Chad W. Hargrave Assistant Professor Ph.D., University of Oklahoma Office: LDB 100B/102 Phone: (936) 294-1543 Fax: (936) 294-3940 Website: http://www.shsu.edu/~cwh005 E-mail: cwh005@shsu.edu

Research Interests

The principal focus my research is to understand the role of consumers in regulating stream ecosystem properties and functions across abiotic and biotic contexts. We use field studies and manipulative experiments to test hypotheses within this framework with the goal of contributing to the broader understanding of how ecosystem-effects of consumers might change as abiotic properties and community composition changes within local ecosystems. Currently, we are testing the effects of different fish species on nutrient and energy dynamics of small, headwater stream ecosystems. We are examining these effects of different fish communities on stream ecosystems across temperatures and atmospheric CO2 concentrations. With this work we hope to gain insight into the interaction between climate change and consumer-mediated effects on ecosystem properties, functions and services. Visit my personal webpage for details on the students and the projects being conducted in my lab.

Current Projects

In the study of ecosystem and community ecology, I examine food web interaction in stream ecosystems to address the general question: how do consumers regulate aquatic ecosystem properties and functions, and how might these regulatory roles change with a changing climate?  I use observational studies, manipulative experiments, and modeling to address these questions. Visit my laboratory website for more specific information on the projects I currently am conducting.

Recent Selected Publications

Chad W. Hargrave, K. David Hambright, and Lawrence J. Weider. 2011. Variation in resource consumption across a gradient of increasing intra- and inter-specific richness. Ecology, 92:1226-1235

Chad W. Hargrave, Samuel Hamontree, and Kaitlen P. Gary. 2010. Direct and indirect food web regulation of microbial decomposers in headwater streams. Oikos, 119:1785-1795

Chad W. Hargrave and Christopher M. Taylor. 2010. Spatial and temporal variation in fishes of the upper Red River drainage (Oklahoma-Texas). The Southwestern Naturalist, 55:149-159

Chad W. Hargrave, Kaitlen P. Gary, Samir K. Rosado. 2009. Potential effects of elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide on benthic autotrophs and consumers in stream ecosystems: a test using experimental stream mesocosms. Global Change Biology, 15:2779-2790

Chad W. Hargrave. 2006. A test of three alternative pathways for consumer regulation of primary productivity. Oecologia DOI10.1007/s00442-006-1435-y

Chad W. Hargrave, Raul Ramirez, Melody Brooks , Michael A. Eggleton, Katherine Sutherland, Raelynn Deaton, and Heather Galbraith. In Press. Indirect food web interactions increase growth in stream fishes. Freshwater Biology

Chad W. Hargrave. 2009. Effects of fish species richness and assemblage composition on stream ecosystem function. Ecology of Freshwater Fish 18:24-32.