Using high-frequency sensor data to study effects of extreme events on aquatic ecosystems

Tue, 03 Dec 2013 19:00:00 -0500

As part of a cohort project, Jennie Bentrup led a team of trainees in a study using high-frequency sensor data to study effects of extreme events on aquatic ecosystems. The goal of their project is to address how severe droughts and intense precipitation events change te quantity and quality of dissolved organic matter (DOM) in a variety of ecosystems. This work was accomplished via buoy-deployed automated sensors on six study lakes in Ohio, Pennsylvania and the Canadian Rockies, as well as sensors in streams and wetlands in Ohio measured the seasonal changes of colored DOM, chlorophyll, and oxygen. Water samples were collected to measure concentration and absorbance of DOC. This project was presented as part of a poster and video session at the annual IGERT meeting this past May, and the trainees plan to publish our results. In addition, Bentrup is a co-author on a manuscript in preparation using the lakes as sentinels concept to look at optical signatures of climate change.