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Stream Ecology

Andrews Forest Monthly Meeting, Nov 1

Event Date: 
Friday, November 1, 2019
Event Brief Description: 

Presentations: Science and Art in the Lookout Creek Watershed

  • Ivan Arismendi Aquatic vertebrates of Lookout Creek (15 min). Ivan Arismendi will summarize findings from about stream habitats and aquatic vertebrates from synoptic sampling in Lookout Creek this summer. 
  • Leah Wilson Artwork inspired by Lookout Creek watershed (45 min). Leah Wilson will show her art that is inspired from Lookout Creek, why she continues to create art from the Andrews Forest, and she will introduce the concept for the Peavy project. 

Presentations are followed by sharing announcements across the program. 

Monthly meetings are used to share science, news, and opportunities related to the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest and Long-Term Ecological Research program. We start with a science hour and then move into program news and announcements. Anyone is welcome to attend.  Monthly meetings are on the first Friday of the month during the academic year, from 9 AM - 11 AM. The next meetings will be December 6, January 10, Feb 7, March 6, April 3, May 1, June 5. 

Friday, November 1, 9-11 AM, Forestry Sciences Lab, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Room 20

70 year anniversary of stream gage data

News Brief Description: 

It was 70 years ago this month (25 August 1949 to be precise) that the US Geological Survey (USGS) started gaging Lookout Creek of the Andrews Forest. Harry S. Truman was president. While the official record starts on 1 October 1949, gaging was already underway; we have a copy of the A-35 chart to represent the 25 August start. The USGS maintains the stream gage to this day, but the Andrews Forest PNW/LTER record is the only complete record of stream discharge on Lookout Creek. The PNW/LTER mined records from the National Archives through the USGS Portland Oregon Water Science Center to digitize, enter, and otherwise reconstruct an hourly record starting in 1949 through 1986 where the USGS high temporal resolution record begins. This long-term data set (HF004) is unique in its extent and availability among Pacific Northwest streams.

MS Defense: Allison Swartz. Stream Temperature and Primary Producers

Event Date: 
Thursday, June 6, 2019
Event Brief Description: 

Please join us on Thursday, June 6 at 2:00pm in Richardson 115 for a presentation of Allison’s thesis, titled: “Stream Temperature and Primary Producer Responses to Riparian Canopy Gaps Over Forested Headwaters.” Allison is pursuing her MS in Forest Ecosystems and Society with Dr. Dana Warren. Please contact the FES Department at (541) 737-2244 with questions or for accommodations for disabilities.

Thesis Defense Seminar on Oregon Streams

Event Date: 
Thursday, May 9, 2019
Event Brief Description: 

"Bottom-up drivers of primary producers and predator populations in Oregon streams"

Understanding factors limiting food web productivity is important to effective management of stream ecosystems and biota. Two key resources that influence productivity at the base of the food web are light and nutrients. Come hear about how two widespread anthropogenic modifications to stream ecosystems of the Pacific Northwest — riparian harvesting and the reduction of naturally spawning salmon — have altered light and nutrients in streams and how these changes may be impacting stream food webs. The first half focuses on how riparian stand development processes following historic clear-cutting influence stream consumers through bottom-up processes. The second half evaluates how the drastic reduction in spawning salmon in NE Oregon may be influencing stream food webs, and in particular juvenile Chinook Salmon and steelhead.

THURSDAY, MAY 9. 9AM NASH 032
WEBEX LINK: BEAV.ES/Zcc

Andrews Forest Monthly Meeting. April 5.

Event Date: 
Friday, April 5, 2019
Event Brief Description: 

Friday, April 5, 9 AM – 11 AM, in the Forestry Sciences Lab (FSL), Room 20.   

"Distribution and ecological implications of Fish and  Salamanders in Andrews Forest Stream Network" presented by Brooke Penauluna, USFS PNW; Dana Warren, OSU; Ivan Arismendi, OSU; Sherri Johnson, USFS PNW.

Graduate Student Flash Presentation:  Marie Tosa

"Accessing HJA GIS data from ArcGIS Open Data hub” presented by Jonathan Burnett 

Additional topics will follow, including updates from the graduate students, and the Willamette National Forest. 

Monthly meetings are used to share science, news, and opportunities related to the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest and Long-Term Ecological Research program. We start with a science hour and then move into program news and announcements. Anyone is welcome to attend.  Monthly meetings are on the first Friday of the month during the academic year, from 9 AM - 11 AM. The next meetings will be  May 3 and June 7.

Forestry Sciences Lab, 3200 SW Jefferson Way, Room 20

Students Study Effects of Drought

A recent publication out of the HJ Andrews Experimental Forest LTER site illustrates the role that summer research experiences can play in contributing to LTER science and in engaging and mentoring students. Oregon State University graduate student Matthew Kaylor is the lead author on a paper about how trout and salamanders respond to drought. Kaylor wrote this paper in collaboration with two undergraduate students. The first student, Brian VerWay, worked with Kaylor to survey trout and salamanders in a set of streams in the Andrews Forest in 2014 and 2015.

New Data Nugget classroom activity guide

News Brief Description: 

Leilagh Boyle teaches Environmental Studies and Biology at Cottage Grove High School. In 2016, Leilagh, and fellow Cottage Grove high school teacher Jessica Flood, came to the Andrews Forest as participants in the NSF-funded Research Experience for Teachers (RET) program. Leilagh and Jessica worked with researchers Ivan Arismendi, Alba Argerich, and Brooke Penaluna on research about the structure and function of aquatic systems at the Andrews Forest LTER site. Now, Leilagh leads her students in several field investigations based on her RET experience including a stream ecology survey, a controlled experiment to test the effect of tile color on algal growth, and an investigation of the role of stream microorganisms in photosynthesis. One of her lesson plans is now online as a "Data Nugget" titled "All washed up? The effect of floods on cutthroat trout."
Data nuggets are online "activities that bring real scientific data into the classroom, guiding students through the entire process of science while building their quantitative abilities."  The lesson plan includes a teacher's guide, student activities, and images. 

Also see our RET page and the article: "Numbers in Nature, Math on the Mountain A Teacher–Scientist Partnership to Tell Stories of Place Through Data" for more information on the K12 teacher education programs at the Andrews Forest.

Research Experience for Undergraduates. Highlight in Terra Magazine.

News Brief Description: 

Undergraduate student Emilee Mowlds, and graduate student Francisco Pickens, are featured in Oregon State University's Terra Magazine (see Student Research section; page 18). Both students are advised by OSU and Andrews Forest researcher, Ivan Arismendi, on stream ecology research at the Andrews Forest.

Mowlds and Pickens were participants in the NSF-funded Research Experience for Undergraduates program and did their work at the Andrews Forest. Mowlds said that participating in the Research Experience for Undergraduates program “felt like a mini version of a grad program where you develop your own project.”  Pickens went on to pursue a graduate degree at OSU after the experience. 

Each summer, the Andrews Forest LTER grant funds two, or more, Research Experience for Undergraduate participants at the Andrews Forest. Faculty researchers, across different areas of research, host and mentor the students.

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