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Workshops & seminars

Why we turned a lake brown, and what we learned


Date & time
Friday, March 6, 2015
1:15 p.m. – 2:15 p.m.
Speaker(s)

Dr. Chris Solomon

Cost

This event is free

Organization

Department of Biology

Where

Richard J. Renaud Science Complex
7141 Sherbrooke W.
Room SP-S110

Wheel chair accessible

Yes

Like tea leaves in a mug, terrestrial organic matter dissolved in lakes gives them a brownish tinge. Concentrations of this terrestrially-derived dissolved organic matter (tDOM) vary widely across the landscape, and are changing at decadal scales due to anthropogenic effects.

Food web theory predicts that inputs of tDOM should subsidize lake productivity, but physical principles predict the opposite effect. Over the past 5 years our research group has used models, observational studies, lab experiments, and a whole-ecosystem manipulation to explore these complex effects.

In this talk, Dr. Chris Solomon will summarize what we have learned about the effects of tDOM on fishes, carbon cycling, zooplankton, benthic invertebrates, primary productivity, and other aspects of lake ecosystems, and highlight the unexpected results and puzzles that have emerged.

For more information on the Biology Weekly Research Seminar, visit the webpage.

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