Water Resources Research Act Program

Details for Project ID 2012CO265B

Thermal preference of age-0 stonecats (Noturus flavus): Are thermal water quality standards protective for this species?

Institute: Colorado
Year Established: 2012 Start Date: 2012-03-01 End Date: 2013-02-28
Total Federal Funds: $4,858 Total Non-Federal Funds: $2,332

Principal Investigators: Christopher Myrick

Abstract: Stonecats are only found in restricted sections of two river drainages, the St. Vrain River near Longmont, CO and the Republican River near Wray, CO (Figure 1). They are found in riffle and pool sections of warmer rivers and are intolerant of water pollution derived from agriculture (Gammon and Gammon 1993; Duehr et al. 2006) and increased suspended solids (Bergstedt and Bergersen 1997). In the St. Vrain River, stonecats overlap with common shiner populations, which currently have special protection from thermal pollution through a Tier-1 Warm Water thermal standard (Regulations #31 and #38, WQCD). My study is aimed at determining whether this standard is also protective for stonecats.