Sycamore Creek macroinvertebrate collections after flooding event

The primary objective of this project is to understand how long-term climate
variability influences the structure and function of desert streams. Climate and
hydrology are intimately linked in arid landscapes; for this reason, desert streams
are particularly well suited for both observing and understanding the consequences
of climate variability and directional change. Arid regions are charac¬ter¬ized by
high interannual variation in precipitation, and these climate patterns drive the
overall disturbance regime (in terms of flooding and drying) and nutrient status of
desert stream ecosystems. At long time scales, the number and size of floods in a
given year or cluster of years dictate nutrient delivery to streams from the
surrounding catchment, and also influence the biogeomorphic structure of the
stream-riparian corridor. Embedded within this decadal-scale hydrologic regime ,
flash floods scour stream channels and initiate a series of rapid successional
changes by benthic algae and macroinvertebrates at short time scales (i.e., within a
year). An important goal of this research is to determine how recovery following
discrete events is influenced by both stream nutrient status and channel structure
and to thus better understand how long-term climate variability and change guide the
interactions among slow (biogeomorphic change) and fast (post-flood succession)
features and processes characteristic of desert stream ecosystems.