The shape and configuration of branched networks influence ecological patterns and processes. Recent investigations of network influences in riverine ecology stress the need to quantify spatial structure not only in a two-dimensional plane, but also in networks. An initial step in understanding data from stream networks is discerning non-random patterns along the network. On the other hand, data collected in the network may be spatially autocorrelated and thus not suitable for traditional statistical analyses. Here we provide a method that uses commercially available software to construct an empirical variogram to describe spatial pattern in the relative abundance of coastal cutthroat trout in headwater stream networks. We describe the mathematical and practical considerations involved in calculating a variogram using a non-Euclidean distance metric to incorporate the network pathway structure in the analysis of spatial variability, and use a non-parametric technique to ascertain if the pattern in the empirical variogram is non-random.

To examine seasonal and spatial factors affecting prey consumption by Oncorhynchus trout, we examined trout diet from mainstem and tributary sites at Hinkle Creek, Oregon.

This study measured the impacts of two harvest entries on the monthly streamflow and other measures of the streams below and adjacent to harvest.  Statistically significant increases in sediment yield, as suspended sediment, were detected as a consequence of timber harvest in the South Fork Hinkle Creek. These increases were detected at the small, headwater watershed scale as well as the large watershed scale. Unlike the increases in water yield, these increases were not consistent with the literature. The results of the seminal paired watershed studies showed very large increases in sediment yield, often as much as two or three times greater than sediment yields before timber harvest. The results from contemporary forest practices are much more muted and the increases are in the range of 20 to 30 percent increases in sediment yield. The increases are in order with and correlate well with the increases in water yield. That the increases in sediment yield are a result of increased stream power due to increases in water yield is a reasonable hypothesis to put forward to explain these observations. The greatest improvement in forest practices over the past several decades were directed toward reducing the impacts of timber harvest on sediment yield. These improvements include; clearcut size limits and adjacency constraints, improved yarding systems (in this case slackline, skyline cable systems), the prescription of buffer strips, and changes in site preparation practices.

The Hinkle Creek Paired Watershed Study was initiated to carry out two overarching goals: to investigate the environmental impact of contemporary forest practices on non-fish-bearing streams and downstream in tributary and main stem fish-bearing streams. This presentation serves as a summary of some of the results for the studies in Hinkle Creek.  Statistically significant increases in water yield, summer low flows, peak flows, and storm flows were detected as a consequence of timber harvest and the subsequent silvicultural activities. Statistically significant increases in sediment yield were also detected. The increases in sediment yield were not consistent with the literature; however they were highly correlated with the observed increases in water yield. Statistically significant increases and decreases were detected in maximum and minimum daily stream temperatures in the non-fish-bearing tributaries, fish-bearing tributaries, and the main stem as a consequence of the two harvest entries. Statistically significant increases in nitrogen were detected as a consequence of the timber harvest and the subsequent silvicultural activities. Nitrogen was the only nutrient that responded to the silvicultural activities. In Hinkle Creek the pacific giant salamander was the only amphibian that was abundant enough to study. In the two years after the first harvest entry, the data did not support the hypothesis that there was any change in the abundance of salamanders.