Reconnaissance of benthic invertebrates from tributary streams of the Yampa and North Platte River basins, northwestern Colorado

Benthic invertebrates were collected from Trout Creek, Fish Creek, and the Williams Fork (tributaries of the Yampa River in Routt and Moffat Counties), and from the Canadian River, Little Grizzly and Grizzly Creeks (tributaries of the North Platte River in Jackson County).The purpose of the study was to describe and quantify the benthic invertebrate communities in selected streams in coal mining areas.Field water-quality measurements, including water temperature, specific conductance, pH, dissolved oxygen, and bed material size, also were made to aid in assessing the relationship of stream water-quality conditions to benthic invertebrate communities.Most of the variation in benthic invertebrate densities and taxa among the stream sites was associated with sampling date differences.There were also some strong correlations of mean densities with measured water-quality constituents and properties.