Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences

Dorrie Panayotou

Ph.D., University of California, Davis

RESEARCH & EDUCATION FELLOW

SPONSOR: Susan Buhr, CIRES K-12 Outreach Program

TITLE: Biological monitoring and assessment of the health of streams throughout local Boulder and Denver

THEME: Planetary Metabolism

RESEARCH

I recently came back to Colorado after over a 10-year hiatus to once again work outside the Rocky Mountains. I completed my Master of Science degree in Watershed Sciences just up the road at Colorado State University in December 1992. I majored in Environmental Studies at the University of Vermont (BS in 1988) and spent my childhood growing up in southwestern Connecticut. Only days before I arrived in Colorado, I completed my dissertation at the University of California Davis, where I spent seven years researching the ecology and biology of the streams flowing into Lake Tahoe. I studied aquatic insects as biological indicators of stream ecosystem health looking at streams flowing into cobalt blue Lake Tahoe, located in the Sierra Nevada mountains of California and Nevada. I compared reference streams, impacted and degraded streams and restored streams and assessed stream habitat health based on aquatic insect biology and several environmental and water quality variables, including stream chemistry, physical attributes, geomorphology, and stream and riparian corridor vegetation.

At CU Boulder, I have started the ball rolling for both my education and research projects. I have always been interested in working with young people in outreach projects. I hope to work with citizen's monitoring groups collecting and identifying aquatic insects in the local streams of the Boulder county area. In addition, I'm working on creating web-based modules on various environmental science topics including: water quality and quantity resources, aquatic insect biology, restoration ecology, and stream ecology. These products will be available to teachers in the elementary, middle and high schools locally and nationally to adapt and use in their classrooms. My research project entails looking at aquatic insects in the local area. I am currently developing a more specific research question and methodology and choosing a stream where I will collect my data.

WATERSHEDS IN THE CLASSROOM

My new web-based resource is titled, "Watersheds in the Classroom." It is an online watershed education guide dedicated to elementary and secondary school science teachers. The primary goals for the teachers are as follows:

1. Set up a water-related field study for students;
2. Teach students about their local watershed;
3. Use local water quality data in teaching;
4. Increase knowledge about watersheds, lakes, streams, and water conservation, with a focus on Colorado watersheds; and
5. Implement scientific inquiry-based water education activities in classrooms.

For my research project, I am investigating the effects of fire on stream biology, evaluating the potential changes in the aquatic insect community. Currently, I am working with a colleague from the United States Geological Society, who is evaluating the potential chemical changes as a result of increased ash from the Overland Fire, in Jamestown, Colorado last November.