Post by David Roon on Sept 1, 2015 21:42:43 GMT
Funding Status: Multiple Projects- Funding available
Short description: Dr. Frank Wilhelm is currently assessing nutrient loading and the impact of cyanobacteria in two sites: Fernan Lake in Idaho and Willow Creek Reservoir in Oregon. For more detail, read below.
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I have a zooplankton and algal samples from Fernan Lake that form a time series. These could be supplemented with additional samples the student takes over the next ½-3/4 year. Fernan Lake’s claim to fame is that it undergoes severe cyanobacteria blooms during summer resulting in no contact advisories. The project could be used to address the question if blooms of cyanobacteria result in changes (size, species composition, diversity etc.) in the zooplankton community. The lake is also full of fish, so there could be a confounding factor – we may be able to tease that out with temperature? We have bi-weekly temp profiles. If someone was really interested in looking at the algal community – those samples are also available.
A more physical project involves one with my grad student working on Willow Creek Reservoir in OR where she is examining the rate of internal loading of phosphorus to the water column. We have done release rates from different sites and now need to characterize the lake bottom sediments so we can map the extent of each type of sediment via GIS. This project involves taking sediment cores from the lake bottom using a remote sampler, and analyzing those sediments for grain size, water content and organic content. For the right person, we might even be able to do some P analyses. So physical/chemical limnology on this one. (just to justify in an ECB arena - internal P loading is important in lakes as it can alter the N:P ratio during summer when nutrient delivery via inflow is very low – thus changing the competitive advantage to cyanobacteria from a chemical perspective. Willow Creek Reservoir also typically has severe and toxic blooms of algae late in summer).
Short description: Dr. Frank Wilhelm is currently assessing nutrient loading and the impact of cyanobacteria in two sites: Fernan Lake in Idaho and Willow Creek Reservoir in Oregon. For more detail, read below.
___________________
I have a zooplankton and algal samples from Fernan Lake that form a time series. These could be supplemented with additional samples the student takes over the next ½-3/4 year. Fernan Lake’s claim to fame is that it undergoes severe cyanobacteria blooms during summer resulting in no contact advisories. The project could be used to address the question if blooms of cyanobacteria result in changes (size, species composition, diversity etc.) in the zooplankton community. The lake is also full of fish, so there could be a confounding factor – we may be able to tease that out with temperature? We have bi-weekly temp profiles. If someone was really interested in looking at the algal community – those samples are also available.
A more physical project involves one with my grad student working on Willow Creek Reservoir in OR where she is examining the rate of internal loading of phosphorus to the water column. We have done release rates from different sites and now need to characterize the lake bottom sediments so we can map the extent of each type of sediment via GIS. This project involves taking sediment cores from the lake bottom using a remote sampler, and analyzing those sediments for grain size, water content and organic content. For the right person, we might even be able to do some P analyses. So physical/chemical limnology on this one. (just to justify in an ECB arena - internal P loading is important in lakes as it can alter the N:P ratio during summer when nutrient delivery via inflow is very low – thus changing the competitive advantage to cyanobacteria from a chemical perspective. Willow Creek Reservoir also typically has severe and toxic blooms of algae late in summer).