Food Webs and Rivers: Importance of Contiguous Habitat Interactions

Presentation Type

Oral and/or Visual Presentation

Presenter Major(s)

Biology

Mentor Information

Eric Snyder

Department

Biology

Location

Kirkhof Center 2201

Start Date

11-4-2012 10:00 AM

Keywords

Environment

Abstract

The focus of this project was to more fully understand and document the dynamic interactions and flow of energy between stream and riparian zones in wetland, cedar (Cedrus spp.), and alder (Alnus spp.) dominated reaches. Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen measured food web structure and estimated energy transfer rates. Habitat comparison and characterization show that many of the chemical characteristics of each reach are fairly uniform throughout each reach. Amongst all sites, strong relationships as indicated by stable isotope analysis showed trophic interactions between organic matter to terrestrial macroinvertebrates and then to fish populations. Results did not support our initial hypotheses concerning the differences between study reaches, evidence of strong interactions between aquatic and terrestrial riparian zone was found. Thus the link between aquatic and terrestrial energy sources was shown to be quite strong in all three reaches, including the wetland-dominated reach.

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Apr 11th, 10:00 AM

Food Webs and Rivers: Importance of Contiguous Habitat Interactions

Kirkhof Center 2201

The focus of this project was to more fully understand and document the dynamic interactions and flow of energy between stream and riparian zones in wetland, cedar (Cedrus spp.), and alder (Alnus spp.) dominated reaches. Stable isotopes of carbon and nitrogen measured food web structure and estimated energy transfer rates. Habitat comparison and characterization show that many of the chemical characteristics of each reach are fairly uniform throughout each reach. Amongst all sites, strong relationships as indicated by stable isotope analysis showed trophic interactions between organic matter to terrestrial macroinvertebrates and then to fish populations. Results did not support our initial hypotheses concerning the differences between study reaches, evidence of strong interactions between aquatic and terrestrial riparian zone was found. Thus the link between aquatic and terrestrial energy sources was shown to be quite strong in all three reaches, including the wetland-dominated reach.