17856

2003 017 00 INTEGRATED STATUS & EFFECTIVENESS MONITORING

5/1/2004

9/30/2005

156. Develop RM&E Methods and Designs

Work Element Usage Report

C: 156 - Development of methods for monitoring low order drainages

Develop and test methods for monitoring subcatchment and stream condition of low-order drainages.


The productivity of a stream is a reflection of the health and condition of the watershed it drains. By measuring detritus and invertebrate transport from headwaters (surrogates of headwater production) at a point along the length of a stream, we can assess the level of productivity, and therefore health and condition of a headwater subcatchment upstream of the sampling site. We intend to test methods in the Wenatchee River Basin for monitoring headwater subcatchment condition that were developed by Wipfli and Gregovich (2002) for southeastern Alaska streams. Data suggest this technique holds promise as a surrogate of headwater subcatchment productivity, can serve as a tool for assessing the cumulative impacts of multiple stressors in subcatchments, and can be used as an indicator of watershed condition and health.

Phase 1 - Sample Collection:
Selected sites will be sampled during FY 05 and FY 06. Sampling of biotic and abiotic response variables (i.e., detritus, biofilm, invertebrates, fishes) will be completed approximately every other month (6X per year), with all sites visited, beginning in April or May (depending on snowmelt) and continue through September. Additional sampling will include stream and riparian habitat characterization, riparian cover species and crown cover, photosynthetically active radiation (PAR), which are all independent variables that will be used in multiple regression analyses against dependent variables - which include water chemistry (conductivity, pH, nitrate, ammonium, soluble reactive phosphorus, and total phosphorus), water temperature, and the export of invertebrates (biomass, species assemblage, functional feeding group) and organic matter. We will also measure fish responses (density, standing stock - which are also dependent variables) in the lower reaches that are fed by these headwater streams. In addition, we will select a subset of 20 sites (five from each of the four subcatchment types) for year-round sampling. These 20 sites will be chosen based on their winter accessibility, and sampled during winter to measure material transport (nutrients, organics, invertebrates) from headwaters during what has been typically assumed to be times of low productivity. Evidence from small subcatchments along coastal Alaska suggest otherwise (Wipfli and Gregovich 2002).

Sampling Methods

Small headwater subcatchments (drainage area measured by landscape analysis using GIS) will be selected in the upper Wenatchee Basin of the Columbia River Basin that consist of a fishless headwater stream that drains into streams that bear fish throughout all seasons. During some seasons, the only species present may be resident non-salmonids such as sculpins, but seasonal differences in headwater productivity might be linked to fish performance in these streams and the response of all fishes present will be considered. We expect to observe substantial variation in discharge among the headwaters. Discharge might affect the total input of invertebrates into fish-bearing systems and our statistical analyses will consider such variation. A brief description of methods includes:

(1) positioning sampling stations near and upstream of the junctures between fishless and fish-bearing streams
(2) sampling with modified drift nets (Wipfli and Gregovich 2002) the biological production (invertebrates and particulate organic matter) produced in these fishless subcatchments that is delivered to fish habitats
(3) measuring fish density, biomass, growth, at or as near as possible, to these fish-no fish junctions to evaluate the ecological connectedness between fishless headwaters and downstream fish performance.
(4) assessing the effects of headwaters subcatchment condition on macroinvertebrate and downstream fish populations.

Sampling in Study Streams

Study streams will be small and high gradient. Where possible, the length of stream between its origin and the sampling site will generally be less than a few kilometers. Streams selected will contain surface flow during all sampling bouts, but flow may be negligible for some streams during dry periods. Their high gradient and lack of fish habitat will likely be the factors preventing fish from colonizing reaches upstream of our sampling sites, although fish will be present downstream of study reaches. Sampling sites (points along the stream) will be selected that contain no fish, but upstream of systems with fish, to assess the actual contribution of material from fishless headwaters to fish-bearing habitats. We will confirm that our study streams lack fish by electrofishing, minnow-trapping and dip-netting reaches that plausibly could contain fish (i.e, that lack major barriers to movement such as high gradients or waterfalls).

Nutrient transport will be measured by taking two 1-L grab samples at each site in spring and fall beginning in April for three years for comparison with corresponding samples of the biota. Samples will immediately be placed on ice in the field and brought to the laboratory and refrigerated overnight before being express mailed to an aquatic chemistry testing facility (to be determined). Water will be tested for total phosphorus, soluble reactive phosphorus, total nitrogen, nitrate nitrogen, and ammonium nitrogen, nutrient forms that commonly limit freshwater productivity in the Pacific Northwest (Perrin et al. 1987, Johnston et al. 1997, Ashley and Slaney 1997).

Invertebrates (aquatic and terrestrial) and detritus (i.e., particulate organic matter =250-µm) will be collected with a 250-µm net attached to one end of a 75-cm long, 10-cm diameter plastic pipe frame, which will rest on the stream bottom. One frame per stream with attached net will be secured with sandbags in the middle of each stream. Because the sampler will be placed on the stream bottom, seston will be captured (suspended particulate organic matter) as well as bedload particulate organic matter, which will be collectively labeled detritus, and macroinvertebrates in the drift as well as those moving downstream along the streambed. Facilitated by high stream gradient, the downstream end of each horizontal pipe will rest above the stream surface; discharge through the sampler will be determined by recording the time taken to fill a container of known volume. Discharge will be measured during each sampling period, a mean calculated, and this value used to determine the density of invertebrates (individuals m-3) and detritus (= 250-µm diameter, g m-3). Most of the streams are expected to be sufficiently small to allow for the entire streamflow to pass through the pipes. If not, the percentage relative to the total streamflow will be estimated. This fraction will be used to extrapolate the transport measured through the net for the whole stream. Replicates will be streams within each land-use and ecoregion (n = 15). Streams will be sampled continuously for invertebrates and detritus over a 48-h period once every two months annually for all sites. In addition, we will deploy drift nets in fish-bearing reaches to estimate productivity and macroinvertebrate community similarity where fish are foraging.

Invertebrates will be sorted from detritus after being placed in 70% EtOH in the field. They will be identified to the lowest reliable taxon, their body lengths measured, and dry mass determined using taxon-specific length-mass regression equations (Rogers et al. 1977; Smock 1980; Meyer 1989; Sample et al. 1993; Burgherr and Meyer 1997). Invertebrates will be categorized as either aquatic or terrestrial if they were a product of aquatic or terrestrial secondary production, respectively (Wipfli 1997). The remainder of the sample (detrital component) will be oven-dried, weighed, ashed (at 500º C for 5 h), and reweighed to determine ash-free dry mass (AFDM).

Additionally, we will measure several other physical and biological variables in the streams to link the productivity measures with causal factors in the subcatchments, including PAR, periphyton development on rock surfaces, and stream temperature, pH, and conductivity at all sites.

All subcatchments will be characterized by land use and ecoregion by the PNW research station and UAF working jointly. In addition, riparian vegetation (overstory and understory) type, percent canopy cover, PAR, and physical attributes of streams (gradient, aspect, in-stream habitat, etc.) will be quantified during site visits for each site. Sampling (export of nutrients, organic matter, and macroinvertebrates; and downstream fish densities and biomass) will begin in Oct 2004. We anticipate based on prior experience with this sampling method that two, 2-person crews can each characterize two sites per day, taking a total of 15 days for all 60 sites. Site characterizations will take place throughout the year in FY 05. Sites will be characterized once unless a major disturbance event (flood, fire) dramatically changes the stream or riparian zone at any given site, in which another characterization will be completed for every disturbed site.

At 60 selected sites record: (a) riparian vegetation cover throughout a 250-m study reach of each stream, and (b) stream physical and chemical data as described above.

For all 60 sites collect: biofilm and invertebrate samples; organic matter samples

1) A taxonomic list of aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates identified for each site will be generated, 2) biomass of invertebrates and organic matter transported from headwater subcatchments calculated.

$49,294

35.47%

09/07/2005

Concluded

[Unassigned]

[Unassigned]

Finite