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Relation of Cover Alterations to the Summer Standing Crop of Young Salmonids in Small Southeast Alaska Streams
Author(s) -
Bjornn T. C.,
Kirking S. C.,
Meehan W. R.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
transactions of the american fisheries society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.696
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 1548-8659
pISSN - 0002-8487
DOI - 10.1577/1548-8659(1991)120<0562:rocatt>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - riparian zone , streams , oncorhynchus , standing crop , abundance (ecology) , fishery , habitat , salvelinus , environmental science , ecology , fish <actinopterygii> , biology , trout , computer network , biomass (ecology) , computer science
Summer abundance of young coho salmon Oncorhynchus kisutch , steelhead O. mykiss , and Dolly Varden Salvelinus malma was assessed in small streams on Prince of Wales Island, Alaska, in an attempt to measure the response of these fish to various types of cover alterations. The standing crop of subyearlings decreased during summer, but none of the decrease could be attributed to the changes in cover we made. Subyearling coho salmon (about 75% of the fish present) did not respond either to the removal of natural riparian vegetation or to the addition of simulated riparian canopy, large boulders, woody debris, or simulated undercut banks. Localized movements within the streams were sufficient to provide relatively rapid recolonization of the experimental habitat units. The forms of cover we evaluated were relatively unimportant in regulating abundance of young coho salmon in small streams.