As ecosystem engineers, beavers punctuate stream continua over space and time through the construction of dams that retain water and establish open meadow habitats. Using space-for-time substitution to sample streams with impoundments at different stages of the beaver dam "life cycle," from intact dam, to breached dam, to recovering wetland, we aim to measure the influence of beaver activity on aquatic insect community composition, basal resource use, and periphyton assemblages in Adirondack streams.

MS Student: Abby Hullihen

Undergraduate Students: Kendal Massey, Elise Herrick

See new blog post from Abby on the CLBS website here!

Adirondack ponds provide critical refuge habitat for brook trout within their native range. However, the interacting effects of climate warming and introduced baitfish species on these systems threatens their ability to support brook trout, which require cold, highly oxygenated habitat and do best in monoculture. We aim to determine (1) how seasonal changes in oxythermal habitat availability may affect brook trout foraging behavior and nutrition, and (2) whether the presence and identity of other fish species affects the ability of brook trout to access to high-quality food items. This work is funded by the New York State Water Resources Institute and conducted in partnership with the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

MS Student: Jack Marshall

Undergraduate Students: Matthew Norvilitis

Research Technicians: Hope Malocsay, Nora Yousefi, Grace Tanski, John Cohen

Northern pike are keystone predators that rely on provision of habitat and forage from wetland habitat, especially during the juvenile life stage. In the St. Lawrence River, where northern pike are native, populations are under threat due in part to the dominance of non-native aquatic vegetation in wetland habitat. In the headwaters of the St. Lawrence River, Cranberry Lake has become a destination for northern pike fishing. In Cranberry Lake, northern pike are non-native but wetlands are still dominated by native aquatic vegetation. We aim to compare the ways in which juvenile northern pike interact with their wetland habitats in the St. Lawrence River and Cranberry Lake to inform conservation and management of northern pike in both systems. This project is funded by New York Sea Grant (see announcement here and press release here).

Co-PI: John Farrell

MS Students: Ben Spitz and Matt Foli

Research Technicians: Kasey Sawatis, Emily McDonald