I am interested in how human activities, especially management practices, impact freshwater ecosystems and how scientific research can be used to better inform these management practices. My current research aims to quantify the effects of different flow conditions, and thus different management strategies, on the key ecological functions of stream metabolism and nutrient retention. Specifically, I am examining the role primary producers play in determining how ecological functions respond to varying flow conditions.

Carolyn joined the Rosemond lab in Fall 2017 as part of the Master’s in Ecology program after receiving a B.S. in Biological Sciences from Colorado State University in December 2015. After working in various lab and field settings, Carolyn became interested in how aquatic organisms, especially macroinvertebrates, respond to anthropogenic stressors such as climate change. Her research in the Rosemond lab will examine the effects of stream warming on freshwater ecosystem function with a focus on how litter breakdown rates and macroinvertebrate physiology differ across temperature gradients.

Laura joined the Rosemond lab in 2019 after graduating from Duke University. There she studied the propagation of aquatic contamination from mountaintop mining-impacted streams to the terrestrial food web through aquatic insect emergence. She is broadly interested in human impacts on chemical fate and transport in freshwater ecosystems. For her dissertation, Laura is studying the impact of small impoundments on greenhouse gas emissions in stream networks to inform evaluations of the costs and benefits associated with dam removals. Hi!