Environmental Stressors and Thresholds

Freshwater ecosystems are susceptible to many disturbances including land-use change, flow modification, energy development, contaminants and climate change.  However, identifying primary threats to aquatic ecosystems can be daunting given the interactive effects of multiple disturbances on complex biotic systems. Moreover, gradual small changes in the environment can lead to discontinuous change in organismal or ecosystem responses, where passing a critical threshold results in dramatic, and sometimes catastrophic, consequences. Researchers at Leetown Science Center are attempting to untangle these complexities for a variety of ecosystems and critical species.