Submitted by Albert Ruhi Vidal on
Water conservation policies in Southern California are promoting the recycling of effluent, but reductions in these discharges may lead to stream drying and alteration of river food webs. Environmental managers are grappling with how much they should reduce discharges to some reaches of the Santa Clara and Los Angeles Rivers, where effluent has influenced flows since the mid-to-late 20th Century, creating novel aquatic ecosystems, recreational opportunities, and cultural connections. For the past three years, we sampled aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates and conducted bird and vegetation surveys across a gradient of flows. With all of these data, we are modeling flow-food web relationships, which will inform recommendations for flow management, including using effluent as a restoration tool.
In this summer project, we are identifying the aquatic and terrestrial invertebrates that we collected so that we can learn more about their associations with flows and riverine vegetation, and the roles they are playing in the riverine food web (e.g., what they are eating and the extent to which they are serving as a food source for birds).
The roles include riverine invertebrate sorting and identification in our lab. Please indicate in your application which role(s) interest you.
1) Aquatic invertebrate (e.g., caddisfly, dragonfly and mayfly larvae) identification (generally to order and family taxonomic levels) and sorting using a microscope.
2) Terrestrial invertebrate (e.g., beetles, spiders, and ants) identification (generally to order and family taxonomic levels) and sorting using a microscope.
1) Aquatic invertebrate IDing and sorting - We do not require that students have previous aquatic invertebrate identification experience, but they should have a strong interest in entomology and freshwater ecology. Please reference any past experience with IDing invertebrates and any related coursework in your statement.
2) Terrestrial invertebrate IDing and sorting - Students should have some previous experience with IDing terrestrial invertebrates and a strong interest in entomology. Please reference any past experience with IDing beetles, ants, and spiders (and/or other terrestrial inverts) and any related coursework in your statement.