LTREB: Trajectory for the recovery of stream ecosystem structure and function during reforestation

Stroud Water Research Center, Avondale PA

Investigators

Abstract

Stream restoration is a multi-billion dollar industry, however the dearth of information about the efficacy of restoration efforts has created a need for long term studies of stream ecosystem recovery following restoration. Restoration in the White Clay Creek watershed has involved reforestation of meadows and pastures with native deciduous trees and the removal of invasive plants. The sequence of changes in the physical environment (e.g., water temperature, light availability in the stream), in aquatic biological communities (e.g., species composition, trophic dynamics), and in the fate of nutrients within White Clay Creek will be studied as the planted streamside deciduous forest grows and matures. This project will build on a long term study of stream restoration, adding to our basic understanding of ecological change following restoration and informing resource managers tasked with implementing restoration efforts. Additional broader impacts will include week-long workshops for teachers from SE Pennsylvania and Northern Delaware to introduce them to research at White Clay Creek. Middle and high school teachers will be trained in the use of long term environmental data, enhancing their ability to use ecological data to enhance students' math skills, analytical abilities, and their environmental knowledge and understanding of the nature of science.