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Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects
Department
Mathematics
Additional Departmental Affiliation
Biology
Document Type
Thesis
Abstract
Abundance and biomass are commonly used for estimating stream fish assemblage and community structure, yet questions arise whether one measurement contains more information about an assemblage and how long sampling should be. Principal component loadings derived from fish biomass measurements taken from Buck Creek in Allen County Kentucky were statistically compared to corresponding measures of abundance to test for significant differences in the two data sets. A sliding window analysis based on abundance was used to determine the minimum number of years a stream should be sampled. Abundance and biomass were not found to be significantly different; correlations of the first three component loadings among data sets were highly significant. A six-year minimum for consecutive sampling years to estimate the total result of the eight-year study was found through subsampling of the abundance data, however, this number should not be thought of as a standard to use in all studies.
Advisor(s) or Committee Chair
Professor Doug McElroy
Disciplines
Physical Sciences and Mathematics
Recommended Citation
Vied, Sarah B., "Streaming Fish Sampling: Abundance versus Biomass Measurements and Determining a Minimum Number of years to Sample" (2009). Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects. Paper 273.
https://digitalcommons.wku.edu/stu_hon_theses/273