Ecology of Local Waterways

What's happening in the water?

Many freshwater ecosystems are threatened by human activities that change landscapes and water quality. As freshwater scientists working and living in the Blacksburg area, we have prioritized selecting local study sites for many of our research projects, which allows us to connect our science with nearby natural resources, environmental issues, and communities. Our group's published research about the ecology and health of local streams and ponds has characterized: 

• how Stroubles Creek water quality, photosynthesis, and respiration change with stream flow*, 

• how metabolism (photosynthesis and respiration) in Stroubles Creek recovers from flood disturbances*, 

• salt pollution dynamics in Stroubles Creek*, 

• carbon metabolism rates in Walls Branch and Stroubles Creek, 

• how water quality changes at stream confluences throughout the Toms Creek network, 

• potential responses of local freshwater microbes to different types of salt pollution, 

• Stroubles Creek surface water 'metabolite bio-chemo-geography' (Sample ID: S19S_0089)*, &

• dissolved organic carbon, dissolved oxygen, and carbon dioxide dynamics in a intermittently flowing tributary to Poverty Creek.

Part or all of the research in publications noted with a * was conducted at Virginia Tech's Stream Research, Education and Management (StREAM) Lab on Stroubles Creek. Published sensor data from StREAM Lab were also used to develop a data science activity for Dr. Hotchkiss' Ecology (BIOL 2804) course as part of an NSF-funded education research collaboration (Naseri et al. 2025, Naseri et al. 2026).

Ghost Streams

Stroubles Creek & Virginia Tech's Duck Pond

Ongoing research is characterizing water quality across Stroubles Creek, including the Duck Pond and tributaries to Stroubles Creek on Virginia Tech's campus, the upper network in the town of Blacksburg, and the lower network before Stroubles Creek enters the New River.

• In Spring 2024, Erin Hotchkiss & Katherine X. Pérez Rivera led a class of undergraduates in a semester-long team research project assessing the role of the Duck Pond on Virginia Tech's campus in altering the downstream water quality of Stroubles Creek (BIOL 2984 Special Study: Ecology Research in Local Waterways). In anticipation of a large dredging project that removed tons (literally!) of sediments deposited in the Duck Pond to increase its water holding and pollutant removal capacity, we measured water quality parameters linked with ecosystem health above and below the Duck Pond throughout spring 2024, building on an initial dataset collected by Katherine as part of her dissertation research. The dredging project started in April 2024 and ended in August 2024.  

• In Fall 2024, our research team included four Spring 2024 undergraduate collaborators and three new undergraduate research team members led by Erin  Hotchkiss. We collected and analyzed data to compare pre/during/post dredging water quality and ecosystem health in the two inlets to the Duck Pond (Webb Branch and Main Branch of Stroubles Creek) and the Duck Pond outflow (Stroubles Creek), with a goal of quantifying changes in pollutant removal capacity and ecosystem health before, during, and after dredging. 

• In Spring 2026, Erin Hotchkiss & Katherine X. Pérez Rivera worked with a new team of undergraduate collaborators to assess post-dredging patterns in Spring 2026 compared to pre-dredging data from Spring 2024. We also selected sites to expand our sampling into the upper network of Stroubles Creek through the town of Blacksburg along the Webb Branch and the east Main Branch to characterize sources and landscape drivers of different pollutant inputs that travel downstream to our core sites around the Duck Pond.

We've shared results from our spring 2024, fall 2024, and spring 2026 undergraduate research team and related collaborations below. Stay tuned for updates on what we find with continued post-dredging/broader network sampling and for future calls to join undergraduate research teams!