Collaborative Research: Ecology of Riverine Hyporheos

在距离马萨诸塞州平头河河道2.5公里的浅井(10米)网格内采集了丰富的浅水(间质河流)生物群，这证实了河流生态的空间维度大大扩展。这项研究提出了几个群落层面的假说，试图描述和区分浅水动物(微生物和无脊椎动物)以及浅水地带在影响冲积河流底栖生物(河道)生物区系和过程中的功能作用。平头河水栖长翅目昆虫数量非常丰富，种内选择压力导致的生殖隔离是由多态种群的存在提出的。该项目还将涉及这些石蝇的繁殖策略。表面上复杂的低渗食物网的能量基础尚不清楚，并假设河流碎屑(POM)的间隙夹带是重要的。从河水中排出的水显然是河流中硝酸盐和生物活性磷的重要来源。如果这些营养物质是来自河流中的POM在水生食物网中的群落，那么这项研究将为河流生态学中的生态系统层面的问题奠定新的概念基础。

Abundant hyporheic (interstitial riverine) biota were collected within a grid of shallow (10m) wells as far as 2.5 kilometers from the channel of the Flathead River, MT, which confirms a greatly extended spatial dimension in river ecology. This research addresses several community level hypotheses in an attempt to describe and differentiate the hyporheic fauna (microbes and invertebrates) and the functional role of the hyporheic zone in influencing biota and processes in the benthos (channel) of alluvial rivers. Flathead River hyporheic Plecoptera are very abundant and intraspecific selection pressures resulting in reproductive isolation is suggested by the presence of polymorphic populations. The project will also involve the reproductive strategies of these stoneflies. The energy base of the apparently complex hyporheic food web is unknown, and it is hypothesized that interstitial entrainment of riverine detritus (POM) is important. Discharge from the hyporheic is apparently a significant source of nitrate and biologically active phosphorus in the river. If these nutrients are derived from communition of riverine POM within the hyporheic food web, then the research will lay a new conceptual foundation for eosystem-level questions in river ecology.