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Communication at the NABS Annual meeting, Keystone, 2000
(19) RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN BENTHIC INVERTEBRATES AND ENVIRONMENTAL GRADIENTS IN COLORADO MOUNTAIN LAKES.
B. Moraska1, D.M Carlisle1, B. Johnson1, J. Baron2,3, K. Nydick2, and A. Ramey1. 1Department of Fishery and Wildlife Biology, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA 80523, 2Natural Resources Ecology Laboratory, Colorado State University, Fort Collins, CO, USA 80523, 3U.S. Geological Survey, Biological Research Division, Fort Collins, CO, USA 80523
Twenty-two mountain lakes in Rocky Mountain National Park and Indian Peaks Wilderness Area were surveyed during ice-free season, 1998. We collected water chemistry and benthic invertebrate samples from each lake to examine 1) the extensiveness of high nitrate concentrations in Front Range lakes, and 2) the relationship of benthic invertebrate assemblages to water chemistry and other environmental variables.
Results of our study indicate that lake nitrate concentrations vary within the study area, and that they are not correlated with any measured environmental variable. Unmeasured watershed characteristics and in-lake physical and biological factors are likely influential. Canonical correspondence analysis (CCA) does indicate that several measured environmental variables correlate strongly with presence/absence of certain benthic invertebrate taxa.
Presented at 1:30 PM on Monday, May 29, 2000 in Wetlands and Lentic Ecology I
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