News

We’re thrilled to announce that the paper “Drought effects on invertebrate metapopulation dynamics and quasi‐extinction risk in an intermittent river network“, led by postdoc Romain Sarremejane, was just published in Global Change Biology. We examined how stream invertebrate metapopulations respond to seasonal drying and to supraseasonal drought–and how the latter can synchronize dynamics of some (but not all) species, decreasing their long-term persistence. It was a really fun collaboration with stream ecologists and hydrologists in the UK. Check it out!

Albert got an award for developing a new upper division course on Applied time series analysis for ecology and environmental sciences (ESPM 174A), and instructing it for the first time on Zoom via interactive lectures and computer labs. This course offers a hands-on opportunity for students to learn valuable data analysis skills, apply them to real environmental data sets, and develop a final project based on individual research interests.

Xavier Benito, postdoc affiliated with the Ruhi Lab based at the National Socio-Environmental Synthesis Center (SESYNC), just had his main project paper accepted in Limnology & Oceanography! It’s entitled Ecological resilience in tropical Andean lakes: a paleolimnological perspective, and we show results from a range of time-series methods that allow understanding ecological resilience (and different kinds of community shifts) in lake ecosystems over long timescales. Have a look here!

Chris Dillis, a postdoctoral researcher in our lab and affiliate of the Berkeley Cannabis Research Center, led a study documenting how the geography of legal cannabis market is changing in California. The study suggests that the cannabis industry is following two divergent paths: one in which smaller farms in the traditional epicenter of illicit production of northern California enter the legal market and another in which larger, new farms become established in agricultural lands that have previously not grown cannabis, especially on the central coast. Read more here!

We’re starting the year with great news: the NSF CAREER proposal “Drought and metacommunity stability in riverine networks” was selected for funding! It focuses on how drought may limit dispersal and synchronize stream communities–directly, and by modifying predator-prey interactions. Exciting field experiments at Pinnacles National Park, labs, and time series modeling ahead! So grateful to supportive mentors and collaborators, my amazing research group, and the very special #BerkeleyFreshwater family!

A new study led by Lise Comte shows how the establishment and spread of non-native fish species is explained by introductions by people coupled with alteration in flow variability and seasonality. Read more here!

Postdoc extraordinaire Lise Comte (now faculty at Illinois State University) just got this really nice paper published in Global Ecology and Biogeography, entitled “Human stabilization of river flows is linked with fish invasions across the USA”. In this paper we quantified widespread changes in river flow regimes US-wide, and found that such alteration has favored invasions by filtering specific life-history strategies. Notably, high levels of flow stabilization and propagule pressure interacted: where co-occurring, these two drivers were associated with higher fish invadedness levels than expected based on either of their individual effects alone. Check it out!

We’re really excited to welcome two new postdocs in the lab: Drs. Travis Apgar & Robert Fournier. They will work on different aspects of our program at Pinnacles National Park, focused on the effects of seasonal and supraseasonal drying on stream invertebrate communities. Robert is joining us from the University of Arkansas, and Travis from UC Santa Cruz. Welcome to Berkeley!

In the face of climate change, biodiversity loss and conflict over water, California urgently needs to rethink how it manages water for the environment. Read our recent blog in CalMatters.