Poster Details
THE INFLUENCE OF WATER TEMPERATURE ON ECOSYSTEM METABOLIC RESPONSE TO FLOODS IN MIDWESTERN STREAMS
Ecosystem metabolism is a fundamental biological process that contributes to whether an ecosystem is a net carbon source or sink. By reducing light availability and removing biofilms, floods often reduce respiration in streams, though these effects may vary throughout the year as seasons change. In order to examine the effect that seasonality has on stream ecosystem metabolic flood response, we analyzed USGS and StreamPulse data from 2 streams in southern Wisconsin and modeled ecosystem metabolism over three years. While ecosystem metabolism in one stream decreased during flood events throughout the year as predicted in the scientific literature, ecosystem metabolism in the other stream responded differently between summer and winter floods. Summer floods (those with water temperatures higher than the 3-year average) caused ecosystem metabolism to increase significantly during the flood event and winter floods had no such effect. Though a small study, this result shows that floods may not have solely negative effects on ecosystem metabolism. As in other ecosystems, disturbance events play a complicated role in stream ecosystem processes and so warrant more focused research.
Sam Blackburn (Primary Presenter/Author), University of Wisconsin - Madison, srblackburn@wisc.edu;
Emily Stanley (Co-Presenter/Co-Author), University of Wisconsin - Madison, ehstanley@wisc.edu;