Kendall Archie to begin his MS at Cal Poly Humboldt

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!

New paper in Ecology Letters

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!

We attended AGU in Washington, DC

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.

Congratulations to Berkeley Freshwater postdoc Sooyeon Yi who has just published another manuscript!

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.

New study on flood forecasting in reservoir-based systems

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.

Kyle Leathers gives his finishing talk on “Effects of Climate Change-Induced Low Flows on Sierra Nevada Stream Ecosystems”

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!

Berkeley Freshwater goes to AFS!

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!

Tim Jäger successfully defends his Master’s thesis

A zoom screenshot showing a person talking and a research chart

Congratulations to Tim Jäger on his magnificent Master’s defense! His thesis examined life-history plasticity of stream insects to future climates in the Sierra Nevada. Earlier snowmelt and return to low-flow conditions will likely lead to earlier peaks and smaller size at emergence. It was not a (chirono)mini undertaking as Tim processed thousands of individuals! We can’t wait to see what this newly emerged MSc flies off to do next!

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Gauging the status of monitoring California’s streams

A research image showing a map of california and water gauge areas

A new Nature Sustainability study by Lucy Andrews and Ted Grantham found that only 8% of all rivers and streams in California are monitored by stream gauges that measure flow. Lead author Lucy told the LA Times, “More monitoring of these critical streams is needed to protect these vulnerable species. If we maintain the status quo, and if we don’t know how much water is in rivers and streams, we are essentially dooming some of our freshwater species.” The papers also outlined a method to improve stream monitoring and modeled a reconfigured gauging network across the state.

A research graph and map of california showing active network gauge coverage