COVICH, A. P., T. A. CROWL, AND F. N. SCATENA. 2000. Linking
habitat stability to floods and droughts: effects on
shrimp in montane streams, Puerto Rico. Verhandlungen
der Internationalen Vereinigung fu¨ r theorestische und
angewandte Limnologie 27:2430–2434.
Abstract:
Most previous studies on Caribbean flood and
drought frequency have examined hydrological (e.g.
MORRIS & VAZQUEZ 1990, GARCIA et al. 1996) rather
than ecological effects (COVICH et al. 1998). We analyzed
temporal and spatial distributions of rainfall,
stream flow, and mean maximum pool depth over an
8-year period (1990–1997) to evaluate effects of
variable flows. We examined the response of a biotic
variable (the coefficient of variation in shrimp densities)
to changes in water depth (coefficient of variation
of maximum pool depth) along an elevational
gradient.