STREAM ECOLOGY
FALL 2012, BIOLOGY 5074
TIME AND PLACE: Lecture – 1:25-2:15 M,W, Room 209 Williams
Lab – 2:00-4:50, F, Derring 1065
Note – no classes 10, 12, 14 September (I’m out of town), 12 October (Fall Break), or
Thanksgiving week.
INSTRUCTOR:
Dr. J.R. Webster, 1000 Derring Hall, 231-8941(jwebster@vt.edu)
TA: Jeff Norman, 1027 Derring Hall (jenorma1@vt.edu)
TEXTBOOKS: Allan, J.D., and M.M. Castillo. 2007. Stream Ecology. Springer.
Hauer, F.R., and G.A. Lamberti. 2007. Methods in Stream Ecology. Academic
Press. (optional)
PREREQUISITES: Principles of Ecology, Graduate Standing (or permission of instructor)
GRADE: Midterm exams
Written project report
Oral project report
Assignments
40%
30%
10%
20%
EXAMS: Midterms – 5 Oct and 30 Nov
Final – 18 Dec (your final written project report will be your final exam)
LECTURE TOPICS
What is a stream?
Physical properties of water
Drainage networks and fluvial hydrology, physical characteristics of streams
Water chemistry
Stream organisms
Algae and plants
Invertebrates
Vertebrates
Primary production
Detrital processes
Consumers
Feeding
Secondary production
Drift
Nutrient dynamics
Metabolism
Human impacts on streams
LABORATORY TOPICS
Measuring geomorphology and discharge -- 31 Aug (Stroubles Creek below Smithfield)
Distribution of benthic macroinvertebrates
Macroinvertebrate drift
Measurement of benthic organic matter
Primary producers and primary production
Transient storage and the hyporheic zone
Leaf breakdown and detrital processing – 7 Sep (Stonecrop Creek)
Metabolism measurement in flowing water
Nutrient uptake measurement
Other topics are possible
Projects will be done in groups of 2 students (or they can be done as individuals). Each
project will be started as part of regular class laboratory, and then the project group will
complete the project and present the results to the class orally. They will follow this with the
written report. Each individual must write an individual project report, though the methods
and results sections can be essentially identical for both members of the group. The written
report should be in the form of a journal article, 10-15 pages including tables and figures.
Weekend field trip to Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory, 16-18 November. There will also be an
alternative date (with the Hydrology Methods class). This field trip is optional.
Other things –
Boots
Canoe trip on the New River
Lecture notes