Search for: All records

Abstract Extreme events have increased in frequency globally, with a simultaneous surge in scientific interest about their ecological responses, particularly in sensitive freshwater, coastal, and marine ecosystems. We synthesized observational studies of extreme events in these aquatic ecosystems, finding that many studies do not use consistent definitions of extreme events. Furthermore, many studies do not capture ecological responses across the full spatial scale of the events. In contrast, sampling often extends across longer temporal scales than the event itself, highlighting the usefulness of long-term monitoring. Many ecological studies of extreme events measure biological responses but exclude chemical and physical responses, underscoring the need for integrative and multidisciplinary approaches. To advance extreme event research, we suggest prioritizing pre- and postevent data collection, including leveraging long-term monitoring; making intersite and cross-scale comparisons; adopting novel empirical and statistical approaches; and developing funding streams to support flexible and responsive data collection. 

While many instructors have reservations against Wikipedia use in academic settings, editing Wikipedia teaches students valuable writing, editing, and critical thinking skills. Wikipedia assignments align with the community of inquiry framework, which focuses on the elements needed for a successful online learning experience. We report on a faculty mentoring network, created by WikiProject Limnology and Oceanography, which helped 14 instructors with little to no prior experience implement a Wikipedia assignment in their classes. We found that Wikipedia assignments increase students’ motivation to produce high quality work and enhance their awareness of reliable scientific sources. Wikipedia assignments can be comparable to other writing assignments in length and complexity, but have a far wider audience than a traditional research paper. Participants in our mentoring network reported challenges with implementing this new type of assignment, and here, we share resources and solutions to those reported barriers. 

Computational advances reveal opportunities for more sustainable hydropower development in large transboundary river basins. 

Tropical montane rivers (TMR) are born in tropical mountains, descend through montane forests, and feed major rivers, floodplains, and oceans. They are characterized by rapid temperature clines and varied flow disturbance regimes, both of which promote habitat heterogeneity, high biological diversity and endemism, and distinct organisms’ life-history adaptations. Production, transport, and processing of sediments, nutrients, and carbon are key ecosystem processes connecting high-elevation streams with lowland floodplains, in turn influencing soil fertility and biotic productivity downstream. TMR provide key ecosystem services to hundreds of millions of people in tropical nations. In light of existing human-induced disturbances, including climate change, TMR can be used as natural model systems to examine the effects of rapid changes in abiotic drivers and their influence on biodiversity and ecosystem function.

 

Frameworks exclusively considering functional diversity are gaining popularity, as they complement and extend the information provided by taxonomic diversity metrics, particularly in response to disturbance. Taxonomic diversity should be included in functional diversity frameworks to uncover the functional mechanisms causing species loss following disturbance events. We present and test a predictive framework that considers temporal functional and taxonomic diversity responses along disturbance gradients. Our proposed framework allows us to test different multidimensional metrics of taxonomic diversity that can be directly compared to calculated multidimensional functional diversity metrics. It builds on existing functional diversity–disturbance frameworks both by using a gradient approach and by jointly considering taxonomic and functional diversity. We used previously unpublished stream insect community data collected prior to, and for the two years following, an extreme flood event that occurred in 2013. Using 14 northern Colorado mountain streams, we tested our framework and determined that taxonomic diversity metrics calculated using multidimensional methods resulted in concordance between taxonomic and functional diversity responses. By considering functional and taxonomic diversity together and using a gradient approach, we were able to identify some of the mechanisms driving species losses following this extreme disturbance event.