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Stable Isotope Analysis of stream organisms -- a potential tool for monitoring changes in catchment conditions and effects on stream ecosystems
Citation:
Church, R. Stable Isotope Analysis of stream organisms -- a potential tool for monitoring changes in catchment conditions and effects on stream ecosystems. Presented at American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, December 03 - 07, 2012.
Impact/Purpose:
This contributed poster describes a potential approach for using stable isotope analysis of stream organisms to classify systems and monitor effects of environmental conditions and changes.
Description:
Stable isotope analyses of stream organisms are performed usually as discrete site experiments (e.g., to study the effect of a direct manipulation), synoptically (e.g. to illustrate effects of longitudinal variation of influencing factors), or, less frequently, over the course of a single year (e.g., to examine seasonal influences). Here I present data from a variety of our studies in Pacific Northwest streams to illustrate relationships that might prove useful to follow over an extended duration to track longer term environmental influences, such as climate change, on watersheds and their associated stream ecosystems. Tissues of stream organisms offer the benefit of integrating process effects over scales of time and space that might have utility within monitoring and/or classification frameworks.