Stroud Water Research Center
Human activities are increasing stream temperatures and harming habitat quality for freshwater fish and species like mayflies.
If you’ve ever hiked along a woodland stream on a warm spring day, you may have seen these tiny creatures swarming together, fluttering in a midair dance.
Funk’s insatiable curiousity has served him well during 45 years as a instrumental player on landmark freshwater studies at the Stroud Center.
When stream temperatures rise, often as a result of climate change or thermal pollution or a lack of tree shade, mayflies display poorer growth.
Funk, D.H., B.W. Sweeney, and J.K. Jackson. 2021. Journal of Experimental Biology 224:jeb.233338.
Hsuan C., D.D. Jima, D.H. Funk, J.K. Jackson, B.W. Sweeney, and D.B. Buchwalter. 2020. Nature Scientific Reports 10:19119.
This video by Stroud Center Entomologist David Funk captured the moment an ovoviviparous mayfly laid a brood of eggs that hatched immediately into hundreds of nymphs.
There are some questions too complicated for lab experiments to answer.
Ruiz-Sobrino, A., C.A. Martín-Blanco, T. Navarro, I. Almudi, G. Masiero, M. Jimenez-Caballero, D.B. Buchwalter, D.H. Funk, J.L. Gattolliat, M.C. Lemos, F. Jiménez, and F. Casares. 2020. Developmental Biology 462(1): 50–59.
Kolpas, A., D.H. Funk, J.K. Jackson, and B.W. Sweeney. 2019. Ecological Modeling 416, 108892