Anthropogenic stressors on aquatic ecosystems: Modeling links between UV radiation, geochemistry, bioaccumulation, and invertebrate communities at a landscape scale
Principal Investigators:
Marjorie L. Brooks
Multiple environmental stressors such as trace metal contaminants, increased ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and climate warming are having synergistic effects on aquatic ecosystems. Abiotic effects propagate through all levels of ecosystem organization, providing opportunities to develop the integrative models needed to assess and predict important interactive effects of multiple stressors. For example, when invertebrates bioaccumulate metals above thresholds beyond which some species cannot regulate metal intake, it leads to impaired growth, reproduction,... more
Multiple environmental stressors such as trace metal contaminants, increased ultraviolet (UV) radiation, and climate warming are having synergistic effects on aquatic ecosystems. Abiotic effects propagate through all levels of ecosystem organization, providing opportunities to develop the integrative models needed to assess and predict important interactive effects of multiple stressors. For example, when invertebrates bioaccumulate metals above thresholds beyond which some species cannot regulate metal intake, it leads to impaired growth, reproduction, and survival that alter the structure of invertebrate communities in ways that should be predictable. I propose to develop models that couple the geochemistry of natural waters as altered by UV exposure with the biological uptake of metals and the resulting structure of invertebrate communities. Current regulatory policy for metals generally ignores most natural variation and the synergistic impacts of multiple stressors (e.g., seasonal and temporal fluctuations in metal concentrations coupled with UV exposure). Based on an extensive, regional data set, my models will link atmospheric, climatic, and geochemical effects on the spatial dispersion of invertebrate diversity throughout several watersheds, and will have important implications for both regulatory policy and ecological theory.
collapse
Participants and Meetings

Working Group Participants
Activity | Dates | Further Information |
---|---|---|
Postdoctoral Fellow | 5th January 2006—4th January 2008 | Participant List |
Participant Contact Information
Marjorie L. Brooks | mlbrooks@siu.edu | University of California, Santa Barbara |
Products: Publications, Reports, Datasets, Presentations, Visualizations
Type | Products of NCEAS Research |
---|---|
Journal Article | Brooks, Marjorie L.; Boese, C. J.; Meyer, Joseph S. 2006. Complexation and time-dependent accumulation of copper by larval fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas): Implications for modeling toxicity. Aquatic Toxicology. Vol: 78. Pages 42-49. (Online version) |
Data Set | Brooks, Marjorie L. 2006. Geochemistry of Colorado Spring. (Abstract) (Online version) |
Journal Article | Brooks, Marjorie L.; Clements, William; McKnight, Diane M. 2007. Photochemical control of copper complexation by dissolved organic matter in Rocky Mountain streams, Colorado. Limnology and Oceanography. Vol: 52. Pages 766-779. (Online version) |
Journal Article | Brooks, Marjorie L.; Meyer, Joseph S.; McKnight, Diane M. 2007. Photooxidation of wetland and riverine dissolved organic matter: Altered copper complexation and organic composition. Hydrobiologia. Vol: 579. Pages 95-113. (Online version) |
Journal Article | Brooks, Marjorie L.; Boese, C. J.; Meyer, Joseph S. 2007. Toxicity of copper to larval Primephales promelas in the presence of photodegraded natural dissolved organic matter. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences. Vol: 64. Pages 391-401. (Online version) |
"Anthropogenic stressors on aquatic ecosystems: Modeling links between UV radiation, geochemistry, bioaccumulation, and invertebrate communities at a landscape scale" is project ID: 10341