Menu

Bernard Sweeney, Ph.D.

500 500 Stroud Water Research Center
Bernard Sweeney, Ph.D.

Distinguished Research Scientist Emeritus

Contact

sweeney@stroudcenter.org
tel. 610-268-2153, ext. 1300
970 Spencer Road, Avondale, PA 19311

Interests and Expertise

Bernard Sweeney’s interests include the role of water quality monitoring in conservation, population and community ecology of temperate and tropical aquatic invertebrates; pollution assessment in temperate and tropical streams using macroinvertebrates; the role of streamside forests in the structure and function of stream and river ecosystems; factors affecting the growth and survivorship of trees in riparian forests; the effects of global warming on stream ecosystems; genetic variation and gene flow among populations of stream insects; the effects of diel and seasonal temperature change on aquatic insect populations; evolution of facultative parthenogenesis in aquatic insects; bioenergetics and secondary production of aquatic insects; and the bioassay of toxic materials in aquatic systems.

ResearchGate | Download CV

Education

  • Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania, Population Biology/Zoology.
  • B.S., Delaware Valley College of Science and Agriculture, Biology.

Professional Experience

  • Distinguished Research Scientist, Stroud Water Research Center, December 2017–present.
  • President, Distinguished Research Scientist, Stroud Water Research Center, 2017.
  • President, Executive Director, Curator, Director, Stroud Water Research Center, 1999–2016.
  • Vice President, Asociación Centro de Investigación Stroud, San José, Costa Rica, 1991–present.
  • Curator, Executive Director, Stroud Water Research Center of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia; Vice-President, Curator, Environmental Group, Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1996–1999.
  • Associate Curator, Executive Director, Stroud Water Research Center of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1988–1996.
  • Assistant Curator, Stroud Water Research Center of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, 1978–1988.

Publications

Watershed survey of streams in western Bhutan with macroinvertebrates, water chemistry, bacteria and DNA barcodes

Battle, J.M., B.W. Sweeney, B. Currinder, A. Aufdenkampe, B. Fisher, and N. Islam. 2024. Journal of Threatened Taxa 16(11): 26089–26103.

Oxygen limitation fails to explain upper chronic thermal limits and the temperature size rule in mayflies

Funk, D.H., B.W. Sweeney, and J.K. Jackson. 2021. Journal of Experimental Biology 224:jeb.233338.

Transcriptomic and life history responses of the mayfly Neocloeon triangulifer to chronic diel thermal challenge

Hsuan C., D.D. Jima, D.H. Funk, J.K. Jackson, B.W. Sweeney, and D.B. Buchwalter. 2020. Nature Scientific Reports 10:19119.

Evaluating water quality for Amazonian streams along the Interoceanic Highway in Peru using macroinvertebrates collected by hand and with leaf packs

Sweeney, B.W., J.M. Battle, D.H. Funk, R.W. Flowers, T. Gonzales Ojeda, A. Huamantinco, J.K. Jackson, and M. Arnold. 2020. Limnologica 81, 125759.

Phenological modeling of the parthenogenetic mayfly Neocloeon triangulifer (Ephemeroptera: Baetidae) in White Clay Creek

Kolpas, A., D.H. Funk, J.K. Jackson, and B.W. Sweeney. 2019. Ecological Modeling 416, 108892

See all publications by Stroud Center authors

Related Content

How Many Trees Does It Take to Protect a Stream?

Here's a hint: wider buffers are better. Narrower buffers help but don't function as well as pollutant barriers and enhancers of in-stream function.

Bern Sweeney Recognized With Prestigious Ruth Patrick Award

As a student, colleague, and lifelong friend of Ruth Patrick, Sweeney sustained a career of scientific discovery leading to environmental solutions.

The Stream Restoration Puzzle

Stroud Water Research Center examines why freshwater ecosystem restoration often fails to meet water quality objectives.

Bern Sweeney of the Stroud Center Named Society for Freshwater Science Fellow

Under his leadership, the Stroud Center became the only independent nonprofit, nonadvocacy research institution focused solely on the study of freshwater ecosystems.

Breaking the Fall

How the Clean Water Act changed the trajectory of America’s waterways and became a beacon for freshwater science.

Rooted in Science

30 years and counting, Stroud Water Research Center’s Education Department makes cutting-edge freshwater science fun.
You might also like