Small Floodplain Pools as Habitat for Fishes and Amphibians: Methods for Evaluation

Small floodplain pools (less than 2 m deep, less than 500 sq m) are inhabited by some of the least common fishes in large river systems: species adapted morphologically and physiologically to shallow, periodically hypoxic water with wide variation in temperature (Baker, Killgore, and Kasul 1991; Hoover and Killgore 1998). They are also inhabited by larval salamanders and frogs unable to exploit large, permanent lakes and streams: species adapted reproductively and developmentally to seasonal pulses of riparian-derived food organisms and water volume (Petranka 1998, McDiarmid and Altig 1999). Many of these species are locally or globally imperiled (LaClaire 1997, Warren et al. 2000). Other species provide recreational and commercial fisheries (Buffler and Dickson 1990, Lund 1995) and efficiently produced, high-quality prey for aquatic, semi-aquatic, and terrestrial predators (e.g., Burton and Likens 1975, Hoover and Killgore 1998).