Presentation Type
Presentation
Faculty Mentor’s Full Name
Ben Coleman
Faculty Mentor’s Department
Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences
Abstract / Artist's Statement
Ecological restoration, the process of assisting in the restoration of degraded ecosystems, is a relatively new field focused on enhancing natural resources and improving ecosystems. Dam removal has gained recent attention as an effective approach to restoring river ecosystems. Current principles guiding restoration outline the need for a comprehensive assessment of ecological integrity to achieve maximum success. However, current dam removal monitoring focuses on structural and compositional components of aquatic systems while neglecting aspects of stream function. This project aims to assess components of stream function and composition on Rattlesnake Creek one year after dam removal. I will identify a set of relatively undisturbed reference streams to compare variation in stream function and composition. Specifically, I will measure stream metabolism and decomposition as indicators of function, while also comparing macroinvertebrate communities. Additionally, I will measure components of water chemistry to determine primary driver of stream function of Rattlesnake Creek. This proposed project will contribute to evaluating the restoration success of Rattlesnake Creek dam removal at a local level. Additionally, this data will form a baseline dataset of components of stream function for Rattlesnake Creek. This project will also contribute to the creation of a reference model that may be used to guide dam removal and restoration projects in the west.
Category
Life Sciences
Impacts of Stream Restoration on Ecosystem Function: Assessing the Removal of Rattlesnake Dam
Ecological restoration, the process of assisting in the restoration of degraded ecosystems, is a relatively new field focused on enhancing natural resources and improving ecosystems. Dam removal has gained recent attention as an effective approach to restoring river ecosystems. Current principles guiding restoration outline the need for a comprehensive assessment of ecological integrity to achieve maximum success. However, current dam removal monitoring focuses on structural and compositional components of aquatic systems while neglecting aspects of stream function. This project aims to assess components of stream function and composition on Rattlesnake Creek one year after dam removal. I will identify a set of relatively undisturbed reference streams to compare variation in stream function and composition. Specifically, I will measure stream metabolism and decomposition as indicators of function, while also comparing macroinvertebrate communities. Additionally, I will measure components of water chemistry to determine primary driver of stream function of Rattlesnake Creek. This proposed project will contribute to evaluating the restoration success of Rattlesnake Creek dam removal at a local level. Additionally, this data will form a baseline dataset of components of stream function for Rattlesnake Creek. This project will also contribute to the creation of a reference model that may be used to guide dam removal and restoration projects in the west.