Stream Laboratory at the Biological Station

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The University of Michigan Biological Station (UMBS) on Douglas Lake is among the oldest and largest facilities of its kind in the United States. UMBS has been in continuous operation since 1909 with research at the station producing over 2200 scientific publications and over 220 theses. It is conservatively estimated that 600 professional scientists employed in the United States have received training at UMBS and dozens of professional field biologists conduct research there. Although much has been learned about the structure and function of northern temperate ecosystems, the study of streams at UMBS has been hampered by the lack of a stream laboratory capable of supporting controlled experiments, even though UMBS owns several miles of pristine stream shoreline. It is difficult to conduct research on fish and other stream organisms without a central facility by the stream to support technical equipment. In the past four years, there have been 19 Ph.D.-level research projects and 39 graduate student research projects that could have benefited from a stream laboratory facility. This project will provide partial funding for a new stream laboratory to facilitate research on a range of ecological questions that are relevant to northern temperate streams. Results of this research will help scientists better understand how stream ecosystems function and how they can be protected.