Higher "prim. prod." in our warmed stream?

One of the predictions from metabolic theory is that net primary production should increase with higher temperatures. We've been warming Stream 7 since October last year, so this is the first spring since we started the manipulation. A thick growth of an as-yet unidentified green alga is now appearing in thick patches in several areas along the warmed reach. We've never seen this before, so it could well be a response to warming. Check out Dan Nelson's photo taken last week. Click on the photo for a better look.

Breaking news!  Brooke Weigel (one of our wonderful REU students) from St. Olaf College just completed a successful poster presentation at the annual Society of Freshwater Science meeting. This research - "Influence of temperature on benthic metabolism and nutrient uptake across a gradient of geothermally heated streams" was part of a collaboration with Adam Toomey (another wonderful REU student from Washington-Jefferson College) and other team members (Hood, Cross, Benstead, and Huryn, Junker, Nelson).  Way to go!

Brooke was also highlighted on the front page of the St. Olaf College's website!  See below.

http://www.stolaf.edu/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=NewsShorts#5317

Warming experiment update

The heat exchanger continues to do a great job. Below is a plot of the latest data, showing mean daily temperatures in the upstream reference reach and experimentally warmed reach. The arrow indicates the start of the manipulation on 22 October 2011. A couple of things to note. One can see the effect of the heat exchanger freezing up for ten days in December 2011 when temperatures returned to baseline levels. Second, temperatures were very variable in both reaches during the first winter, presumably because of rainfall and snowmelt. During this last winter, a thick snowpack buffered temperatures upstream of the warm water diffuser, resulting in much less variability. Our mean warming is 2.25 C as of the end of April 2012. That should be creeping up slowly now that snowmelt is over and discharge in the stream decreases.

1000th surber milestone!

The populace of Iceland recently celebrated "Sumardagurinn fyrsti" or the first day of summer, in April, a week after snow showers in Reykjavik. Seemed a bit premature to me, but who am I to question the ways of the old Norse, they were vikings. As we in Iceland revel in the beautiful weather of the first weeks of 'summer', we have an occasion worth noting-one that will likely define Dan and my lives for a significant portion of the future. On April 20th we collected the 1000th surber sample of the project! That should be enough to keep Dan and I busy for a while.

Cheers,
Litli Jim

Welcome Lili

We have recently welcomed a new member to the team.

Lili arrived from the University of Vigo in Spain, where she recently completed her Ph. D. in stream ecology with Dr. Isabel Pardo. A university outreach grant, which provides funding to support students to work abroad for up to 3 months, has brought her to Iceland to do some stream ecology alongside us and explore this beautiful country.

Lili brings with her a broad range of international work experience in both academic and governmental arenas. Her doctoral research focused on detrital energy pathways in stream ecosystems, and the effects of temperature and food quality on detritivore life history. Jointly, she worked in a broad range of aquatic habitats with the European Water Framework Directive a program to develop and integrate water policy and management across the European Union.

We are glad to have Lili aboard and looking forward to working with her over the next months.

Bless.

Streams from a different wavelength

Wyatt and Lili working to finish up a nutrient
slug with Jim doing some community outreach.
Photo Credit: Christa Feucht and Martin Gasser  

During our winter sampling a few weeks back Wyatt, Lili, and myself were working on one of our warm streams near the town of Hveragerði. This stream is in sight of a popular hiking trail, and more times than not we find ourselves explaining who we are and what we are doing to at least one curious passerby, be it a local resident out for an afternoon walk or a tourist from  afar exploring the geothermal features in the area. On this day, our obligatory inquiring minds were, themselves, scientists with Iceland Geosurvey, Ísor. They happened to be sporting a fancy infrared camera and kindly offered to snap a few photos of us sampling and the surrounding area.  The photos are pretty psychedelic and display the variability in geothermal heating across the landscape.

Looking down over the stream
and surrounding landscape.
Photo Credit: Christa Feucht and Martin Gasser

Thanks Christa and Martin.  We are looking forward to coffee next time we are in the area.

Icelandic weather...

We enjoyed some predictably appalling weather during the February "Landscape" sampling. Temperatures either side of zero C, everything from rain through sleet and snow to hail, and some really interesting wind and fog. Definitely the worst weather in which I have ever worked - it made the North Slope in winter look like cake. Here are a few shots - the ones taken when I dared to get the camera out...

The Diamesa didn't seem to care though...

At least the cabin was cosy (most of the time). Even when it wasn't, it was a lot better than being outside. Here are a few shots of cabin life.

The snorers' room - otherwise known as the kitchen:

Our intrepid postdoc brushes up on his R... wait a minute!