Date of Award:

5-1958

Document Type:

Dissertation

Degree Name:

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

Department:

Watershed Sciences

Department name when degree awarded

Fishery Ecology

Committee

William F. Sigler

Abstract

Investigation of primary production in streams and rivers has lagged behind similar investigations in marine and lacustrine environments. Recently, however, Odum (1956) has demonstrated methods that allow the estimation of productivity of most moving waters. For reasons discussed later in this paper, Odum's method is not satisfactory for shallow, very rapid rivers as typified by Logan River. The present investigation then was primarily an exploration of a method possibly applicable to measurement of productivity in shallow rapid rivers.

Investigation of phases of the ecology and distribution of the main contributors to primary production, the benthic algae, was a necessary corollary to intelligent measurement of primary production in Logan River. A recent review of the knowledge of ecology of river algae (Blum, 1956) summarizes this topic.

Most quantitative investigations of river algae have been directly or indirectly concerned with indices of pollution rather than productivity (Jones, 1951) (Reese, 1937) (Patrick, 1949) (Butcher, 1932, 1940, 1945, and 1947). The growth of algae on slides has been a frequently used method of quantitative study, but it is difficult to relate values attained in this fashion to total productivity or standing crop. Statements concerning algal succession and seasonal variation based on counts of algae growing on glass slides in very rapid water appear questionable.

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