Hotchkiss Lab - News & Updates: 2017

News & Updates

2017 Archive

2017-12-20 - Hotchkiss attended AGU in New Orleans

Erin Hotchkiss attended the fall 2017 meeting of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in New Orleans, LA. AGU offered a great chance to catch up with colleagues in Biogeosciences and Hydrologic Sciences (while enjoying amazing local music and meals!). Hotchkiss convened a special session with Matthew Bogard, David Butman, and François Guillemette: When and where does biology matter? Identifying physical and biological controls on organic matter fluxes and fate in aquatic ecosystems. Erin also presented new research: "From bottles to stream reaches and networks: Consequences of scale in how we interpret the function of freshwaters in the carbon cycle."

2017-12-08 - Plont co-author on new Biogeochemistry paper

Master's student Stephen Plont recently co-authored a paper in Biogeochemistry from a project he collaborated on during his undergraduate studies: Ruhala et al. "Exploring dissolved organic carbon cycling at the stream–groundwater interface across a third-order, lowland stream network". Congratulations, Stephen!

2017-11-28 - Hotchkiss featured on "Making Waves" podcast

Erin recently discussed her work tracing the fates of carbon in streams and rivers for the Society for Freshwater Science's "Making Waves" November podcast. Link to summary, mp3, and featured articles: https://freshwater-science.org/news/making-waves-ep-26-0

2017-11-10 - O'Donnell wins Virginia Tech Nutshell Games

Master's student Brynn O'Donnell was 1 of 3 winners of the 2nd annual Nutshell Games at Virginia Tech! Brynn spoke about "ghost streams" - streams that have been engineered to flow under cities through pipes. View Brynn's 90-second talk in the link above. More about the Nutshell Games: https://communicatingscience.isce.vt.edu/Announcements.html

2017-10-11 - Arctic Research Symposium

Erin Hotchkiss recently gave an invited seminar at the 2017 Arctic Research Symposium in Abisko, Sweden. She presented her work on “Carbon cycling in streams and rivers: Linking processes and ecosystems” in a special session on “In-stream processes and landscape integration across seasons”. The symposium was a great opportunity to learn more about recent work in arctic terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems; re-connect with collaborators from Sweden; make new connections with European scientists; and spend some quality time with arctic rivers, wild berries, and northern lights.

2017-09-14 - Used textbook surprise(s)

Erin finally got around to replacing her lost copy of Hynes The Ecology of Running Waters text (no idea where it wandered off to), took a gamble by buying a used copy on Amazon, and was very, very pleasantly surprised! If you don't know who Ruth Patrick or Noel Hynes were, please take a moment to read about them and their incredible contributions to science.

2017-09-09 - Summer 2017 Recap

We had an exciting summer of growth and science! MSc students Brynn O'Donnell and Stephen Plont joined the lab and got their feet wet in local streams and lots of literature review. Brynn quickly became our storm-chasing Stroubles/urban biogeochemistry expert and Stephen is now our resident sensor-logging master/scholar of spiraling. Our undergrad research rockstar, Morgan Gallagher, sampled greenhouse gases in Stroubles Creek through its transition from urban, agricultural, and more forested drainage areas. Sample/data analyses and plans for future research are ongoing!

Erin also presented her research and enjoyed time with new and old science friends at the Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences in the Czech Republic in July. Lots of great new science, old art and architecture, and tasty Czech beer!

2017-06-28 - Officially #NSFFunded!

The Hotchkiss Lab is looking forward to collaborating with Benstead, Gulis, Helton, & Rosemond Labs on our new NSF funded project in Coweeta, NC. Our year of pre-warming research begins in Autumn 2017.

2017-06-15 - Join our special session at AGU 2017

Our proposed special session for AGU 2017 in New Orleans, LA was recently accepted for abstract submissions! We are excited to discuss - "When and where does biology matter? Identifying physical and biological controls on organic matter fluxes and fate in aquatic ecosystems." We hope to include perspectives from diverse research fields, study systems, and scientific techniques. Abstracts are due by 2 August 2017. More information about the proposed session and how to submit an abstract can be found here.

2017-06-13 - Photos from the field: Exploring Stroubles Creek

The Hotchkiss Lab has been exploring potential research and teaching sites on upper and lower Stroubles Creek. Monitoring, restoration, research, and education efforts by others in the Virginia Tech community (e.g., LEWAS Lab & StREAM Lab) will provide an excellent foundation for upcoming undergraduate and graduate student research. Stay tuned for future info about ongoing work at these sites!

2017-06-04 - Hotchkiss accepts the 2016 Hynes Award for New Investigators

Erin formally accepted the Hynes Award at the 2017 Society for Freshwater Science meeting in Raleigh, NC, and had the opportunity to speak about the awarded paper (Hotchkiss & Hall 2015 Ecology) as well as future research aims: "Toward a multi-ecosystem perspective of carbon transformations and fates in freshwaters".

2017-06-01 - New Methods in Stream Ecology edition!

Hotchkiss co-authored the Stream Metabolism chapter for the new edition of Methods in Stream Ecology textbook: Hall, RO & ER Hotchkiss (2017) Stream Metabolism. Chapter 34 in Methods in Stream Ecology, 3rd Edition, Volume 2: Ecosystem Function.

2017-04-23 - March for Science

Hotchkiss joined several current/past Virginia Tech Stream Team and Society for Freshwater Science members for the March for Science in Washington, D.C.!

2017-04-10 - Photos from the field: Exploring the New River

Enjoyed exploring the New River near Blacksburg with Marie Gérardin, a visiting M.Sc. student from the CarBBAS group in Montréal! Beautiful float, lots of water, and hints of spring from Pembroke to Bluff City.

2017-01-15 - Photos from the field: Stream Team at Coweeta

A few members of Virginia Tech's Stream Team/Ecosystem Research Group joined professor emeritus (and original Stream Teamer) Jack Webster for a weekend at Coweeta Hydrologic Laboratory. Lots of streams, logs, watersheds, and salamanderin'!

2017-01-06 - StreamPULSE collaborators meet in Florida

Erin joined the annual StreamPULSE project meeting as co-PI of a new StreamPULSE-affiliated project measuring the metabolic signatures of Swedish streams and rivers (see award information below). The meeting included an incredible day of site visits near Gainesville, including kayaking down the Ichetucknee River. Perfect setting to discuss field protocols and revisit hypotheses!

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