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

尽管野火是对美国西部山区生态系统的重要干扰，但它们对溪流的影响仍未得到解决。特别是，野火可能对河流和河岸食物网的相互作用方式产生强烈影响，这可能进一步影响生态群落的多样性和稳定性。这项研究将建立在三年的火灾前研究的基础上，以调查“环火”对河流和河岸食物网之间相互联系的影响，这是一场异常大规模和严重的野火。无脊椎动物食物网将在流经加州约塞米蒂国家公园被烧毁地区的图奥勒米河和默塞德河的小支流中进行分析。该方法将包括对河流和河岸栖息地、水生昆虫和河岸蜘蛛的协调调查，以及对河流主要生产者和河岸消费者之间的能量途径的分析。这项研究将提供一个经验的理解，如何野火可能作为一个干扰因素，影响相关联的水生和陆地食物网。通过加深我们对野火对生态系统功能的短期影响的理解，本研究将为支持河流和河岸生态系统服务的维护和恢复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与研究活动的研究生和本科生。此外，这项工作的成果将在面向来自国家公园管理局、美国农业部林业局、土地管理局、加州鱼类和野生动物部以及加州州立公园和县公园的资源顾问和消防管理官员的研讨会上分享。此外，还将为加州大学默塞德约塞米蒂分校的本科生提供暑期学期的环境科学研究培训。

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.