Complex stress regimes in freshwater ecosystems: trait-based prediction and diagnostics development

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Environmental stressors can be natural, and organisms have evolved to tolerate them, or human-derived, presenting a wholly novel challenge to the organism (e.g. pesticide tolerance). In this way, environmental management can be considered stress management for nature. River systems continuously receive low-level inputs of multiple substances, each component of which may not exceed individual substance guidelines, yet in combination can pose significant risk of adverse effects. Sound environmental management requires detection and separation of individual stressor signals from background environmental noise, to determine their level of influence on the biota. River scientists have recognized the challenge posed by multiple stressor regimes and have begun the difficult task of developing approaches for stressor separation and diagnosis. Here I outline a program of research which examines how organism traits - their basic morphological, physiological and ecological characteristics - can be used to develop improved approaches for the management of environmental stressors. To do this, we require an improved understanding of how traits vary in relation to natural environmental variability - this will be addressed by studying how the characteristics of river organisms are shaped by local river flow habitat variations (natural stress), and the implications of such variation for the development of new biomonitoring tools. This will be carried with the assistance of 1 PhD and 2 undergraduate field assistants at a range of river sites. In a second line of investigation, with the assistance of an MSc student, I will study existing knowledge (Environment Canada monitoring data), to explore how biological traits are related to the effects of human-derived stressors (nutrients, pesticides, metals), to better inform traits-based diagnostic tools, for ultimate incorporation into the Canadian Aquatic Biomontoring program (CABIN). Also, using the knowledge gained, with the assistance of an MSc student and 1 undergraduate field assistant, I will study how combined natural (predator threat) and human-derived stressors (pesticide exposure) can be predicted from knowledge of traits characteristics of exposed biota.