Consumer Ecology in Sustaining Aquatic Ecosystem Function
Chad W. Hargrave, Assistant Professor

My research program is aimed at understanding the role of consumers in sustaining aquatic ecosystem function (primary productivity and chemical cycling), using fish and zooplankton as model consumers from stream and lake ecosystems, respectively. My approach includes a combination of manipulative field and laboratory experiments based in a broader context of field surveys. Using fishes, I have demonstrated that different species can regulate ecosystem function through alternative food-web pathways linked to a species’ trophic and functional characteristics. Additionally, he has shown that more diverse fish assemblages (i.e., greater number of species and/or functional groups) have greater regulatory effects on ecosystem functions than assemblages with fewer species. Using zooplankton, I have addressed the role genetic diversity plays in affecting ecosystem function in lakes. This research has shown that consumer effects on ecosystems can be regulated by complex interactions linked to increasing diversity at the genetic-level. Overall, my research program has contributed to the basic understanding of how changing community and genetic diversity might affect sustainability of natural ecosystem functions.

For more information on this REU opportunity, please e-mail Dr. Hargrave at cwh005@shsu.edu.