Ecology of Local Waterways

An abundance of waterways was one reason many people settled in the area we now call Blacksburg and the New River Valley, but many local freshwater ecosystems are increasingly threatened by human activities that change landscapes and water quality. As freshwater scientists working and living in the Blacksburg area, we have prioritized selecting local study sites for many of our research projects, which allows us to connect our science with nearby natural resources and communities. Published research about the ecology of local streams and ponds has characterized: 

• how Stroubles Creek water quality, photosynthesis, and respiration change with stream flow, 

• how metabolism (photosynthesis and respiration) in Stroubles Creek recovers from flood disturbances, 

• salt pollution dynamics in Stroubles Creek, 

• carbon metabolism rates in Walls Branch and Stroubles Creek, 

• how water quality changes at stream confluences throughout the Toms Creek network, 

• potential responses of local freshwater microbes to different types of salt pollution, &

• dissolved organic carbon, dissolved oxygen, and carbon dioxide dynamics in a intermittently flowing tributary to Poverty Creek.

Ongoing research is characterizing water quality and dissolved gas dynamics across the Stroubles Creek network, including the Duck Pond and tributaries to Stroubles Creek on Virginia Tech's campus in Blacksburg, VA. 

In Spring 2024, Erin Hotchkiss & Katherine X. Pérez Rivera led a class of undergraduates in a semester-long team research project assessing the role of the Duck Pond on Virginia Tech's campus in altering the downstream water quality of Stroubles Creek (BIOL 2984 Special Study: Ecology Research in Local Waterways). In anticipation of a large dredging project that will remove tons (literally!) of sediments deposited in the Duck Pond to increase its water holding and pollutant removal capacity, we measured water quality parameters linked with ecosystem health above and below the Duck Pond throughout spring 2024, building on an initial dataset collected by Katherine as part of her dissertation research. The dredging project started in April 2024 and ended in August 2024.  

In Fall 2024, our research team included four Spring 2024 undergraduate collaborators and three new undergraduate research team members led by Erin  Hotchkiss. We collected and analyzed data to compare pre/during/post dredging water quality and ecosystem health in the two inlets to the Duck Pond (Webb Branch and Main Branch of Stroubles Creek) and the Duck Pond outflow (Stroubles Creek), with a goal of quantifying changes in pollutant removal capacity and ecosystem health before, during, and after dredging. 

We've shared results from our spring and fall 2024 undergraduate research team collaborations below. Stay tuned for updates on what we find with continued post-dredging sampling and for future calls to join our undergraduate research team!