Projects

Study of Benthic Invertebrate Communities of the Twisp River

Invertebrate Ecology is working with Yakama tribal biologists to inventory and characterize the benthic invertebrate community in the Twisp River of E. Washington. Historically, salmon carcasses left after the spawn contributed to marine derived nutrient loads in streams with anadromous salmon runs such as the Twisp. The decline of these runs has resulted in nutrient deprivation in many streams, affecting benthic invertebrates and salmonid species that feed on them. Invertebrates are being collected, identified (primarily to the genus and species level), and assigned to functional feeding guilds for metric calculation and food web/bioenergetics modeling.