Collaborative Research: Ecology of Riverine Hyporheos

在距离MT Flathead River河道2.5公里的浅井（10米）网格中收集了丰富的半潜（间隙河流）生物群，这证实了河流生态的空间维度大大扩展。本研究提出了几个群落水平的假设，试图描述和区分潜流动物群（微生物和无脊椎动物），以及潜流带在影响冲积河流底栖动物（河道）的生物群和过程中的功能作用。​平头河隐翅翅目数量众多，多态种群的存在可能导致种内选择压力导致生殖隔离。该项目还将涉及这些石蝇的繁殖策略。显然复杂的隐性食物网的能量基础是未知的，并且假设河流碎屑的间质夹带（POM）是重要的。从潜流池排放的污水显然是河流中硝酸盐和生物活性磷的重要来源。如果这些营养物质来源于隐性食物网中河流POM的交换，那么该研究将为河流生态学中生态系统层面的问题奠定新的概念基础。

Abundant hyporheic (interstitial riverine) biota were collected within a grid of shallow (10m) wells as far as 2.5 kilometers from the channel of the Flathead River, MT, which confirms a greatly extended spatial dimension in river ecology. This research addresses several community level hypotheses in an attempt to describe and differentiate the hyporheic fauna (microbes and invertebrates) and the functional role of the hyporheic zone in influencing biota and processes in the benthos (channel) of alluvial rivers. Flathead River hyporheic Plecoptera are very abundant and intraspecific selection pressures resulting in reproductive isolation is suggested by the presence of polymorphic populations. The project will also involve the reproductive strategies of these stoneflies. The energy base of the apparently complex hyporheic food web is unknown, and it is hypothesized that interstitial entrainment of riverine detritus (POM) is important. Discharge from the hyporheic is apparently a significant source of nitrate and biologically active phosphorus in the river. If these nutrients are derived from communition of riverine POM within the hyporheic food web, then the research will lay a new conceptual foundation for eosystem-level questions in river ecology.