Collaborative Research: RAPID - Effects of an Extreme Disturbance Event on Genomic Variation and Community Organization of Stream Insects

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This project will test hypotheses related to the response of stream organisms (insects) to the extreme, rare flood disturbance of September 2013 in Colorado's Front Range. Genetic and species composition data were collected from these streams prior to the disturbance as part of a previously funded NSF research project. These pre-event data allow the testing of specific evolutionary and ecological hypotheses about how extreme and non-seasonal disturbance acts to selectively remove maladapted genotypes, to modify genetic variation and gene frequencies, and to re-shape biological organization of insect communities through differential species survival and associated transformation of stream food webs. Fourteen headwater streams that span an elevation gradient of over 2,000 meters and that experienced different degrees of flood disturbance will be re-sampled in late Spring 2014. The extreme flooding in Colorado received national media attention and continues to be a topic of scientific and public discussion, so this study will likely be of broad scientific and public interest. The research represents an unprecedented opportunity to discover broad, new insights into the integrated genetic and ecological response of aquatic insects to discrete, extreme disturbance. Findings from this project will be disseminated not only through professional meetings and journals, but also via the popular press and online venues, in order to help advance public understanding the vulnerability and risks of natural systems to unusually large disturbances of the kind predicted to become increasingly more common under rapid climate change.