Aquatic Foodwebs, Productivity, and Water Quality

Ecosystem productivity, floodplain/stream foodwebs for fish, lake foodwebs.

Research Programs

Aquatic Foodwebs, Productivity, and Water Quality
	Project
	Spring-Fed vs. Snowmelt Rivers: Ecosystem Productivity	This project measures and compares ecological productivity in two types of river systems in the Upper Sacramento River watershed. The project's team of ecologists, geologist and biologists is comparing the food-web dynamics of three spring-fed systems - Hat Creek, Fall River and tributaries of the upper Sacramento River - with those of rivers that receive mainly snowmelt and stormwater runoff in the same watershed.
	Spatiotemporal patterns of aquatic heatwaves in western US rivers	This project analyzes water temperature and wildfire data from rivers across the western United States to understand how riverine heatwaves occur, spread, and interact with wildfire in the context of a warming climate.
	Food webs of 10 lakes before and after a mega-wildfire	The explosion and intensification of climate-driven mega-wildfires over recent years highlights a pressing need to better understand these impacts at all scales. Yet despite increasing wildfire disturbance, there lacks understanding of the extent to which fire may alter trophic structure in lakes, or the degree to which fire-effects are mediated by ecosystem architecture. What little is known derives primarily from boreal environments, and there have been no pre- versus post-fire food web comparisons to date.
	Floodplain foodwebs, habitat and juvenile salmon	This project investigates how floodplain restoration influences juvenile salmon growth, food webs, and survival to inform habitat management and flow decisions in California’s Central Valley.
	Plankton Production in Flood-Pulse Managed Wetland Ponds	This project examines how different wetland types in Suisun Marsh influence plankton production to better understand when and how managed wetlands can boost food availability for fish.
	Carp - DEUM	This project investigates how fish communities—particularly the influence of carp—affect water quality in the UC Davis Arboretum waterway as it undergoes habitat restoration.