Angelo Coast Range Reserve

01 Sep, 03 AM - 30 Sep, 10 AM

Applied environmental problem solving is increasingly demanding specific predictions for informed decision making. A key limitation within ecology to making such predictions lies in resolving the discontinuity between the scales at which most ecological processes are studied and the broad spatial and temporal scales relevant to natural resource conservation and management. Emerging remote sensing and digital technologies have made measuring a variety of ecosystem features and processes possible with an unprecedented degree of spatial and temporal resolution. These rich, often spatially-explicit data (high resolution LIDAR mapping & remote acoustic tracking) provide an opportunity to bridge this gap by connecting large-scale patterns and processes to our understanding of ecological mechanisms tested and observed at smaller scales. Despite the growing appreciation for these remote sensing and land-cover data, ecologists and natural resource managers have yet to fully embrace their potential. The rigorous quantitative integration and synthesis of these large datasets falls directly within the context of biological informatics as it will require an interdisciplinary approach to meld diverse data from ecology, biogeochemistry, geomorphology, and hydrology. While much effort within biological informatics is currently spent characterizing the genetic diversity within and among species, little attention is paid to capturing and predicting the diversity of ecological interactions despite their central role in most ecosystem processes and services. Here I propose to link regional patterns of land-use (timber harvest and development) and changing climate (precipitation) to watershed scale food web structure for a well-studied system in coastal Northern California. The South Fork of the Eel River (SFER) basin, California, is among the first watersheds to be digitally mapped with 1 meter resolution LIDAR land-form scanning technologies, and more importantly has also been the site of intense ground-based field studies of geomorphology and ecology for nearly 20 years. I will capitalize on the existing data and expertise of diverse faculty working at the SFER to forecast the effects of changing land-use and climate on sediment transport dynamics and explicitly extend these scenarios to predict the consequences for river food webs. Fine sediment deposition within streams and rivers has been identified as a key factor for predicting system productivity and linked to the population dynamics of many commercially or recreationally important fish and amphibian species. For the SFER in particular, where sediment delivery has increased 2-3 orders of magnitude since industrialization, previous investigations have demonstrated that reduced fish growth rates in the presence of high levels of embedded fine sediment are mediated by the differential susceptibility of benthic algal and invertebrate taxa within the food web to sediment load and deposition, and have highlighted the potential for complex interactions between sediment delivery and food web structure. I will combine the large existing datasets gathered for the SFER on physical (LIDAR), climatological (precipitation), and hydrological (flood frequency and sediment load) features of the watershed to explore the consequences of altered sediment transport for downstream communities. More specifically, my research will combine two complimentary informatics approaches to explore the consequences of changing sediment load by; 1) using spatially distributed geographical information system models to synthesize land cover features and dynamic system processes such as precipitation and hydrology and explore different scenarios for future land-use change and precipitation, and 2) extending these predictions to the resulting effects on river food webs based on prior experimental results demonstrating the differential impact of fine sediment for river taxa. I will initially focus on two variables that encompass the diversity of food web responses; 1. net primary productivity of attached algae and bioflims (Cladophora, Nostoc, diatoms) at the base of the food chain, and 2. predatory fish (steelhead, coho salmon, roach) growth rates and body condition (mass relative to length) at the top. This approach will allow me to bound the potential effects of these environmental impacts and bridge the substantial gap between ecological forecasting and experimental community ecology. The products of this project will be aimed at informing and prioritizing conservation and management efforts for river watersheds of Western North America, and for the South Fork Eel river in particular, may focus management attention on regions of the mainstem river that are identified as being particularly vulnerable to continued anthropogenic change.

Visit #8693 @Angelo Coast Range Reserve

Approved

Under Project # 5489 | Research

Integrating the effects of future land-use and climate change for river food webs at local to watershed scales

faculty - Simon Fraser University

Reservation Members(s)

Wendy Palen Sep 1 - 30, 2005 (30 days)

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Computer lab 1 Sep 1 - 30, 2005
Day use 1 Sep 1 - 30, 2005
Lab 1 Sep 1 - 30, 2005