Dr. Stephen Schoenholtz is part of a Global Change Center (GCC) team to receive a grant from the National Science Foundation! The $700,000 grant is to investigate how changes in salinity from surface mining could impact aquatic food webs in the Appalachian Mountains. Excerpt from CGG article written by James Mason: “Headwater streams,…
Congratulations to Mel McMillan on receiving a 2022 Leo Bourassa Scholarship from the Virginia Lakes and Watersheds Association! Mel is pursuing her M.S. and studying the effects of coal mining on headwater streams in the Appalachian region. The Virginia Lakes and Watersheds Association (VLWA) promotes and educates the public on good lake and…
Former Research Assistant Aryanna James and former graduate student Rachel Pence have published a paper in Ecological Indicators titled “Taxon and trait-based sampling curves can be used as a tool for assessing impairment in salinized headwater streams.” Excerpt from the paper’s Abstract: “In central Appalachian streams of the U.S.A., aquatic insect communities…
Rachel Pence, former M.S. student in the Forest Hydrology and Soils lab, published a paper in Environmental Monitoring and Assessment last month! The paper, titled “Comparison of benthic macroinvertebrate assessment methods along a salinity gradient in headwater streams,” examines varying methods of benthic macroinvertebrate community assessment. The paper informs decisions…
Tommy Cianciolo’s work has been published in Science of the Total Environment! The article is titled “Impacts to water quality and biota persist in mining-influenced Appalachian streams.” This article investigates salinization from surface coal mining in central Appalachian headwater streams. Salinization is associated with alterations of benthic macroinvertebrate communities, as many organisms…
Tommy Cianciolo’s work on selenium bioaccumulation has been accepted for publication in Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry! The title of the article is “Selenium bioaccumulation across trophic levels and along a longitudinal gradient in headwater streams.” This article provides a field‐based assessment of selenium bioaccumulation in headwater food chains, from streamwater…
Damion Drover, a former Ph.D. student with Dr. Schoenholtz at the Virginia Tech Forest Hydrology and Soils Lab, has published a paper in Hydrobiologia. The study assesses mining-origin stressors (particularly in regards to elevated salinity) on benthic macroinvertebrate community structure in headwater streams. The paper is titled “Multiple stressors influence…
Virginia Water Center