New paper in Freshwater Biology emphasizes importance of hydroperiod for aquatic invertebrates

Friday, February 2, 2018

We are pleased to announce the publication of our latest paper in Freshwater Biology!  

"Pond permanence is a key determinant of aquatic macroinvertebrate community structure in wetlands" presents the thesis work by recent graduate student Jennifer Gleason, who studied the determinants of community structure in aquatic macroinvertebrates in wetlands of the Northern Prairie Pothole Region.  We found that hydroperiod is the primary driver of community structure in these dynamic wetlands, as these organisms require ponded water to be present in order to complete their life cycles.  

This exciting work has sparked a new collaboration between the Rooney Lab and U of Guelph's Cottenie Lab, where Jennifer is now completing her Ph.D. 

Current Rooney Lab Ph.D. student Jody Daniel-Simon will be presenting some of these new modelling results today at the U Waterloo World Wetlands Day celebrations.  There is still time to catch her talk if you're interested in hearing the latest on this research.

You can access a read-only version of the journal article here.