Stream Ecology

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.

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.

Stephanie Bianco will defend her MS thesis, A novel approach to process-based river restoration in Oregon: practitioners’ perspectives, and effects on in-stream wood

Wednesday, May 30
10 AM
Strand 361, OSU Campus

Stream Fish and Amphibian Ecology at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest 

We are seeking 2 summer research assistants to conduct sampling for stream vertebrates and associated measurements of habitat and food resources. 

These research assistants will use established field protocols for study of cutthroat trout, pacific giant salamanders, tailed frog tadpoles and stream macroinvertebrates. They will also collect measurements of instream habitat and chemical characteristics. 

These positions will begin around July 9, 2018 and continue into early September, 2018.

The research assistants will be based at the H.J. Andrews Experimental Forest, in the Oregon Cascades near Blue River, Oregon. The Andrews Forest was established in 1948 as an US Forest Service Experimental Forest, and since 1980 is one of the National Science Foundation's Long-Term Ecological Research (LTER) sites. The field station has modern apartments with full kitchens, a well-equipped computer lab, and wireless internet.

The jobs have been posted: https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/postings/57237 . Applications will be reviewed starting April 9. 

This posting is for current students. If you are not a student and are interested in working with us this summer, please contact Sherri Johnson (sherrijohnson@fs.fed.us) for more information.