Caddisflies of all shapes and sizes have colonized Mount St. Helens. Photo by Angie Froedin-Morgensen
The eruption of Mount St Helens created pyroclastic flows, mudflows, and ash fallout that covered the Pumice Plain in over 100 ft of sterile material. Since then, new watersheds have formed, diverse fauna has colonized MSH streams, and our lab team has been there to document!
Our benthic macroinvertebrate sorting station. Photo by Angie Froedin-Morgensen
The benthic macroinvertebrates of MSH colonize, eat and utilize leaf litter that falls into streams. With the use of leaf litter bags, Undergraduates Angie Froedin-Morgensen and Brandy Ku’ualoha Kamakawiwoole spend hours under a microscope sorting these aquatic insects!
Stoneflies are particularly common inhabitants of Mount St. Helens streams. Photo by Angie Froedin-Morgensen
Aquatic insects like Ephemeroptera, Trichoptera, and Plecoptera all play a critical role in the aquatic food webs! Benthic macroinvertebrate communities provide amazing insight as indicators of biological conditions, and communities differ across MSH streams!
Dr. Norm Anderson – entomologist at Oregon State University who did early research at Mount St. Helens with PhD student Richard Meyerhoff. Photos: OSU archives, OSU Stream Team
Dr. Norman Anderson was faculty of the Department of Entomology at Oregon State University from 1962 until he retired in 1995. He had a passion for aquatic insects and conducted research at Mount St. Helens. In 2018, his collection from MSH was given to the Oregon State Arthropod Collection.
The Oregon State Arthropod Collection is allowing us to inventory and accession part of Dr. Anderson’s collection. Photo by Evergreen student Brandy Ku’ualoha Kamakawiwoole who is taking the lead on this project.
Evergreen undergraduate Brandy Ku’ualoha Kamakawiwoole is currently accessioning a subset of Dr. Anderson’s samples consisting of 903 vials. Each vial is viewed under the microscope, counted, and recorded in a spreadsheet. Each vial is given a unique serial number provided by the Oregon State Arthropod Collection with a barcode.
Some of Dr. Anderson’s samples are from as early as July 1981 following the May 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens. Photos by Evergreen student Brandy Ku’ualoha Kamakawiwoole
Evergreen undergraduate Brandy Ku’ualoha Kamakawiwoole thinks it’s cool that some of the samples are from as early as July 1981! After she finishes, the data and a paper describing her methods will hopefully be published by the Arthropod Collection.
Litter bags filled with willow leaves and flowers prepped for deployment and deployed in streams at Mount St. Helens. Photos by Carri LeRoy
Litter bags filled with willow leaves and flowers for undergraduate Iris Garthwaite’s independent research project as part of the Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) program. We use metal ID tags to track willow identity, plant sex, and weevil attack status.
Willow leaves incubated in the streams of the Pumice Plain decompose and skeletonize over time. Photo by Carri LeRoy
Litter bags installed in streams help us determine decomposition and organic matter cycling rates. Willow leaves and flowers are colonized by microbes and aquatic macroinvertebrates that eat microbes and shred leaves. SURF student Angie Froedin-Morgensen focuses on invert ID.
Our research truck turned solar-powered drying oven – our solution to drying leaves at a remote field site! Photo by Carri LeRoy.
The whole crew gets involved when it’s time for peak leaf fall! Our studies are often limited by how much leaf litter we can catch at abscission. On multi-day trips, we get creative about drying leaves – we converted our research truck into a solar-powered drying oven!
The Leaf Litter Lab had the honor of presenting a small glimpse into each individual scopes of research to Christine Hoffmann, who works for the Public Relations Outreach here at Evergreen.
With focuses on the National Science Foundation-funded ecology research of Mount St. Helen’s, undergraduates have been able to take on multiple approaches to conduct individual research projects.
Iris Garthwaite is a Senior who takes on both a peer-mentor and leadership role. She’s conducted an entire project around willow catkin and aquatic invertebrate interactions to investigate flowers as detrital resource for stream ecosystems. With the end of her research project she has been working hard at picking a graduate school and writing her first first-author paper!
Brandy speaking about the Norman H. Anderson macro-invertebrate samples.
Brandy Kamakawiwoole is a Junior working on aquatic macro-invertebrate sorting, stream GIF imaging, and analyzing historical BMI records. The historical records are from the 1981-1982 Norman H. Anderson Collection Samples, making them the first aquatic macro-invertebrate samples collected following the eruption of Mount St. Helens!
Angie Frödin-Morgensen is a Senior who has an interest in freshwater ecology. She spends most her time working hard at a microscope sorting through leaf litter to identify aquatic macro-invertebrates. Her research focuses on macro-invertebrate community differences between female and male Sitka willow leaf litter!
Angie discussing the important roles of macro-invertebrates as bio-indicators of streams.
Maddie Thompson is a Junior with interest in environment studies and ecology. She’s been continuing the research on canopy covering influencing in-stream ecosystem function. She also takes part in her research project that focuses on Willow DNA extractions to identify microbial communities.
Lauren Thompson is a Junior studying ecology and environmental studies. She’s continuing the research on how environmental conditions influence organic matter processing across Mount St. Helens watersheds. She works jointly with Maddie in assessing condensed tannin’s and Willow DNA extractions.
Stay tuned… Iris, Angie, Maddie and Lauren plan to attend and present at the 2020 Society for Freshwater Science Annual Meeting!
