Dr. Resh
Research
Interests
The
research program in my laboratory follows three lines: 1) studies
on the evolutionary biology and ecology of aquatic insects,
crustaceans, and mollusks in stream and wetland habitats; 2) the evaluation
of habitat manipulations for use in environmental restoration
or
enhancement; and 3) the development of techniques for the
biological assessment of water quality.
The
ecological studies of aquatic invertebrates involve descriptive
and experimental approaches to life history studies, herbivore-plant
interactions, effects of disturbance, and other topics related
to population dynamics, biotic and abiotic interactions, and community
structure and function. These studies currently are being conducted
in California coastal streams and on the diadromous fauna in oceanic
island streams near the
UC
Berkeley research station in Moorea, French Polynesia.
Research
on habitat manipulations has been conducted in both running-water
and wetland habitats. In streams and rivers, emphasis has been
on developing and understanding of how hydraulic forces affect
the distribution of organisms, and how these forces can be modified
to enhance running-water habitats in stream restoration. These
approaches have been used in the habitat restoration of Strawberry
Creek on the U.C. Berkeley campus.
Research
in the biological assessment of water quality involves the
use of several long-term data sets (>10 years in duration) to
evaluate the natural variability in unperturbed systems, levels
of change
that occur in perturbed systems, and to use this information
in establishing thresholds to indicate whether impact has occurred.
Current research also includes the development of population,
community,
and ecosystem indicators for use in water quality assessment.
Related to these topics are the development of methods for the
evaluation
of mitigation procedures and habitat restoration programs.
Research sites include several streams in coastal California and
the 1,000-mile
long Fraser River catchment in British Columbia.
In
summary, the current and future research directions that I encourage
the students in my laboratory to pursue involve basic, quantitative
research in aquatic entomology and ecology, and the incorporation
of this research into a framework that can be used to solve applied
problems of water-quality assessment and habitat restoration. Graduates
from this laboratory continue to pursue these goals in universities,
environmental consulting firms, industries, and government agencies.
Click to View Curriculum
Vitae and Complete Publication List
Contact Information
Professor Vincent H. Resh
University of California,
Berkeley
Environmental Science, Policy, and
Management
Division of Organisms & Environment
201 Wellman Hall
Berkeley, CA 94720
(510) 642-6315 phone
(510) 642-7428 fax
resh@berkeley.edu
