DISSERTATION RESEARCH: Linking Hydrologic Disturbance and Stoichiometric Balance in Benthic Systems

洪水通过改变食物网的特征来塑造溪流中的生物群落。 这项研究将：（1）确定洪水与河流食物网中碳、氮和磷流动之间的关系，（2）评估捕食风险如何与高、低洪水水平相互作用，以控制这些元素的循环。 对水流和河床移动的测量将用于确定洪水的强度和频率，对生物体的取样将提供关于无脊椎动物密度及其元素组成的信息。 通过添加捕食性鱼类的化学线索，将在整个溪流中操纵捕食风险。 这项研究旨在通过整合传统上不同的有机体生物学，群落生态学和生态系统生态学领域，提高我们对自然系统中影响元素循环的因素的理解。 研究结果将有助于负责任地管理淡水资源，因为世界各地的淡水资源都面临着满足人类日益增长的需求的压力。 生物体适应的自然流动状态经常被人类改变，全球气候变化有可能加剧变化。 这项研究的结果应该提高预测和减轻河流食物网后果的能力，这具有直接的社会和经济意义。

Floods shape biological communities in streams by modifying food web characteristics. This study will: (1) identify relationships between floods and the flow of carbon, nitrogen, and phosphorous in stream food webs, and (2) evaluate how risk of predation interacts with high and low levels of flooding to control the cycling of these elements. Measurement of water flow and movement of the streambed will be used to quantify intensity and frequency of floods, and sampling of organisms will provide information on invertebrate densities and their elemental composition. Risk of predation will be manipulated in whole streams by adding chemical cues of predatory fish. This research is designed to improve our understanding of factors influencing elemental cycling in natural systems by integrating the traditionally disparate fields of organismal biology, community ecology, and ecosystem ecology. Results will be useful for responsible management of freshwater resources, which are under pressure worldwide to meet increasing human demands. Natural flow regimes to which organisms are adapted are often altered by humans, and global climate change threatens to intensify modifications. Results from this study should improve the ability to predict and mitigate consequences for river food webs, which have direct societal and economic importance.