The recovery of biological communities after disturbance has always been at the core of ecology as a discipline. While much is known about how interactive effects of flow velocity and sediment load influence algae and/or macroinvertebrates less is known about their influence on microbial biofilms. In this project we assessed how fast and to what extent biofilm communities recover from varying conditions of water velocity and sediment load. An experimental approach was taken using the indoor flumes at Stroud Water Research Center to mimic flood events of different intensity and to quantify the structure and function of biofilm communities as they recovered.
Funded by: Stroud Water Research Center
Principal Investigators: Marc Peipoch, Jinjun Kan, and Raven Bier
Project Years: 2018
