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DATA SET IDENTIFIER: STREAMS Project: Emergent landscape patterns in stream ecosystem processes resulting from groundwater/surface water interactions

PROJECT TITLE:STREAMS Project at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica

PROJECT DESCRIPTION: The STREAMS Project at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica (owned and operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies, OTS) was established in 1985. Before this program, little was known about the biogeochemistry, structure, and function of Central American streams. Scientific understanding of neotropical streams has been primarily based on research conducted in South America on the Amazon (and to a lesser extent, the Orinoco). Results of the STREAMS Project comprise one of the few longterm datasets on stream solute chemistry and ecology in primary lowland rainforests of Central America. The project encompasses four areas:

(1) linkages between stream ecology and biogeochemistry (e.g., Pringle 1991; Pringle and Triska 1991; Pringle et al. 1993, Triska et al. 1993; Duff et al. 1996; Genereux and Pringle 1997, Pringle and Triska 2000, Triska et al. 2006a,b, Ramirez and Pringle 2006, Ramirez et al. 2006, Stallcup et al. 2006, Ardon and Pringle in press);

(2) the trophic dynamics and ecology of stream communities (Pringle and Hamazaki 1997, 1998; Pringle and Ramirez 1998; Ramirez and Pringle 1998; Rosemond et al. 1998; Rosemond et al. 2001, 2002);

(3) management applications (Anderson-Olivas et al. 2006); and

(4) environmental outreach on water quality and quantity issues (Pringle 1997, 1999).

Pringle initiated this project in 1985 through several postdoctoral awards. In 1988, the National Science Foundation (NSF) began funding the project. It has since been funded by five consecutive NSF awards. The project is currently funded by an NSF Long-Term Research in Environmental Biology Award (2006-2011). NSF also provided two supplementary awards for the extension of research at La Selva to the Luquillo LTER site in Puerto Rico.

LTER CORE AREAS: Annotate all that apply (See online list)

LEF LTER 1 RESEARCH TOPIC: (Annotate all that apply) (See online list)

We define a data file as a component of a data set. A data set can have only one data file or more. Basically, different data files have different data structures or format .
DATA SET FILES (SUBSETS):

Data File No.	Data File Identifier	On-Line Filename	Starting Date	Periodicity of sample	End Period
1	Stream names	StreamNames.txt	1988	once	1988
2	Stream water nutrients	nutrients.txt	May 19, 1988	monthly with exceptions	December 3, 2008
3	Stream water physicochemistry	physicochemistry.txt	May 19, 1988	monthly with exceptions	December 12, 2008

RESEARCH LOCATION: The STREAMS project is located at La Selva Biological Station, on the Caribbean slope of Costa Rica (10° 26' N, 84° 01 W) and protects 1536-ha of lowland tropical wet forest.

INVESTIGATORS:

PRINCIPAL INVESTIGATORS	E-MAIL ADDRESS:
Catherine M. Pringle	cpringle@lternet.edu

OTHER RESEARCHERS	E-MAIL ADDRESS:
Frank Triska	fjtriska@usgs.gov
Alonso Ramirez	aramirez@lternet.edu
Gaston Small	csmall@uga.edu
Minor Hidalgo	streams@sloth.ots.ac.cr
OTHER COLLABORATORS
Dr. Ronald J. Avanzino	Chemist, U. S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
Dr. John H. Duff	Hydrologist, U. S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
Dr. Jose Fernandez	Chief Chemist, Costa Rican Electric Authority, San Jose, Costa Rica
Dr. Wills Flowers	Professor, Florida A& M University
Dr. David Genereux	Associate Professor, North Carolina State University
Dr. Nina Hemphill	US National Park Service
Dr. Alan Jackman	Professor, University of California, Davis, CA
Dr. William McDowell	Professor, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
Dr. Margarita Nunez	Environmental Consultant, Merida Inc., San Jose, Costa Rica
Dr. Pia Paaby	Environmental Consultant, Merida Inc., San Jose, Costa Rica
Dr. Frederick Scatena	Hydrologist, International Institute of Tropical, Forestry, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico
Dr. John West	Professor, University of California, Berkeley, CA
Dr. Gary Zellweger	Hydrologist, U. S. Geological Survey, Menlo Park, CA
POSTDOCTORAL
Dr. Rebecca Bixby	Postdoctoral Fellow, Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia
Dr. Amy D. Rosemond	Currently Associate Director, Institute of Ecology, University of Georgia
Dr. Toshihide Hamazaki	Post-doctoral fellow New Mexico Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit and Department of Fishery and Wildlife Sciences New Mexico State University
NON-UGA GRADUATE STUDENTS	UGA GRAD STUDENTS LISTED ABOVE
Angela Bednarek	University of Louisville
Joseph Bishop	Pennsylvania State University
Gregory Browder	University of California, Berkeley
Tamarra Eklund	University of New Hampshire
Gary Rowe	Pennsylvania State University
Ruth Tiffer-Sotomayor	Universidad de Costa Rica
Sharon Jacqueline Wood	Florida International University
UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS	*Students supported by NSF-REU Research Experiences for Undergraduate Research Grants,
** Students supported by Organization for Tropical Studies REU Program
** Erin Hotchkiss	Emory University
**Kelly Maynard	Yale University
*Mark Brush	Cornell University
*Brian Frizelle	University of Georgia
Jones, Sheila	University of Georgia
*Victor Hugo-Perez	University of California, Berkeley
*Luisenrique Molina	University of Georgia
*Jennifer Mota	University of Georgia
Miriam Ramos	University of Missouri, Saint Louis
*Margaret Rowe	University of Georgia
*Stacey Smith	Virginia Tech
*Steven Steiner	Cornell University
Matthew Tolcher	University of Georgia
Nathan Truelove	University of Washington
TECHNICIANS
Gail A. Blake
Minor Hidalgo
Rodolfo Vargas-Ramirez
Francisco Rojas
Dennis Chavarria

CONTACT PERSONS	Phone Number (Include area code)	E-MAIL ADDRESS:
Catherine Pringle	cpringle@lternet.edu	cpringle@lternet.edu
Alonso Ramirez	(787)764-0000 (1-2867)	aramirez@lternet.edu

SOURCE OF FUNDING (SPONSOR): National Science Foundation - LTREB program

DATA SET ABSTRACT: Our primary objective is to understand the linkage between surface-subsurface water interactions and ecosystem processes in neotropical lowland streams over an extended time frame (>25 yrs). Proposed research will occur at La Selva Biological Reserve in Costa Rica, which is owned and operated by the Organization for Tropical Studies. 

In tectonically active regions of Central America, it is common for solute-rich groundwater to emerge at gradient breaks within the complex volcanic topography of mountains and foothills which intergrade with the coastal plain.  These groundwaters can significantly influence solute chemistry and related ecological and ecosystem-level processes in receiving surface waters.  Many solute-rich groundwaters are associated with underlying volcanic activity which has altered the chemistry of receiving streams throughout Central America.  Geothermally-modified groundwaters, surfacing at the gradient break between the Central Mountain range and the coastal plain at La Selva Biological Station, have high levels of P (up to 400 mg SRP L-1) and other solutes (Ca, Cl, Mg, SO4) but are not elevated in temperature.  Spatial patterns in stream solute chemistry are determined by geomorphic features of the volcanic landscape that include: upland lavas drained by P-poor streams; a gradient break (~50 m.a.s.l.), at or near where P-rich springs emerge; and lowland alluvial areas drained by streams that are both P-rich and P-poor depending on whether they receive the input of solute-rich springs.

Our project is the first to determine long-term effects of nutrient enrichment in a detrital-based stream within the wet tropics.  We will continue to build upon our ‘long-term' (1988-present) data set on stream solute chemistry, which is the only one that we are aware of  for lowland primary rainforest of Central America.  The proposed project will build on 18 years of past research which has shown that landscape patterns in stream solute chemistry (resulting from variation in solute-rich groundwater inputs) reflect ecosystem processes such as rates of primary production and decomposition of organic material.  Specifically, we are: (1) continuing our evaluation of long-term trends in the solute chemistry of these lowland tropical streams as related to large scale climatic phenomena (e.g., El Nino Southern Oscillation Events); (2) examining how stream segments draining three major geomorphic subfeatures of the lowland tropical landscape respond to temporal (wet versus dry season) changes in precipitation; (3) examining stoichiometric mechanisms behind elevated levels of insect growth and biomass turnover rates in phosphorus-rich streams; and finally (4) concluding (and build upon) an ongoing long-term whole-stream phosphorus enrichment by determining the storage, fate and transport of the artificially-introduced phosphorus (that has been injected over an 8 year period) and examining related effects on detrital foodwebs.

Stream solute chemistry and ecosystem process-oriented data are of fundamental importance to our understanding and management of tropical forests and in predicting effects of regional (and potentially global) environmental change on these threatened ecosystems.  Our long-term program will provide new insights into how large scale climatic phenomena interact with subsurface hydrologic factors and geothermal activity to influence stream solute chemistry and related ecosystem processes. We will continue to link the data sets generated from our LTREB Project to those from other long term sites for both tropical (e.g., Luquillo LTER site in Puerto Rico) and temperate research (Coweeta LTER site in North Carolina USA). Finally, the project will contribute to our ongoing environmental outreach program “Water for Life,” which includes local outreach in communities  near La Selva Biological Station and an internationally accessible web page equipped with teaching tools on river conservation and water quality and quantity issues at the high school- level in both Spanish and English.

DATA SET METHODS: Provided under individual variable descriptions. Chip Small (PhD) - Chip Small's research focuses on integrating food web ecology and biogeochemistry using ecological stoichiometry as a conceptual framework. We have measured the phosphorus content of consumers and basal food resources (algae, leaf litter) in streams ranging widely in dissolved phosphorus. The results show the first evidence of an entire invertebrate consumer assemblage showing deviation from strict homeostasis (i.e. the insects have 2x more P in the high-P streams, where they feed on resources 6x higher in P-content). To understand the physiological implications of feeding on P-enriched food resources, we are measuring how food quality effects the growth rates and RNA content of larval chironomids, a dominant benthic consumer. To understand how the effects of P-enriched invertebrates and basal resources move through the food web, we measured nutrient excretion rates of fishes in high-P and low-P streams, to understand how fish diet, fish nutrient demand, and the degree of P-enrichment in the fish diet combines to control the rate of P-recycling by these consumers. We are also testing the hypothesis that more P is exported to the terrestrial food web in high-P streams through insect emergence.

Marcia Snyder (PhD) - Tropical migratory shrimp populations are well suited to be used as environmental sensors to indicate ecological health of aquatic systems. Marcia Snyder’s dissertation proposes to use field surveys and experiments to: (1) determine if freshwater shrimp populations in relatively pristine upstream forested reaches in the Caribbean lowlands of Costa Rica have changed from historic levels in terms of abundance, size and/or species richness; (2) determine if freshwater shrimp populations, across elevational, discharge, and solute-richness gradients exhibit differences in terms of abundance, species richness, size or fecundity; and (3) use ecological stoichiometry theory to refine shrimps role in the stream food web and (4) determine if shrimp populations directly influenced by agrochemicals exhibit differences in terms of abundance, species richness, size or fecundity from streams in protected old-growth forest. This study will refine our understanding of how macrobenthic consumers respond to anthropogenic alterations of watersheds by monitoring long-term population level changes that could occur through direct or indirect mechanisms and measuring current shrimp abundances across an anthropogenic gradient of water quality. Additionally, this study could fill a much needed gap in our knowledge of how pesticides influence the integrity of neotropical aquatic ecosystems, increase our knowledge as to how native freshwater shrimp respond in situ to chronic exposure to nutrient pulses, a range of pesticides, and a natural pH gradient.

CROSS-REFERENCES (other data sets related to this one)

SAMPLE LOCATION: Dr. C.M. Pringle laboratory, University of Georgia.

STORAGE SITES(of data files):

INVESTIGATOR'S ASSIGNED KEYWORDS: La Selva Biological Station, stream ecology, biogeochemistry, trophic dynamics, surface-subsurface water interactions, ecosystem processes, neotropical lowland streams

LEF LTER OFFICIAL KEYWORDS (See table): OTHER PLOTS, HEADWATER STREAM, DECAPODS, PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL

PUBLICATIONS:

Pringle, C. M.  1991.  Geothermal waters surface at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica: Volcanic  processes introduce chemical discontinuities into lowland tropical streams. Biotropica   23: 523-529.

Pringle, C. M. and F. J. Triska.  1991.  Effects of geothermal waters on nutrient dynamics of a  lowland Costa Rican stream. Ecology 72: 951-965.

Pringle, C. M., G. L. Rowe, F. J. Triska, J. F. Fernandez and J. West.  1993. Landscape linkages between geothermal activity, solute composition and ecological response in streams draining Costa Rica's Atlantic Slope. Limnology and Oceanography   38: 753-774.

Pringle, C. M., and T. Hamazaki.  1997.  Effects of fishes on algal response to storms in a tropical stream. Ecology  78: 2432-2442.

Genereaux, D. and C. M. Pringle.  1997.  Chemical mixing model of stream-flow generation at La Selva Biological Station, Costa Rica. Journal of Hydrology 199: 319-330.

Pringle, C. M . , and T. Hamazaki.  1998.  The role of omnivory in structuring a neotropical stream: Separating diurnal versus nocturnal effects. Ecology 79: 269-280.

Rosemond, A. D., C. M. Pringle, A. Ramirez, and M. Paul.  2001.  A test of top- down and bottom-up control in a detritus-based food web. Ecology 82: 2279-2293.

Rosemond, A. D., C. M. Pringle, A. Ramirez, M. J. Paul, and J. L. Meyer. 2002. Landscape pattterns in the effects of phosphorus on detritus-based tropical streams. Limnology and Oceanography  47: 278-289.

Anderson-Olivas, E. A., M. C. Freeman, and C. M. Pringle.  2006  Ecological  consequences of  hydropower development in Central America: Impacts of small dams and water diversion on neotropical stream fish assemblages. River Research and Applications 22: 397-411.

Stallcup, L. A., M. Ardon, and C. M. Pringle. 2006.  Does nitrogen become limiting under high-P conditions in detritus-based tropical streams? Freshwater Biology. 51: 1515-1526.

Triska, F. J., C. M. Pringle, J. H. Duff, R. J. Avanzino, A. Ramirez, M. Ardon, and A. Jackman.  2006.  Soluble reactive phosphorus (SRP) transport and retention in tropical rainforest streams draining a volcanic landscape in Costa Rica. 1.  Long-term concentration patterns, pore water environment and response to ENSO events. Biogeochemistry.  81: 131-143.

Ramirez, A. and C. M. Pringle.  2006.   Fast growth and turnover of chironomid assemblages in response to stream phosphorus levels in a tropical lowland landscape. Limnology and Oceanography 51: 189-196.

Ramirez, A. , C. M. Pringle, and M. Douglas. 2006.  Temporal and spatial patterns in stream physicochemistry and insect assemblages in a  tropical lowland streams.  Journal of the North American Benthological Society 25: 108-123.

Ardon, M., and C. M . Pringle.  In press .  Do secondary compounds inhibit microbial- and insect-mediated leaf breakdown in a tropical stream?  Oecologia