Lab News

Congratulations to Freshwater Lab postdoc Hank Baker on a new paper in Ecology Letters, Variation in salmon migration phenology bolsters population stability but is threatened by drought! The research team used over a decade of movement data to characterize variation in the rearing strategies of juvenile coho salmon, which are endangered on the central California coast. They found that some fish leave their natal habitat early to rear in the lower portion of the creek, while others stay in their natal habitat until they are ready to migrate to sea. This seemingly subtle variation in behavior dramatically improves population stability and may be an important feature in their recovery. However, variation is reduced or absent in low flow years, suggesting that the negative effects of drought on salmon may be compounded by loss of critical phenotypic variation. This work was funded by the NOAA Restoration Center as part of ongoing salmon recovery efforts in Willow Creek, a tributary to the Russian River in Sonoma County, CA. For more information on this work, see our news story.

Former Ruhi lab undergraduate Amin al-Jamal has published a new paper in Ecology: Aquatic top predator prefers terrestrial prey in an intermittent stream! Meet the belostomatid giant water bug Abedus indentatus, the dominant predator in fishless sections of Chalone Creek, Pinnacles National Park, California. Despite living in the water, the study found that water bugs seem to prefer prey from the terrestrial environment. Isolated pools in drying rivers have incredibly high perimeter to area (P/A) ratios, and aquatic predators such as giant water bugs enjoy the increased influx of terrestrial prey! On top of that, prey that fall into the water are less equipped to deal with an aquatic predator. The double whammy of high P/A ratios and increased prey susceptibility in intermittent streams might facilitate this cool feeding preference!

Congratulations to Ruhi Lab manager Kendall Archie on his new position as a Masters student at California State Polytechnic University, Humboldt. Kendall will be advised by Alison O’Dowd and is joining a project that seeks to understand the food web responses associated with the Trinity River. Kendall is bringing his benthic macroinvertebrate expertise up north and will examine salmonid food resources and diet. Thank you for being a fantastic lab manager and we wish you the best in your graduate studies!

Congratulations to postdoc Robert Fournier on the publication of the paper “Long‐term data reveal widespread phenological change across major US estuarine food webs“. Using long-term biomonitoring data, we examined climate-driven phenological shifts within and across food webs in the San Francisco, Chesapeake, and Massachusetts Bay estuaries.

Are food webs at risk of tropic mismatch & disassembly? Read more to find out!

Berkeley Freshwater went on an amazing trip to Lagunitas Creek to watch coho spawn on the central California coast. We watched coho leap over waterfalls, spar with each other, build their redds, and spawn. Best of luck as they continue their journeys upstream!

Members of Berkeley Freshwater recently attended the Annual Meeting of the American Geophysical Union in Washington, DC! Ted Grantham, Wietske Medema, and Sooyeon Yi represented their COEQWAL (COllaboratory for EQuity in Water Allocations) project. Ted presented an overview of the collaboratory and its goals, Sooyeon shared her work modeling functional environmental flows in California’s Central Valley, and Rose talked about riparian tree-groundwater interactions at Pinnacles.

A new study, Environmental planning and the evolution of inter-basin water transfers in the United States, led by postdoc Sooyeon Yi, was published in Frontiers in Environmental Science. The study provides a comprehensive analysis of inter-basin water transfers across the U.S., crucial for balancing water availability and demand. These projects can significantly alter river flows, affect water quality, and disrupt habitats. By categorizing projects from 1900 to 2020, the study reveals trends toward larger, energy-intensive systems and an evolving emphasis on environmental planning. The findings highlight the growing need for sustainable management, urging future projects to incorporate climate change vulnerability assessments to mitigate potential impacts effectively.

A new Applied Water Science study led by Berkeley Freshwater postdoc Sooyeon Yi highlights the importance of improving flood forecasting for reservoir-based systems, essential for effective flood management and community safety. By comparing advanced machine learning and deep learning techniques, the research provides valuable insights into optimizing prediction models, ultimately enhancing our ability to respond to extreme flood events. This work is crucial for informing decision-makers and improving early warning systems in regions vulnerable to flooding.

Congratulations to new Dr. Kyle Leathers on delivering his finishing talk! Kyle gave an overview of his impressive dissertation research and successfully completed the ceremonial crossing over Strawberry Creek (in waders). We are lucky that Kyle will be staying on with the Ruhi Lab a couple of months before beginning a postdoc at USGS exploring water quality and algae in the San Francisco Bay-Delta!

Members of Berkeley Freshwater recently attended the Annual Meeting of the American Fisheries Society in Honolulu! Ted organized a session on ecosystem-based approaches to environmental flow management and Mariska presented a study on the environmental factors that influence emigration timing of coho salmon. We were also thrilled to connect with incoming faculty member Rachel Carlson and to reunite with Berkeley Freshwater alums Brian Kastl, Emily Chen, and Kasey Pregler!