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Title: Algae Tile Data: 2004-2007, BPA-51; Preliminary Report, October 28, 2008.

Technical Report ·
DOI:https://doi.org/10.2172/962145· OSTI ID:962145

Multiple files containing 2004 through 2007 Tile Chlorophyll data for the Kootenai River sites designated as: KR1, KR2, KR3, KR4 (Downriver) and KR6, KR7, KR9, KR9.1, KR10, KR11, KR12, KR13, KR14 (Upriver) were received by SCS. For a complete description of the sites covered, please refer to http://ktoi.scsnetw.com. To maintain consistency with the previous SCS algae reports, all analyses were carried out separately for the Upriver and Downriver categories, as defined in the aforementioned paragraph. The Upriver designation, however, now includes three additional sites, KR11, KR12, and the nutrient addition site, KR9.1. Summary statistics and information on the four responses, chlorophyll a, chlorophyll a Accrual Rate, Total Chlorophyll, and Total Chlorophyll Accrual Rate are presented in Print Out 2. Computations were carried out separately for each river position (Upriver and Downriver) and year. For example, the Downriver position in 2004 showed an average Chlorophyll a level of 25.5 mg with a standard deviation of 21.4 and minimum and maximum values of 3.1 and 196 mg, respectively. The Upriver data in 2004 showed a lower overall average chlorophyll a level at 2.23 mg with a lower standard deviation (3.6) and minimum and maximum values of (0.13 and 28.7, respectively). A more comprehensive summary of each variable and position is given in Print Out 3. This lists the information above as well as other summary information such as the variance, standard error, various percentiles and extreme values. Using the 2004 Downriver Chlorophyll a as an example again, the variance of this data was 459.3 and the standard error of the mean was 1.55. The median value or 50th percentile was 21.3, meaning 50% of the data fell above and below this value. It should be noted that this value is somewhat different than the mean of 25.5. This is an indication that the frequency distribution of the data is not symmetrical (skewed). The skewness statistic, listed as part of the first section of each analysis, quantifies this. In a symmetric distribution, such as a Normal distribution, the skewness value would be 0. The tile chlorophyll data, however, shows larger values. Chlorophyll a, in the 2004 Downriver example, has a skewness statistic of 3.54, which is quite high. In the last section of the summary analysis, the stem and leaf plot graphically demonstrates the asymmetry, showing most of the data centered around 25 with a large value at 196. The final plot is referred to as a normal probability plot and graphically compares the data to a theoretical normal distribution. For chlorophyll a, the data (asterisks) deviate substantially from the theoretical normal distribution (diagonal reference line of pluses), indicating that the data is non-normal. Other response variables in both the Downriver and Upriver categories also indicated skewed distributions. Because the sample size and mean comparison procedures below require symmetrical, normally distributed data, each response in the data set was logarithmically transformed. The logarithmic transformation, in this case, can help mitigate skewness problems. The summary statistics for the four transformed responses (log-ChlorA, log-TotChlor, and log-accrual ) are given in Print Out 4. For the 2004 Downriver Chlorophyll a data, the logarithmic transformation reduced the skewness value to -0.36 and produced a more bell-shaped symmetric frequency distribution. Similar improvements are shown for the remaining variables and river categories. Hence, all subsequent analyses given below are based on logarithmic transformations of the original responses.

Research Organization:
Bonneville Power Administration (BPA), Portland, OR (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
39133
OSTI ID:
962145
Report Number(s):
P110277; R&D Project: 1994-049-00; TRN: US200916%%206
Resource Relation:
Related Information: document dated October 28, 2008
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English