Understanding aquatic ecosystems in the North American west is crucial for creating management plans and informing management decisions. As climate change continues to make Western Colorado hotter and drier, we are here to provide information about our local aquatic systems and their inhabitants, ready to collaborate with stakeholders of all kinds!
Graduate Students' Master's Theses Projects
Sophia Reggiani is a dual masters student in both the Ecology and Environmental Management programs. She was born and raised in Oregon, and received her B.S. in Biology and a Certificate in Native American Studies from Southern Oregon University. Sophia is enthusiastic about all things relating to ecology and conservation. She’s especially passionate about herpetology, namely salamanders. Her project will evaluate the insect communities of sagebrush wet meadows, an understudied portion of the biodiversity in the Rocky Mountains and a key food source for endangered Gunnison Sage Grouse chicks.
Laura Croll is an Austrian international student who comes to us after finishing her bachelor's at Tulane. For her ecology master's, she is studying how beaver dam analogues change montane streams in the Taylor Basin. Focusing on aquatic invertebrates, Laura will inform us as to how beaver-engineering and beaver-inspired restoration techniques change stream communities and how land managers can evaluate how well these structures are improving stream conditions.
Eva Anderson is also dual master's degree student and is co-advised by Dr. Derek Houston. Eva comes to us after completing an ecology degree at CU Boulder and working in lake conservation for AmeriCorps. Combining her interests in water quality and aquatic invertebrates, Eva's thesis project is all about a heavy-metal contaminated subalpine fen system in the San Juan mountains. She will sample the fen's aquatic invertebrate community before and after a mountain slope restoration project below an old mine that will hopefully prevent metal-laden runoff from entering the water. Her research will help inform how these sensitive mountain wetlands might recover from decades of pollution.
Undergraduate Students' Research Projects
Jazmyn Rivera is a biology student at Chaffey College in California. We are so lucky to have her as a member of the summer 2023 field team through the Rocky Mountain Biological Laboratory REU program. Jazmyn's research focuses on how aquatic invertebrate communities and taxa richness differ in beaver ponds of different ages in the Gothic Valley of the East River drainage. She is comparing ponds over 20 years old with those built within the last seven years. We hope this research informs land managers of what to expect with beaver pond succession, and that knowing this could inform long-term evaluation criteria for beaver dam analogues in restoration projects.