| Abstract: | Samples were taken year-round at eleven sites along the altitudinal profile (2900-1400 m a.s.l.) of the Gunnison River, a 329 km tributary of the Colorado River, to document the distribution of the Plecoptera and to evaluate responses to hypolimnial-release dams in the headwaters and middle reaches. Twenty-two species were present, with the greatest species richness occurring in an unregulated segment upstream of the middle reach dams; average nymphal biomass over the study period (175 organisms, 395 mg dry mass m?2) was also greatest in this segment. Only four species (58 organisms, 48 mg m?2) were present in the tailwaters of the headwater dam and values were greatly reduced (nine species; 35 organisms, 180 mg m?2) below the middle reach dams. The stonefly community recovered ca. 80 km downstream from the last dam (15 species; 244 organisms, 250 mg m?2), apparently in response to natural resetting of environmental conditions corresponding to those above the middle reach dams. At the most downstream site (11) only four species (four organisms, 16 mg m?2) were present. The observed distributional pattern is a classic serial discontinuity in response to hypolimnial stream regulation in a temperate latitude river. |
