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Research Projects

List is in reverse chronological order and represents the most recent completed project year. See also: Featured Research Projects

Active

Learning to See, Seeing to Learning

This project continued to enhance the Macroinvertebrates.org. site, in addition to creating aquatic macroinvertebrate identification resources for learners, teachers, and ...
Active

Water Quality Modeling to Support Source Water and Aquatic Life Protection in Octoraro Creek Watershed

This project supports water quality monitoring and development of a water quality model to guide an alternative restoration plan for ...
Active

Using Microbial Source Tracking to Identify Potential Bacterial Sources in White Clay Creek

Scientists monitored fecal indicator bacteria in White Clay Creek during summer and identified potential bacterial contamination by molecular microbial source ...
Active

Tidal Rivers Biofingerprinting Sediment: Resolving Sediment Connectivity Between Rivers and Estuaries by Tracking Particles With Their Microbial Genetic Signature

Sediment flowing from rivers to estuaries is a double-edged sword: too much sediment can harm oyster beds but not enough ...
Active

Source Tracking and Spatial/Temporal Dynamics of Bacterial Contaminants in Red Clay Creek

Scientists monitored fecal indicator bacteria on a monthly basis at the east and west branches of the Red Clay Creek ...
Active

Soil Microbes and Bean Nutrients in Organic and Conventional Systems

Little is known regarding soil microbes and nutrition levels in vegetables under different farming practices. We are connecting soil microbial ...
Active

Saturated, Suffocated, and Salty: Hotspots of Dissimilatory Nitrate Reduction in Anoxic Riparian Soils

This project investigates the origin of the nitrogen stored in the riparian soils above milldams, the dominant processes controlling its ...
Active

Restoration Project Impact Assessment in Support of Delaware River Watershed Initiative

This project quantifies the positive impacts of restoration projects on water quality and soil health associated with the Delaware River ...
Active

Recovery of Nutrient Processes and Microbial Communities in Relict Hydric Soils Following Restoration

This research explores how microbes and biogeochemical processes in buried relict soils evolve after restoration and how these organisms and ...
Active

North American Macroinvertebrate Taxonomic Certification Program

This program coordinates and executes the taxonomic certification program for the Society for Freshwater Science, conducting family- and genus-level tests ...
Active

Monitoring Fish Populations and Stream Habitat Quality for the National Park Service

This project monitors biological conditions, water quality, habitat integrity, and fish at 37 sites in 10 national parks in the ...
Active

Molecular Ecology of Archaea in Aquatic and Terrestrial Environments

Less is known about Archaea than the other two domains of life on Earth (Bacteria and Eukarya), particularly the role ...
Active

Mitigating Agricultural Pollution of Fresh Water and Combating Climate Change by Restoring Soil Health

Plowing, disking, synthetic fertilizers, and pesticides have damaged the health of agricultural soils, resulting in reduced rainfall infiltration and storage, ...
Active

Microbial Population Dynamics of Periphyton Biofilms in White Clay Creek

Using glass microscope slides as tiny gardens to grow microbial biofilms, this project explored differences in microorganisms between three reaches ...
Active

Macroinvertebrate Monitoring at Sites in White Clay Creek, Pa., Flint River, Ga., Susquehanna River, Pa., and Delaware River, Pa.

These projects use aquatic macroinvertebrates such as mayflies, stoneflies, and caddisflies to provide assessments of current water quality in these ...
Active

Low-Head Milldams as Hotspots for Denitrification and Nitrogen Consumption: Hydrologic and Biogeochemical Controls

As dam removal has increased in recent years in an effort to improve fish habitat and reduce financial liability, few ...
Active

Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology: Trajectory for the Recovery of Stream Ecosystem Structure and Function During Reforestation

Stream restoration in the United States is a multibillion-dollar industry, yet long-term monitoring of its effectiveness is virtually nonexistent. To ...
Active

Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology: River Ecosystem Responses to Floodplain Restoration

After 25 years of litigation, a massive ecological restoration is under way in the Upper Clark Fork River, Mont. Metal-laden ...
Active

Land Protection Impact Assessment in Support of Delaware River Watershed Initiative

This project evaluates the hypothesis that protection and/or maintenance of natural land maintains ecological stream quality by limiting, preventing, or ...
Active

Impact of Pesticides on Soil and Vegetables Grown in Organic and Conventional Systems in a Long-Term Vegetable System Trial

This project characterizes microbial soil health through detailed community structure of bacteria and fungi and determines the relationship of microbial ...
Active

Impact of Land Management of Practices on Winter Squash Yield and Post-Harvest Nutrient Density

By examining the bacteria, Archaea, and fungi living in soils, this project will provide insights on how farming practices and ...
Active

Exploring the Link Between Soil and Human Health: Protein, Protein Quality, and the Nutraceutical Amino Acid Ergothioneine

Ergothioneine, an amino acid that has scientifically proven benefits to human health, is exclusively biosynthesized by fungi and certain bacteria ...
Active

Evaluating the Risk for PFAS Contamination of Surface and Groundwater Through Application of Biosolids in Agroecosystems

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFASs) are a group of thousands of chemicals that are used in a wide range of ...
Active

Evaluating the Effects of Watershed-Scale Agricultural Best Management Practices on Water Quality

In early 2020, stream bank fencing, forested buffers, and barnyard improvements were installed on Amish farms in Lancaster County, Pa ...
Active

Evaluating and Updating Data Collection Protocols in National Parks of the National Capital Region

The National Park Service has monitored stream water quality and quantity for more than 15 years in shallow streams located ...
Active

Evaluating How Conventional, Conservation, and Organic Farming Management Practices Enhance Soil Health and Improve Water Quality

This project investigates how different agricultural management practices influence water quality and soil health. Using Rodale Institute’s 37-year-old Farming Systems ...
Active

Ecotoxicity Study for Mayflies Exposed to Elevated Concentrations of Chloride at Different Temperatures

Chloride concentrations in surface waters have been increasing over the last several decades at multiple locations throughout the United States ...
Active

Dynamics of Phytoplankton Growth and Transport in River Networks From Local to Continental Scales

The project proposes a transformative approach using real-time monitoring of algae concentrations during storm events to evaluate the effects of ...
Active

DRWI Phase II+ Monitoring, Evaluation, Scientific Support, and Capacity Building for Watershed Protection and Restoration Projects

This project, part of the Delaware River Watershed Initiative, provides technical background and assistance to grantees of the William Penn ...
Active

Brandywine Stream Stewards: Community Action in Support of Healthy Waters

Engaging adults and youth from Wilmington, Del., the Stream Stewards Program monitors water resources in the 1,100 acres of open ...
Active

Biological Nitrogen Removal in Sediment Plumes: A Critical but Missing Component of Watershed Models

Nutrient export from rivers is closely tied to sediment plumes that form during storms. By using experiments and methods to ...
Active

Assessment of Environmental Conditions in Bennett’s Run at Kendal-Crosslands Based on Physical, Chemical, Macroinvertebrate, and Fish Monitoring

Water chemistry, temperature, aquatic macroinvertebrates, and fish are being monitored in Bennett’s Run, a small tributary to Brandywine Creek in ...
Inactive

Assessment of Environmental Conditions in Streams of the Runnymede Sanctuary Based on Physical, Chemical, and Macroinvertebrate Monitoring

The 1,670-acre Runnymede Sanctuary was created to preserve the extensive natural, historic, and scenic resources harbored by the property and ...
Inactive

Delaware River Watershed Initiative — Phase II Monitoring, Evaluation, Scientific Support, and Capacity Building for Watershed Protection and Restoration Projects

This project collects and interprets data on macroinvertebrate specimens from stream sites to provide a baseline for the evaluation of ...
Inactive

Delaware River Watershed Initiative — Phase II Monitoring, Evaluation, and Scientific Support for Protecting and Restoring Places of Ecological Significance (Brandywine-Christina, Middle Schuylkill, Schuylkill Highlands Clusters)

Professional and volunteer monitoring of chemistry, macroinvertebrates, and fish to support restoration and protection efforts represent an invaluable (and often ...
Inactive

Phytoplankton Dynamics at the Brandywine River

High-frequency temperature, oxygen, and chlorophyll sensors, canoe float trips, and nutrient monitoring are the tools being used to study how ...
Inactive

Thermal Limitation in Aquatic Insects: Implications for Freshwater Biodiversity in a Warming World

This project tests the hypothesis that temperature limits the distributions of aquatic insects through its effect on resource allocation, and ...
Inactive

Delaware River Watershed Initiative Community Science Phase II

This project engages watershed residents to be active participants in efforts to document conditions across the focus areas of the ...
Inactive

Delaware River Watershed Initiative Phase II Work in Focus Areas

This funding supports the Stroud Center’s Robin L. Vannote Watershed Restoration Program to participate in the Delaware River Watershed Initiative’s ...
Inactive

Transforming Water Quality in the Sharitz Run Headwaters of Brandywine Creek

This Watershed Renaissance Initiative grant will enable Stroud Water Research Center to implement extensive watershed restoration projects designed to capture ...
Inactive

CNH: Coupled Climate, Cultivation, and Culture in the Great Plains: Understanding Water Supply and Water Quality in a Fragile Landscape

This collaborative project develops a model to predict the potential impact of climate variability, climate change, land use, and human ...
Inactive

SFS Leaf Pack Workshop

Stroud Center staff and members of the Society for Freshwater Science Education and Diversity Committee held a Leaf Pack workshop ...
Inactive

Restoring Flood Attenuation and Ecological Resiliency in the Mid-Atlantic Piedmont

For this project, scientists and watershed restoration professionals restore one headwater basin to reduce flooding downstream, improve water quality, and ...
Inactive

Parthenogenesis (Virgin Reproduction), Hybridization, and Life History Plasticity in Mayflies

Scientists are studying a number of mayfly species in White Clay Creek as well as in streams throughout eastern North ...
Inactive

Evaluating Potential Impacts on Groundwater of Passive Composting of Spent Mushroom Substrate According to Best Practices Guidelines

By installing monitoring wells for groundwater, soil-water samplers, and probes to measure the conductivity in soil and groundwater, researchers are ...
Inactive

Sediment Stabilization by Animals in Stream Ecosystems: Consequences for Erosion, Ecosystem Processes, and Biodiversity

Like underwater engineers, caddisflies and other net-spinning macroinvertebrates attach gravels to one another on the bottom of streams in a ...
Inactive

Water-Quality Monitoring at Fair Hill Training Center

Scientists are monitoring fecal indicator bacteria, sediment, and water chemistry from the barns at the Fair Hill Training Center. Based ...
Inactive

Transforming Water Quality in the White Clay Creek Headwaters of Christina River Basin

This Watershed Renaissance Initiative grant will enable Stroud Water Research Center to implement extensive watershed restoration projects designed to capture ...
Inactive

Trajectories of Biofilm Succession and Recovery

The recovery of biological communities after disturbance has always been at the core of ecology as a discipline. While much ...
Inactive

Significance of Streambank Legacy Sediments as Nutrient Sources and Their Implications for Aquatic Nutrient Cycling

The potential for streambank legacy sediments as nutrient sources for aquatic ecosystems has been understudied and is a critical gap ...
Inactive

Large Runoff Flux and Transformation of Particulate Nitrogen (PN) Following Large, Intense Storms: A Critical but Unexplored Component of N Cycling in Watersheds

Particulate nitrogen (PN) in stormwater runoff can increase dramatically with large storms, thus constituting a significant component of nitrogen cycling ...
Inactive

Land Use Effects on Stream Thermal Regime

Stream temperatures are dramatically affected by land use in the watershed and riparian zone. In this project, we measure stream ...
Inactive

Installation and Maintenance Services for Two Wireless Stream Monitoring Stations Measuring Conductivity, Temperature, Depth, and Turbidity for London Grove Township, Pa.

To determine the extent of changes in water quality that may be related to land use, Stroud Center staff installed ...
Inactive

Spatio-Temporal Dynamics of Thermal Refugia in Streams: Consequences for Brook and Brown Trout Interactions

All species of trout are highly sensitive to stream temperature. Native brook trout at the most sensitive, needing colder temperatures ...
Inactive

Pathogen and Water-Quality Monitoring at White Clay Creek

As part of a plan to meet new drinking water regulations, United Water Delaware (UWDE) applied best management practices at ...
Inactive

Ecotoxicity Study for Mayflies Exposed to Elevated Concentrations of Sulfate

Across the United States, sulfate concentrations tend to be elevated in areas where acid rain or coal mining is present ...
Inactive

Delaware River Watershed Initiative — Phase I Protecting and Restoring Places of Ecological Significance (Schuylkill Highlands Cluster)

This project monitored macroinvertebrates to establish a water-quality baseline at 10–16 selected sites associated with protection and restoration efforts for ...
Inactive

Delaware River Watershed Initiative — Phase I Protecting and Restoring Places of Ecological Significance (Brandywine-Christina and Middle Schuylkill Clusters

Professional and volunteer monitoring of chemistry, macroinvertebrates, and fish to support restoration and protection efforts represent an invaluable (and often ...
Inactive

Delaware River Watershed Initiative — Phase I Monitoring, Evaluation, Scientific Support, and Capacity Building for Watershed Protection and Restoration Projects — Entomological and Fish Collections

This project collected and interpreted data on macroinvertebrate specimens from 38 stream sites to provide a baseline for restoration projects ...
Inactive

Threats and Opportunities in the Conservation of Native Pelagic Spawning Fishes in Kansas

This project documents how small dams have fragmented stream networks in the Central Great Plains region. Many fishes native to ...
Inactive

White Clay Creek Stream Watch Project

In 2000 Federal legislation designated White Clay Creek and its tributaries as a National Wild and Scenic River. The White ...
Inactive

The Peru Project

Funding for the Peru Project was provided by a grant from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation. Stroud Water Research ...
Inactive

Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology: Costa Rica

Overview In 1989 Stroud Water Research Center helped establish the Maritza Biological Station in the Área de Conservación Guanacaste of ...
Active

Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology: White Clay Creek, Pennsylvania

Stroud Water Research Center and its 800 ha, 3rd-order drainage basin was designated an Experimental Ecological Reserve in 1981 by ...
Inactive

Schuylkill River Project

Looking for the macroinvertebrate photo gallery? Schuylkill Project Overview Download the Schuylkill River Project report summary Download the Schuylkill River ...
Inactive

Critical Zone Observatory

The University of Delaware, in collaboration with Stroud Water Research Center received a $4.3 million grant from the National Science ...
Inactive

Microbial Fuel Cell Project

This project is testing sediment microbial fuel cells (MFCs) as a source of clean, sustainable, environmentally friendly energy. The study ...
Inactive

Ecotoxicity Study for Mayflies Exposed to Elevated Concentrations of Chloride

Chloride concentrations in surface waters have been increasing over the last several decades at multiple locations throughout the United States ...
Inactive

Metaecosystems and the Upstream Legacy: Influence of Dissolved Organic Matter on the Structure and Function of Streambed Bacterial Communities

Investigators explore how the quality of organic molecules changes with distance downstream and how those changes influence the composition of ...
Inactive

American Chestnut Foundation Leaf Feeding Study

In an effort to restore chestnut trees to watersheds, blight-resistant varieties of American Chestnut have been developed over the last ...
Inactive

Searching for DNA in Water To Test for the Presence of Freshwater Mussels

Determining that a species is present in a stream has traditionally required collection surveys to visually observe one or more ...
Inactive

MRI: Acquisition of a High-Sensitivity Light Stable Isotope Mass Spectrometer for Critical Zone Studies

This grant supports the acquisition of a high-sensitivity stable isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS) at Stroud Water Research Center, which ...
Inactive

Sediment Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs)

For this study, we set out to determine the feasibility of using microbes to generate clean energy on a large ...
Inactive

Collaborative CZO Research: The Role of Metals in Nitrogen Cycling of Soils and Streams

A collaboration with researchers at Princeton University will leverage the exceptional sensor and geochemistry data from our Critical Zone Observatory ...
Inactive

Earthworm Invasion: Investigating Changes in Soil Chemistry and Carbon Sequestration

Human activities over the last 100 years have introduced exotic earthworms into many pristine northern forests. These earthworm invasions are ...
Inactive

Collaborative Research: Coupled Geochemical and Geobiological Characterization of Dissolved Organic Matter Oxidation to Carbon

As microbes process dissolved organic matter from leaves that fall into streams, they release CO2 into the atmosphere. Scientists are ...
Inactive

Christina River Basin Critical Zone Observatory (CRB-CZO): Quantifying Carbon Sequestration Resulting From Human-Induced Erosion

In collaboration with the University of Delaware, Stroud Center scientists established one of 10 Critical Zone Observatories in the U.S ...
Inactive

Monitoring, Evaluation, Scientific Support, and Capacity Building for Watershed Protection and Restoration Projects: Entomological Collections

The goal of this project is to collect and interpret entomological data from 35 stream sites. These sites represent an ...
Inactive

Ecotoxicity Study for Mayflies Exposed to Ambient Stream Water From the Upper Delaware Basin and to Produced Water From Natural Gas Drilling

The production of natural gas from the Marcellus shale in Pennsylvania results in water that travels up through the well ...
Inactive

Comparative Lifecycle and Toxicity Testing of Multiple Mayfly Species Across a Gradient of Total Dissolved Solids, With Methods Development for Native Species in the Central Appalachian Coal Fields

Many water quality standards for pollutants in streams are based on laboratory toxicity tests that rely on macroinvertebrate species that ...
Inactive

Water Quality Assessment in California Using DNA Barcoding

This pilot study was designed to test how the use of a new technology called DNA barcoding can improve water ...
Inactive

Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB): Dynamics of Stream Ecosystem Responses Across Gradients of Reforestation and Changing Climate in a Tropical Dry Forest

Stroud Water Research Center has expanded on 20 years of research on tropical streams near the Maritza Biological Station in ...
Inactive

Water Quality Impacts of the Interoceanic Highway in the Eastern Andes Amazon Headwaters Region

This collaborative involved conducting a comprehensive assessment of water quality impacts for streams and rivers intersected by South America’s first ...
Inactive

Origin of Striped Bass Collected in the Delaware River for Toxics in Biota Monitoring

In 2012 the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) collected striped bass (Morone saxatilis) from the Delaware ...
Inactive

Evaluating Threats to Humans and Aquatic Ecosystems Posed by Agriculture Around the Río Sierpe, Costa Rica

Stroud Water Research Center biologists completed a project to better understand the threat of contaminants from agriculture entering the fish ...
Inactive

Fish Dispersal Across a Riparian Habitat Gradient

Stream fish appear largely immune from physical, chemical, and biological changes between meadow and forested habitats. A study in which ...
Inactive

Testing a Proxy of Historical Nutrient Status Using Diatom-Bound Nitrogen Isotopes

Climate science relies on interpreting proxies of past environmental conditions in dated sediment and ice cores. Our study will develop ...
Inactive

The First Assessment of Congo River Organic Matter Chemistry and Reactivity

The Congo River is the second largest river in the world, but little is known about it because regional conflict ...
Inactive

Macroinvertebrate Assessment of Environmental Conditions in Four Tributaries on the Red Clay Reservation

Stroud Water Research Center scientists sampled stream macroinvertebrates (i.e., primarily insects, crayfish, and worms) and baseflow water chemistry to assess ...
Inactive

Marine Sediments Microbial Fuel Cells (MFCs)

This project focuses on the molecular DNA characterization of microbial species colonizing the anodes and cathodes of microbial fuel cells ...
Inactive

Algal and Macroinvertebrate Responses To Elevated Phosphorus Concentrations in Pennsylvania Streams

This project took advantage of the unique facilities of Stroud Water Research Center as a field station with first-rate laboratory ...
Inactive

Dynamics of Organic Particles in River Ecosystems

Suspended organic particles are important to river food webs and in the transfer of organic carbon from land to ocean ...
Inactive

Hydrologic Regulation of Dissolved Organic Matter Biogeochemistry From Forests Through River Networks

This collaborative proposal will generate the mathematical models that simulate stream flow in White Clay Creek and the movement of ...
Inactive

The Application of Scaling Rules to Energy Flow in Stream Ecosystems

Scientists have grown young deciduous trees in an atmosphere enriched with the stable isotope of carbon so as to follow ...
Inactive

Fish Inventories in the Christina River Basin

Stroud Water Research Center scientists conducted surveys of fish in small streams in the Bucktoe Preserve in the Red Clay ...
Inactive

Easter Island: Reconstructing the Failure of a Civilization

The collapse of the once thriving human population on Easter Island has been largely attributed to environmental degradation, but questions ...
Inactive

Spatial and Temporal Variation in Water Quality Among Major Tributaries of the Schuylkill River

This research, education, and outreach project continues efforts with local watershed groups to monitor macroinvertebrates in streams throughout the Schuylkill ...
Inactive

Abandoned Mine Drainage Remediation and Stream Function

This study was designed to determine the impact of abandoned mine drainage (AMD) on stream ecosystem functions, such as algal ...
Inactive

Connecting the Hydrologic Cycle From Hillslopes to River Networks

This collaborative research will generate the first model that links the water and carbon cycles of river catchments by focusing ...
Inactive, Inactive

Evaluating the Seasonal Effects of Short-Term Temperature Change on Macroinvertebrates and Fish in Streams and Rivers

We are conducting laboratory studies to test criteria of existing legislation for protecting fish and macroinvertebrates from excessive temperature changes ...
Inactive

The Importance of Streamside Reforestation for Reducing Nonpoint-Source Pollution in Small Streams

This ongoing project to track water quality improvements provided by a riparian forest buffer in the Stroud Preserve, Chester County, ...
Inactive

Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology (LTREB): Stream Ecosystem Structure and Function in a Maturing Deciduous Forest

This project addresses long-term changes in a stream ecosystem in southeastern Pennsylvania to evaluate best management practices for riparian or ...
Inactive

Nutrient Balances in an Estuarine Salt Marsh

The study seeks to determine whether nutrients from Kent County's wastewater treatment plant contribute significantly to the seasonal absence of ...
Inactive

Effects of Land Use on Water Quality of Streams and Rivers on the Osa Peninsula, Costa Rica

We used species composition and relative abundance of aquatic insect populations to measure water quality changes from deforestation, cattle farming ...
Inactive

Biofilm Ecology in Philadelphia’s East Park Distribution System and the Efficacy of Control Strategies

Most microorganisms in nature grow attached to surfaces, encased in a protective matrix — or biofilm. Our research focuses on ...
Inactive

Storm-Driven Carbon Burial in the Andean Amazon

This project explores the role of extreme flood events during La Niña in burying — and thus preventing from entering ...
Inactive

Particulate Organic Matter in Great River Ecosystems

This research, which is part of a larger, multi-institution project to assess the health of the nation's great rivers (the ...
Inactive

Stroud Preserve Reforested Riparian Buffer Project

Overview Project Years: 1992, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 Download ...
Inactive

The New York Project

Overview Download final report In 2000 Stroud Water Research Center was awarded a Safe Drinking Water Act (SDWA) grant funded ...