground-water discharge) and Boulder Creek. Because no trends in either climate (i.e., air temperature) or streamflow were found in the data, the trend variable was associated with the pre-1969 loss and subsequent regrowth of riparian vegetation and shading canopies.