Big Lessons from Small Streams

Edith Chase Symposium presents, "Big Lessons from Small Streams".

Rivers and streams cover a small slice of the landscape yet they provide outsized contributions to biodiversity and ecosystem services. Most river miles are accounted for by tributaries small enough to cross in a few steps, and that is where Dr. Costello has worked for most of his career. In this presentation, he will discuss what we know about small streams, how tributaries contribute to watershed function, and their vulnerability to human activities. He will share examples from his own research that uses small streams to advance how we understand ecological interactions more broadly. He will also show how simple bio-monitoring tools in small streams can produce insights into the persistence and extent of human disturbance at a global scale. Overall, Dr. Costello will demonstrate how tributaries in our backyards and parks connect to broader networks, which emphasizes the need for these ecosystems to be protected, effectively managed, and restored.

Host or Publisher Portage Soil & Water Conservation District