Honors Theses

Advisor

Dr. Jeffrey Kavanaugh

Department

Biology

Publication Date

4-1-2019

Document Type

Honors Thesis

Abstract

Over two years, from 2015-2017, the Miami Conservancy District and Five Rivers Metroparks completed a project to modify the low dam above Monument Avenue into a kayak chute and constructed a second, entirely new kayak chute about one-half mile upstream near Riverscape Metropark in downtown Dayton, Ohio. Low dams have a negative impact on river habitat by decreasing water velocity in the impoundment behind the dam. Physical habitat, which should consist of alternating pools and riffles, is disturbed and replaced by deeper, slower-moving water that accumulates deposits of sediment on the river bottom degrading its value as habitat. The conditions created by the dams are detrimental to populations of fish and macroinvertebrates which prefer fast moving riffles, and substrates such as gravel and cobble that are free of fine sediment deposits. In this project, we compared the current, post-modification conditions to the pre-modification conditions to assess changes to the physical habitat and communities of fish and macroinvertebrates. Pre-modification data collected by a previous thesis student, Sarah Stalder, will be used as the baseline for comparisons. 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 samples for the current study took place during the years of 2017 and 2018.

Permission Statement

This item is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code) and may only be used for noncommercial, educational, and scholarly purposes

Keywords

Undergraduate research

Disciplines

Biology

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