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Use of Seepage Meters to Measure Groundwater Flow at Brook Trout Redds
Author(s) -
Blanchfield Paul J.,
Ridgway Mark S.
Publication year - 1996
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(1996)125<0813:uosmtm>2.3.co;2
Subject(s) - trout , hydrology (agriculture) , fontinalis , salvelinus , groundwater , environmental science , groundwater flow , streams , aquifer , geology , fishery , fish <actinopterygii> , geotechnical engineering , biology , computer network , computer science
Anomalous influxes of water into unfilled collection bags can greatly overestimate volume and flow rate data from seepage meters. From static tank trials, initially empty collection bags (4,500 mL capacity) attached to seepage meters gained significantly more water relative to bags prefilled to 1,000 mL. Data from a study of groundwater flow at redds of brook trout Salvelinus fontinalis in Scott Lake, Ontario, indicate that the use of unfilled bags biases seepage meter data. At these redds, the anomalous influx of water into unfilled bags was significant (intercept of regression equation, y = 275 mL); however, this influx was sufficiently reduced when prefilled bags were used (v = 34 mL). Our data suggest that even at high flow rates (22–169 mL·m −2 ·min −1 ), seepage measures can be inflated by an order of magnitude when initially empty bags are used. Because of this anomaly, previous measures of groundwater flow at brook trout redds with unfilled bags are probably not representative of natural flow rates. Our estimates of groundwater flow at brook trout redds in Scott Lake (6–296 mL·m −2 ·min −1 ) are very similar to the range in groundwater flow found in lake and stream redds (4–340 mL·m −2 ·min −1 ) by other methods. We suggest the use of prefilled collection bags (filled to 1,000 mL) and conformity in measurement units (mL·m −2 ·min −1 ) when groundwater flow is measured with seepage meters.