Newest paper, written with Jacob Price, Michael Ryan, and Christopher Sales at Drexel University, and Laura Toran from Temple University, is available from Science of the Total Environment. In it, we use stream chemistry, qPCR and amplicon sequencing to evaluate the impact of WWTP effluent on microbial community structure in receiving streams. We found that alpha diversity increases below effluent, but the stream shows recovery with distance. Major nutrients (N and P) did not control shifts in community structure, but antecedent moisture conditions did impact diversity. The paper is available for the next 50 days for free: https://authors.elsevier.com/c/1VmXBB8cccnqt. After, feel free to email me for a copy!
We completed the first of our two Raz/fluorescein injections on Tuesday this week, and I've finally stepped away from the lab fluorometer after analyzing all of our longitudinal profiles. We were able to collect SIX profiles at hourly intervals, hopefully letting us see if there is temporal variation in metabolism below this wastewater treatment plant! We couldn't have done it without our 11 wonderful volunteers who dedicated a large chunk of their day to sitting by the stream and taking samples for us, as Marie and I ran around measuring discharge, checking the pump, mapping stream morphology, etc. No major disasters = two happy scientist. Now the lab work continues as we measure the grab samples for nitrate and phosphate over the next few weeks AND plan our second injection below a different treatment plant for next week or the week after! Then I will sleep for a week. Photo: Marie Kurz and I talking mid-ADV measurement. Picture by Jim Berglund.
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