Algal Data from Selected Sites in the Upper Colorado River Basin, Colorado, Water Years 1996-97

Algal community samples were collected at 15 sites in the Upper Colorado River Basin in Colorado as part of the National Water-Quality Assessment Program during water years 1996-97. Sites sampled were located in two physiographic provinces, the Southern Rocky Mountains and the Colorado Plateaus, and represented agricultural, mining, urban, and mixed land uses and background conditions. Algal samples were collected once per year during low-flow conditions. Quantitative algal samples were collected within two targeted instream habitat types including a taxonomically richest-targeted habitat and a depositional-targeted habitat. This report presents the algal community data collected at the fixed sites in the Upper Colorado River Basin study unit. Algal data include densities (abundance of cells per square centimeter of substrate) and biovolumes (cubic micrometers of cells per square centimeter of substrate) for the two habitat types. Quality-assurance and quality-control results for algal samples indicate that the largest sampling variability tends to occur in samples from small streams.