Monitoring change in fish and macroinvertebrate communities following low dam modification and kayak chute installation in the Great Miami River in downtown Dayton, Ohio - a heavily urbanized river channel.

Monitoring change in fish and macroinvertebrate communities following low dam modification and kayak chute installation in the Great Miami River in downtown Dayton, Ohio - a heavily urbanized river channel.

Presenter(s)

John David Barnard, Samantha Jean Berkley, Maddi Elizabeth Conway, Audrey Allison Hayes, Emma Claire Hiltner, Madison Spooner Johnson, Suzanne L Lowes, Gretchen M Lozowski, Madeline Rebecca Norman, Emmett Justin Sheehan

Description

From 2015-2017, the Miami Conservancy District and Five Rivers Metroparks completed a project to modify a low dam upstream of Monument Avenue into a kayak chute for recreational use. Low dams have negative impacts on river habitat by decreasing water velocity in the deep water impoundment behind the dam, destroying normal riffle-pool habitats, increasing sedimentation, and interfering with fish dispersion - among other things. Healthy physical habitat consists of alternating pools and riffles where sediments of sand, gravel, and cobble are kept exposed by fast-flowing water. The altered conditions created by the dams are detrimental to populations of fish and macroinvertebrates whose communities are negatively impacted by the altered physical conditions. In this project, we compare the current, post-modification conditions to the pre-modification conditions in terms of both the physical habitat and communities of fish and macroinvertebrates. Fish were sampled using electroshocking techniques and macroinvertebrates were sampled with Hester-Dendy artificial substrates, kick-nets, and sweep-nets. Samples were returned to the laboratory, processed, sorted, and the number and types of organisms were recorded. Collection of specimens has occurred between the years of 2017 and 2018.

Publication Date

4-24-2019

Project Designation

Honors Thesis

Primary Advisor

Jeffrey L. Kavanaugh

Primary Advisor's Department

Biology

Keywords

Stander Symposium project

Monitoring change in fish and macroinvertebrate communities following low dam modification and kayak chute installation in the Great Miami River in downtown Dayton, Ohio - a heavily urbanized river channel.

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