Summary:
This course seeks to introduce advanced undergraduate students to multidisciplinary collaborative watershed and stream analysis through combined laboratory and field study of a selected stream system. Topics relating to management of stream systems will be discussed throughout with emphasis on the management of Sierra Nevada rivers in California. Students from diverse backgrounds will work in interdisciplinary research teams to collect and analyze field data from the Tuolumne River system. These teams will present results of the field studies in the form written reports due at the end of the class. Data collection will focus on key ecological issues relevant to management within the watershed such as: what are the impacts of regulated flow regimes on aquatic biota, what are the impacts from the recent Rim fire, and what long-term monitoring data are needed to address on-going conservation strategies in the face of climate change?