DISSERTATION RESEARCH: The influence of wildfire on food-chain length and aquatic-terrestrial connectivity: a before-after approach

虽然野火是美国西部山区生态系统中的重要干扰因素，但其对溪流的影响仍未得到解决。特别是，野火可能对溪流和河岸食物网相互作用的方式产生强烈影响，这可能进一步影响生态群落的多样性和稳定性。这项研究将以三年的火灾前研究为基础，调查环火对河流和河岸食物网之间相互联系的影响。环火是一场异常巨大和严重的野火。无脊椎动物的食物网将在图奥勒梅河和默塞德河的小支流中进行分析，这些支流流经加利福尼亚州约塞米蒂国家公园的烧毁区域。该办法将包括对溪流和河岸栖息地、水生昆虫和河岸蜘蛛进行协调调查，以及分析溪流初级生产者和河岸消费者之间的能源途径。这项研究将为野火如何作为干扰因素影响相互关联的水生和陆地食物网提供经验上的理解。通过促进我们对野火对生态系统功能的短期影响的理解，这项研究将为支持维护和恢复溪流和河岸生态系统服务的火灾管理政策提供信息。拟议研究的教育和人力资源效益包括培训参加研究活动的研究生和本科生。此外，这项工作的成果将在为来自国家公园管理局、美国农业部森林管理局、土地管理局、加州鱼类和野生动植物部门以及加州州立公园和县公园的资源顾问和消防管理官员举办的研讨会上分享。此外，加州大学默塞德·约塞米蒂分校的本科生将在夏季学期接受环境科学研究培训。

Although wildfires are important disturbances in ecosystems in the mountains of the American West, their effects on streams remains unresolved. In particular, wildfires may have a strong influence on the way stream and riparian food webs interact, which may further influence diversity and stability of ecological communities. This research will build on three years of pre-fire research to investigate the influence of the Rim Fire, an unusually large and severe wildfire, on the interconnections between stream and riparian food webs. Invertebrate food webs will be analyzed in small tributary streams of the Tuolumne and Merced Rivers, which flow within the burned areas of Yosemite National Park, CA. The approach will consist of coordinated surveys of stream and riparian habitat, aquatic insects, and riparian spiders as well as analyses of energy pathways between stream primary producers and riparian consumers. This research will provide an empirical understanding of how wildfires may act as a disturbance agents to influence linked aquatic and terrestrial food webs. By advancing our understanding of the short-term effects of wildfire on ecosystem function, this study will inform fire-management policy that supports maintenance and restoration of stream and riparian ecosystem services. Educational and human resource benefits from the proposed study include training of graduate and undergraduate students participating in research activities. In addition, results from this work will be shared in workshops geared toward Resource Advisors and Fire Management Officers from the National Park Service, USDA Forest Service, Bureau of Land Management, California Department of Fish and Wildlife, and California State and County Parks. Additionally, presentations will be offered to undergraduates at the University of California at Merced Yosemite Environmental Science Research Training summer semester.