LTER Database of Kiso River Watershed Research Site

1) Outline of database

The long-term research is conducted to monitor physico-chemical environments, epilithic algal biomass and flora, and benthic macroinvertebrate and fish faunas at riffle and pool habitats in Kuro River and at a riffle-pool continuum in Akashio Stream every other year. We are also collecting macroinvertebrates from these three habitats as archive specimens.

2) Precipitation

Precipitation is monitored by a meteorological station (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Japan) at Okanotaira (Shinkai, Kisofukushima, Nagano: N35º56’05”, E137º40’16”) which is located in the upper stream of Kuro River. The monitoring was conducted with the use of a telemeter since 1977 and real-time and every hour data are available in and after 2002 through a hydrological database “Water Information System” (Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Japan). Please see the following web site (http://www1.river.go.jp/ ) for details.

3) Physico-chemical environments

The following physico-chemical environments are measured on site of three habitats in Kuro River and Akashio Stream where benthic macroinvertebrates are collected.

Discharge (m³/s): Setting a transect line perpendicular to the flow, measuring river depth and current velocity at each sub-section and calculating the discharge from the velocity and cross-sectional area for all of sections. It is measured only for the riffle of Kuro River.

Current velocity (m/s): Measuring it on site of macroinvertebrate sampling with a Hiroi-electric current meter (RIGO Co.,Ltd, Tokyo).

pH: Measuring it with a multi-profiler (U-20, HORIBA, Kyoto).

Electric conductivity (mS/m): Measuring it with a multi-profiler (U-20, HORIBA, Kyoto).

Dissolved oxygen (O₂mg/L): Measuring it with a multi-profiler (U-20, HORIBA, Kyoto) or a LDO probe (HQ30d, HACH, Colorado).

Water temperature (ºC): Measuring it with a multi-profiler (U-20, HORIBA, Kyoto)

Photon flux density (μmol/s/m²): Measuring it above the water surface of macroinvertebrate sampling sites, using a quantameter (LI-250, LI-COR, Nebraska).

* Data are shown as the average of repeated measurements. ND represents less than detection limit and (-) missing data.

4) Epilithic algal biomass and dominant taxa

Epilithic algal biomass: : After scraping epilithic algae from cobbles collected near the macroinvertebrate sampling sites, measuring chlorophyll a as an indicator for algal biomass with a spectrophotometer (U-100, Hitachi, Tokyo), according to Unesco and Lorenzen methods.

Dominant algal taxa: Making microscopic observations for the above epilithic samples and ranking the dominant three algal genera. It will be irregularly monitored.

5) Benthic macroinvertebrate fauna

Community composition: Collecting benthic macroinvertebrates at the riffle and pool habitat in Kuro River and at a riffle-pool continuum in Akashio Stream, with a Surber sampler, and then identifying their taxa to the family level under a binocular microscope. Data are shown as the average population density (individuals/m²) for each taxon. In and before 2008, data is qualitative (+:presence, empty cell: absence) for the lack of information on sampling methods. Also note that the data are not simply comparable to those in and after 2010 because sampling efforts may be different between these two periods.

Archive specimens: Macroinvertebrates collected quantitatively by a Surber sampler are preserved as voucher specimens in Center for Ecological Research. These archive specimens can be used with the permission both by Specimen Committee and Joint-Use Committee.

6) Fish fauna

Around the monitoring site in Kuro River, census of individual fish is conducted by eye with the aid of snorkeling. For each species, its population density is classified into four levels (+++: very common, ++: common, +: less common, empty cell: absence)

7) Participants

Name and affiliation are listed for all of participants in this long-term monitoring.

The following data are available.

Year	Physico-chemical environments	Macroinvertebrate fauna	Archive specimen	Fish fauna	Participants
2008	×	○	×	×	×
2010	○	○	○	○	○
2012	○	○	○	○	○
2014	○	○	○	○	○