Experimental Stream System at the Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory

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The University of California at Santa Barbara maintains a field station in the eastern Sierra Nevada mountains for research and teaching in the field sciences. The Sierra Nevada Aquatic Research Laboratory (SNARL) serves as a base for many scientists working in east-central California and western Nevada. In addition, SNARL protects a variety of terrestrial and freshwater habitats for teaching and research use. This project will provide funds to construct fifteen medium- sized experimental stream channels to augment the existing stream and pond system at SNARL. The new channels will fill an important gap in the scale of experimental units available at SNARL, which currently has only small laboratory and field channels and a series of large field channels which were formed by division of an existing natural stream. The new, medium-sized field channels will allow investigators to examine the effects of spatial scale on the outcomes of experimental manipulations. The channels will simulate the physical, chemical and biological characteristics of natural streams while providing sufficient replication for rigorous experimental designs. Although the existing stream channels at SNARL do not provide sufficient replication for most experiments, they are still a realistic and important component of the battery of experimental units at the site. Therefore, the project also provides funds to repair the concrete control structures on the existing experimental stream system.