A HYPOTHESIS ABOUT FACTORS THAT AFFECT MAXIMUM SUMMER STREAM TEMPERATURES ACROSS MONTANE LANDCAPES

摘要

Temperature is an important variable structuring lotic biotas, but little is known about how montane landscapes function to determine stream temperatures. We developed an a priori hypothesis that was used to predict how watershed elements would interact to affect stream temperatures. The hypothesis was tested in a series of path analyses using temperature data from 26 sites on second-order to fourth-order streams across a fifth-order Rocky Mountain watershed.