We are thrilled to announce that the Ruhi Lab has received the 2023 Winkler Scholars Award to develop a pilot study on the effects of drought on the nutritional quality of subsidies emerging from intermittent streams – thus connecting aquatic and terrestrial environments.
Our study will use compound-specific stable isotope techniques to identify not only the amount and type of fatty acids present in various stream organisms, but also where these fatty acids originated. This will allow understanding how riparian predators (insectivore birds and lizards) may see their river-derived prey devaluated as a consequence of river drying. The study will take place in Chalone Creek, Pinnacles National Park.
We are immensely grateful to Dr. Matthew Winkler and his family for funding high-risk, high-reward ideas like this one!