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Changing water flow leads to more bugs in Grand Canyon

Flagstaff, Ariz. • Ted Kennedy sums up what he sees along the river in the Grand Canyon: “It’s buggy out there.”

That is to say, an experiment to change the flow of water from a dam near the Arizona-Utah state line appeared to boost the number of aquatic insects that fish in the Colorado River eat.

Scientists are hoping to better understand those results with a second bug flow experiment that started this month and will run through August. They found that releasing low, steady flows of water from Glen Canyon Dam over the weekend gives the eggs that bugs lay on rocks, wood or cattails just below the water’s surface a better chance of survival.