Freshwater Systems

Northern Prairie Wildlife Research Center has conducted multiple research efforts related to developing methodology for quantifying the environmental and societal services provided by prairie-pothole wetland ecosystems. In this effort, we are exploring the feasibility of applying methodologies similar to those developed wetland ecosystems within the Prairie Pothole Region to other landscapes where...

This project seeks to develop tools and datasets that provide insights to the common ground between flood-risk reduction and ecosystem services on large-river floodplains of the Central United States. Floodplains of large rivers are valued for their agricultural productivity and development potential, but recent floods have demonstrated the high costs and lack of resiliency when floodplains are...

The President's 2010 Budget provided $475 million for a new interagency Great Lakes restoration initiative, which targets the most significant problems in the region, including invasive aquatic species (like zebra and quagga mussels), non-point source pollution, and contaminated sediment. This initiative uses outcome-oriented performance goals and measures to target the most significant problems...

Effects of changing climate on aquatic ecosystems requires understanding a complex series of interactions between terrestrial climates, their corresponding impacts on hydrological processes, and ultimately a suite of biological responses. These uncertainties stand in contrast to the urgent need for reliable information to be used in developing long-term strategies for climate adaptation to...

Rivermouth ecosystems, or freshwater estuaries, are the focus of human and wildlife interactions with the Great Lakes. They are highly valued as the region’s urban, industrial, shipping and recreational centers; and home to recreational harbors, wildlife viewing and production, beaches and urban riverfronts. Rivermouths are also both the mixing zones where nutrients from upstream watersheds are...

Biological production represents the total amount of living material (biomass) that was produced during a defined period of time. This production is important because some of it is used for food and some is valued for recreation, it is a direct measure of total ecosystem processes, and it sustains biological diversity. Production is a measure of energy flow, and is therefore a natural currency for...

Climate change models predict warmer temperatures, changes to precipitation patterns, and increased evapotranspiration in the Great Lakes region. Such climatic changes have altered, and are expected to further alter hydrological, chemical, and physical properties of inland lakes. Lake-dependent wildlife are often sensitive to changes in water quality, and are particularly susceptible to lake...

We study the links among different geomorphic processes that affect river valley landscapes in the Colorado River downstream from Glen Canyon Dam, Arizona. Dam-released flows affect the deposition and retention of sandbars that serve as sources for other sand resources, such as windblown sand dunes, throughout the Colorado River ecosystem. The degree to which the landscapes are differentially...

The sandbars exposed along the shoreline of the Colorado River represent only a small fraction of the sand deposits in Grand Canyon, most of which are on the bed of the river in eddies and the channel. Current management practice includes efforts to maintain and build sandbars by releasing high flows from Glen Canyon Dam that are timed to coincide with periods of fine-sediment supply from...

Because the underlying cause of riparian system alteration is often attributed to the effects of dams on flow regime, managing flow releases, particularly high flows, from dams is an often-advocated approach to river and riparian restoration. Our work has focused on understanding effects of managed high flow releases (a.k.a., pulse flows, controlled floods) from dams along rivers in the lower...

The interdisciplinary team of hydroscape ecology develops and advances a broad, landscape-scale perspective of ecological flows for aquatic ecosystems. A hydrologic landscape, hydroscape, is an environmental theater, where hydrologic, geomorphologic, biogeochemical, biological, and anthropogenic processes play to provide ecological services to the society. The construction of water control...

Most aquatic insects live in fresh water as larvae and move to land as flying adults to complete their life cycle. Although often ignored, the emergence of adults can transfer the effects of contamination from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems as the adults are eaten by predators such as spiders, birds, and bats.