RBC Graduate Student Shishir Rao Featured in Nature inFocus

River Basin Center graduate student Shishir Rao’s research was recently feature in Nature inFocus, as part of the Save Every Drop Series. Rao studies how hydroelectric power (including small dams, which are installed in higher altitude rivers in the Western Ghats impact river biodiversity.

Rao has found the installation of these small hydroelectric projects disrupt migratory species, the diversion of water (which causes other portions of the river to dry up), the fluctuation of water levels, which threaten sensitive species, the accumulation of silt and sediment, which are later released and can suffocate fish. They may also contribute to human-elephant conflicts in neighboring communities.

To read more, check out the article here: https://www.natureinfocus.in/save-every-drop/a-voice-for-our-rivers

Dr. Krista Capps Tops the Charts

Congratulations to Dr. Krista Capps, a River Basin Center affiliate and professor at the University of Georgia, who authored the most read article of Freshwater Science within the past 12 months. Her research article, “Poverty, urbanization, and environmental degradation: urban streams in the developing world”, focuses on how an increase in urbanization is affecting the water resources of lower-income countries. Capps and her colleagues highlight the importance of integrative technologies and management techniques to best understand urban watersheds in these developing areas. Her publication has topped the charts, and UGA is proud of Capps’ continuing success. 

Link to Dr. Krista Capps’ Study: https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/684945

Written by: Cammie Caldwell

A Wild Gopher Frog Chase

UGA Researcher Dr. Stacey Lance Searches for Gopher Frogs 

In a partnership with The Longleaf Alliance, a group dedicated to ensuring a sustainable future for the longleaf pine ecosystem in the Southeastern United States, River Basin Center and Savannah River Ecology Lab researcher Dr. Stacey Lance is working to identify suitable habitat for Carolina gopher frogs, a species identified as endangered in the Carolinas, Georgia and Alabama, and to survey existing populations on private lands. 

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UGA Researcher Discovers Toxic Cyanobacteria

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Author: Victoria Swyers

Man-made reservoirs throughout the Southeast have become infested with the invasive aquatic plant, hydrilla, (Hydrilla verticillata), which hosts a new species of toxic cyanobacteria. Waterfowl and birds of prey, most notably the American coot (Fulica americana), and bald eagle, (Haliaeetus leucocephalus), can consume the neurotoxin and die—within this unsuitable toxic habitat.

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