Seasonal and longitudinal variability of zooplankton assemblages along a river-dominated estuarine gradient

Connelly, Kristin A.; Rollwagen‐Bollens, Gretchen; Bollens, Stephen M.

doi:10.1016/j.ecss.2020.106980

Cited by 17 publications

(8 citation statements)

References 98 publications

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“…We do note, however, that the teachers from Waterside and Riverbend high schools were able to successfully maintain the monthly field collections for their locations, with the regular assistance of a small number of dedicated students (and occasionally their enthusiastic parents). This continuity of sampling allowed for the successful completion of the CRESCENDO scientific research investigation (Connelly et al, 2020). Overall, teachers from all five schools engaged more than 300 high school students in the CRESCENDO project.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

“…In this article we describe our results and conclusions in relation to the overarching educational research theme. We direct readers to our recent peer-reviewed publication describing the results of the scientific research conducted in the CRESCENDO project, which show a distinct geographic pattern in the resident zooplankton assemblage of the CRE between the marine-influenced river mouth at the Pacific coast compared to the freshwater (yet still tidally-influenced) upstream reaches of the estuary, where the invasive copepod Pseudodiaptomus forbesi now comprises >50% of the zooplankton abundance (Connelly et al, 2020). Notably, all of the samples and data analyzed and reported in this article were collected and initially processed by the CRESCENDO high school student participants.…”

Section: Conceptual Framework For Integrated Educational and Scientif...mentioning

confidence: 99%

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Actively Participating in University-Sponsored Ecological Research Increases High School Students’ Knowledge of and Attitudes About Science

Rollwagen‐Bollens

Nelson

Wait

2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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The Next Generation Science Standards call for students to “investigate the natural world through the processes of scientific inquiry.” Yet, it is rare for secondary students in the U.S. to engage in authentic scientific investigations of natural phenomena. The Columbia River Estuary Science Education and Outreach (CRESCENDO) Project was a 2-year (2016–2018) university-high school partnership between scientists and science education researchers from Washington State University (WSU) and science teachers and students from five public high schools located adjacent to the Columbia River Estuary (CRE). The teachers and students collaborated with WSU scientists on a rigorous ecological study of the CRE, which provided an opportunity to study how engaging students in authentic scientific research would impact their ecological knowledge and their attitudes toward environmental stewardship. Our study methods included online attitude surveys and knowledge assessments for all participating students, classroom observations, and semi-structured small group interviews with 3–5 students from each school at the end of each year of the project. We found that many students made significant gains in their ecological knowledge and understanding of scientific inquiry practices, demonstrating deeper understanding of the connections between local land use and water quality in the CRE, as well how nutrient concentrations vary seasonally and along the axis of the estuary. Students also showed enthusiasm for taking part in a “real” scientific research project, collaborating with university scientists, contributing “their” data to an investigative effort that extended beyond their own school, and the opportunity to get outdoors during science class. We identified five “key elements” of the CRESCENDO project that contributed to its success, and which would allow our model of a consistent, long-term (months) and immersive research experience for high school students to be transferrable to university-school partnerships across a range of size, location, research mission, and resource availability. Finally, this project also provided more evidence in support of place-based approaches for student learning, and the importance of immersing students in their environments where they can study the natural world by asking relevant questions and generating novel data about the science topics that matter to them.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 96%

Section: Conceptual Framework For Integrated Educational and Scientif...mentioning

confidence: 99%

Actively Participating in University-Sponsored Ecological Research Increases High School Students’ Knowledge of and Attitudes About Science

Rollwagen‐Bollens

Nelson

Wait

2022

Front. Environ. Sci.

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“…Aquatic invasive species pose a growing threat to freshwater ecosystems worldwide Havel, Kovalenko, Thomaz, Amalfitano, & Kats, 2015;Lodge et al, 2006). Indeed, the lower CR is now a highly invaded ecosystem, hosting several species of invasive copepods (Connelly, Rollwagen-Bollens, & Bollens, 2020;Cordell, Bollens, Draheim, & Sytsma, 2008;Dexter et al, 2018;Dexter, Bollens, Cordell, & Rollwagen-Bollens, 2020; Rollwagen-Bollens Bollens, 2013), and the invasive Asian clam C. fluminea (Bolam, Rollwagen-Bollens, & Bollens, 2019;Hassett et al, 2017). Some of these invasive taxa seem to be increasing in abundance along with long-term (decadal) increases in water temperature .…”

Section: Implications For Invasive Bivalvesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Calcium concentrations in the lower Columbia River, USA, are generally sufficient to support invasive bivalve spread

Bollens

Harrison

Kramer

et al. 2021

River Research & Apps

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Dissolved calcium concentration [Ca 2+ ] is thought to be a major factor limiting the establishment and thus the spread of invasive bivalves such as zebra (Dreissena polymorpha) and quagga (Dreissena bugensis) mussels. We measured [Ca 2+ ] in 168 water samples collected along $100 river-km of the lower Columbia River, USA, between June 2018 and March 2020. We found [Ca 2+ ] to range from 13 to 18 mg L À1 during summer/fall and 5 to 22 mg L À1 during the winter/spring. Previous research indicates that [Ca 2+ ] < 12 mg L À1 are likely to limit the establishment and spread of invasive bivalves. Thus, our results indicate that there is sufficient Ca 2+ in most locations in the lower Columbia River to support the establishment of invasive dreissenid mussels, which could join the already widespread and abundant Asian clam (Corbicula fluminea) as the newest invader to an already heavily invaded Columbia River ecosystem. These new data provide important measurements from a heretofore undersampled region of the Columbia River and have important implications for the spread of invasive bivalves and, by extension, the conservation and management of native species and ecosystems.

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“…Like many temperate rivers, the Columbia River (Pacific Northwest USA and Canada) has been heavily invaded by multiple species of zooplankton-with slightly different sets of invaders in estuarine and freshwater sections of the river [26][27][28][29]. Among freshwater reaches of the lower Columbia River (CR), three zooplankton invaders are regularly observed: The calanoid copepod Pseudodiaptomus forbesi, the Bosminid cladoceran Bosmina (Eubosmina) coregoni, and planktonic juveniles of the clam Corbicula fluminea [28,30,31].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Modeling the trophic impacts of invasive zooplankton in a highly invaded river

et al. 2020

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The lower Columbia River (Washington and Oregon, USA) has been heavily invaded by a large number of planktonic organisms including the invasive copepod Pseudodiaptomus forbesi and the planktonic juveniles of the invasive clam, Corbicula fluminea. In order to assess the ecological impacts of these highly abundant invaders, we developed a multivariate auto-regressive (MAR) model of food web dynamics based upon a 12-year time-series of plankton community and environmental data from the Columbia River. Our model results indicate that plankton communities in the lower Columbia River are strongly impacted by the copepod P. forbesi at multiple trophic levels. We observed different ecological effects across different life stages of P. forbesi, with nauplii negatively impacting ciliates and autotrophs, and copepodite stages negatively impacting Daphnia and cyclopoid copepods. Although juvenile C. fluminea were highly abundant in the summer and autumn of each year, our best fit MAR model did not show significant C. fluminea impacts. Our results illustrate the strong ecological impact that some zooplankton invaders may cause within rivers and estuarine systems, and highlight the need for further research on the feeding ecology of the planktonic life-stage of C. fluminea. Overall, our study demonstrates the manner in which long-term, high resolution data sets can be used to better understand the ecological impacts of invasive species among complex and highly dynamic communities.

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Seasonal and longitudinal variability of zooplankton assemblages along a river-dominated estuarine gradient

Cited by 17 publications

References 98 publications

Actively Participating in University-Sponsored Ecological Research Increases High School Students’ Knowledge of and Attitudes About Science

Actively Participating in University-Sponsored Ecological Research Increases High School Students’ Knowledge of and Attitudes About Science

Calcium concentrations in the lower Columbia River, USA, are generally sufficient to support invasive bivalve spread

Modeling the trophic impacts of invasive zooplankton in a highly invaded river

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