Monday, 18th May Society for Freshwater Science 2026 Annual Meeting

2026 Class of Fellows of the Society for Freshwater Science Presentation
Plenary Speakers (Desiree Tullos & Conor Giorgi)
Commissioner of Public Lands for Washington State, Dave Upthegrove Presentation on Restoring our Waters

• Coming soon - Conor Giorgi
• Coming soon - Desiree Tullos

• Modeling the spread of invasive species and emerging infectious diseases in heterogeneous environments - John M Drake
• Risk assessment for invasive species in the Laurentian Great Lakes Region - Reuben Keller
• Going with the flow: morphological plasticity and performance of rusty crayfish (Faxonius rusticus) in different flow regimes. - William Perry
• Pathogen accumulation and the collapse of the invasive rusty crayfish population in Trout Lake - Lindsey S Reisinger
• Is the rusty crayfish (Faxonius rusticus) a transient invader? - Eric R. Larson
• Being a successful role model (organism): Insights into diversity and distribution of apple snails (Pomacea) gained through field and molecular ecology - Romi L Burks

• Emergent concentration-discharge (C-Q) relationship across nested subcatchments in a coastal plain watershed. - Andrew A Ali
• That’s a mouthful: availability, feeding ecology, and life history variation of stream fishes during periodical cicada emergences - Rich H Walker
• Cross-Habitat Energy Connectivity Mediated by Amphidromous Species in a Tropical Mountain-to-Estuary River System - Justin S. Lesser
• Oops…we did it again! Introduced fishes deliver both nutrient and contaminant subsidies to freshwater ecosystems. - Gary Lamberti
• Emergent aquatic insects link freshwater integrity to riparian bird communities at continental scales - Christian Schuerings
• Urbanization stressors on avian invertivore assemblages mediated by aquatic macroinvertebrate diversity: Implications for multi-scale riparian restoration in an increasingly urbanized future - Giordano Jacuzzi

• From swamps to stormwater ponds: Ecosystem functions lost (and gained?) due to reorganization of the waterscape - AJ Reisinger
• Urban stream syndrome at the river network scale in a Mediterranean watershed. - Wilfred Wollheim
• Ionic contributions to specific conductivity dynamics in an urbanized stream network - Katherine X. Pérez Rivera
• Redlined water bodies are smaller and more polluted  - Anika R Bratt
• Tracking changes in dissolved N concentrations, retention, and export in a rapidly developing Mountain West community - Russell Conti
• Salinity affects carbon cycling in streams and the carbon use efficiency of sediment microbes - Allyson Marrs

• Investigating spatial and temporal dynamics in the “fire pulse” across 70 years of monitoring freshwater ecosystems - Jeremy M Brooks
• Unraveling drivers of variation in riparian vegetation recovery following wildfire - Leah Simantel
• A one-two punch: fire and hydrological effects on stream communities in coastal southern California  - Audrey Thellman
• Linking Wildfire Disturbance to Patterns in Aquatic Macroinvertebrate Communities Using Spatially Diverse Biomonitoring Data  - Brian Bush
• Combined effects of wildfire and historical mining on stream insect communities in Idaho - Maricela N Alaniz
• Physiological Responses of Pteronarcys californica to Simulated Wildfire Ash Leachates - Jacob D McArtor

• Expanding the scope of ecoenzyme stoichiometric theory to include flowing waters - Jennifer Follstad Shah
• Cotton Strips as a Model Substrate for Analysis of Stream Functional and Structural Integrity  - John Kelly
• Rapid phosphorus uptake and storage by aquatic hyphomycete fungi - Lydia P McGregor Bravo
• Where do fish get their gut bacteria? - Cedar Mackaness
• Current state of ballast water management in the Laurentian Great Lakes and challenges with microbial discharge standards - Noah W Grode
• Effects of light availability on microbe-metal interactions in wetlands - Marilee C Hoyle

• Elevated carbon gases in beaver ponds: spatial and temporal trends across southern New England - Lev Becker
• Natural vs. Engineered Ponds: Divergent Water‑Quality Outcomes in Urban Watersheds - Sandra Clinton
• Do Beaver Dam Analogs Mimic Beaver Dams?: Effects on Food Webs, Structure, Function, and Water Quality in a Restored Stream - Miles Milbrath
• Examining the roles of beavers and time in promoting recovery following stream channel restoration - Ben Colman
• Effects of beaver and beaver dam analogs on post-fire recovery of stream and riparian ecosystems - Camille McNeely
• Beavers & People: Scaling Effective Stream Restoration & Rebuilding Watershed Resilience after Wildfire - Alexa Whipple

• Comparative vulnerability of riverine benthic and aquifer stoneflies in large alluvial river floodplains - Rachel L Malison
• Two Extremes, One Park: A first look at the aquatic insects in Yellowstone’s glaciers and hot springs. - Audrey Lindsteadt
• Testing an AI-Assisted Approach to Freshwater Macroinvertebrate Biomass Estimation - Ezekiel Peterson
• Exploring the relationship between sediment size and macroinvertebrate individual size distribution in North American freshwater streams   - Morgan Hrivnak
• When temperatures change, nutrition follows:  Seasonality of insect emergence in Australian alpine headwaters in changing climates   - Sithara Sirimanna
• Caddisflies of Florida: advancing larval taxonomy by leveraging a species-level inventory based on faunal survey of adults - Andrew Rasmussen

• The space-time discontinuum: correcting FLIR-derived temperature profiles to account for diel temperature variation. - Geoffrey C Poole
• Rapid GPU-Accelerated Fish Track Detection from Split-Beam Hydroacoustics for Riverine Lake Sturgeon Monitoring - Eamonn Powers
• Wetland Methane Fluxes: Sensor Development and Environmental Drivers - Clark Jackson
• Applying remote sensing and GIS to assess hydrologic connectivity and potential riparian habitat development at a historic bentonite mining site - Patrick K Kozak
• Clearing Blackwaters: Saltwater Intrusion Changes the Color of Southeastern Coastal Rivers. - Spencer Rhea

• Session Introduction - Matthew Dunkle
• Vive la Résistance: Rock Glaciers Are Buffering Alpine Streams Against Climate Change - Scott Hotaling
• Habitat variability along a harsh-mild gradient to help determine potential climate refugia for cold-adapted taxa in alpine streams - Deb Finn
• Meltwater Source as a Driver of Mountain Stream Biogeochemistry in the Western United States - Anna Shampain
• Cryosphere change and alpine aquatic ecosystems in a high-elevation catchment of the Southern Rocky Mountains, Colorado, USA - Daniel L Preston
• Long-term monitoring of alpine streams in the Teton Range: biotic and abiotic trajectories vary among hydrologic sources - Lusha M Tronstad

• Mercury does not stop at the shoreline: terrestrial insects accumulate mercury in High Arctic pond food webs. - Camryn Middlebrooks
• The influence of an invasive wetland plant on mercury dynamics - Cailin Sinclair
• Biogeochemical drivers of mercury cycling and speciation in temperate ponds - Samantha Davies
• Refining fish-dragonfly mercury relationships to inform resource managers of potential risks to local anglers - James J. Willacker
• Linking Patterns of Atmospheric Mercury Deposition with Bioaccumulation in Aquatic Ecosystems at a National Scale - Collin Eagles-Smith
• A Saltier Future for Europe’s Rivers: Continental-Scale Evidence of Freshwater Salinization - Sandra Mingarelli

• Building resilience in large rivers of the northwest: Linking Science, Management, and Collaboration - Lisa Kunza
• Wetland reconnection enhances food resource availability in the Kootenai River - Brooke L Long-Fox
• Ecosystem metabolism across a large oligotrophic river network - Kurt Chowanski
• Insights from long-term zooplankton and phytoplankton monitoring in a large, regulated, oligotrophic river  - Mehzabeen Mannan
• Characterizing the distribution of macrophytes on the Kootenai River using unmanned aerial vehicles - Patrick K Kozak
• Nutrient Addition to Address Low Productivity in the Kootenai River - Brandon Diller

• Environmental DNA metabarcoding detection dynamics from evolving reference libraries: a decade of change   - Christopher L Jerde
• Back to the future with environmental DNA: repurposing previously collected samples to study the history of a Texas freshwater jellyfish invasion - Matthew A Barnes
• Utilizing environmental DNA analysis for monitoring invasive species from lakes and rivers - Kristy Deiner
• Multi-marker eDNA reveals contrasting biodiversity responses to watershed land use - Kara Andres
• A virtuous cycle of innovations in science, policy, and markets to manage invasions - David M Lodge

• Severe storm response in Central Appalachian streams: focusing on benthic macroinvertebrate community dynamics - Quinn Weigel
• How does drought alter the synthesis and aquatic-terrestrial transfer of omega-3 fatty acids? - Madeline Hannappel
• Summer stream water specific-conductivity responses to a sodium-chloride salinization gradient and mode of delivery in experimental riparian-stream mesocosms. - Michelle A. Evans-White
• Salinization impacts on terrestrial and aquatic decomposition, soil respiration, and photosynthesis - Natalie A Clay
• Analysis of Aquatic Invertebrate Diversity and Body Length Along a Sodium Gradient - Connor Foley
• Shifting Communities: How Salinization Alters Riparian Plant Diversity, Phytochemistry, and Litterfall into Streams - Maggie C Herrmann

• Functional and Community Responses to Climate‑Driven Drying in Human‑Made Pond Ecosystems - Checo Colon Gaud
• Legacy Mercury, Modern Risks: Identifying Methylmercury Sources & Biogeochemical Processes in an Impaired California Reservoir - Virginia M. Krause
• Moving beyond novel ecosystems: Biogeochemical cycling in de novo aquatic ecosystems - Jacqueline Gerson
• Diving in headfirst: Investigating inundation dynamics and nutrient cycling at a wetland restored on agricultural land - Hana Esber
• How surface water modification alters carbon storage and flux in a protected savanna landscape - Audrey Goeckner

• Wildfire impacts on stream organic matter chemistry depend on hillslope-stream connectivity - Allison Myers-Pigg
• Post-fire suspended-sediment and phosphorus attenuation in a central Montana headwater catchment. - Gregory D Clark
• Fire effects on nutrient stores and transport in aridland watersheds - Heili Lowman
• High severity wildfire elevated turbidity and suppressed riverine metabolism for 1.5 years following rain-on-fire triggered debris flows on the Klamath River, CA, USA - Laurel Genzoli
• The ripples of fire: sediment, carbon, nutrients and lake metabolism responses to fire in the northern Rocky Mountains - Sage Fletcher
• Sensing changes in water clarity post-fire in hundreds of mountain lakes - Brooke G Bain-White

• An eDNA Approach to Mussel Diet Analysis: A preference for protists - Bruce Cahoon
• Molecular Gut Content Analysis of Pycnopsyche Caddisfly Larvae Using Whole-Genome Shotgun Sequencing: A New Method for Food-Web Assessment - David K Breault
• Investigating the Impact of Behavioral Ecology on eDNA Particle Size Distribution for Two Gambusia Species - Sarah Baggett
• Estimating Organism Abundance Using Within-Sample Haplotype Frequencies of eDNA Data - Pedro FP Brandão-Dias
• Separating the wheat from the chaff: How sensitive are biodiversity surveys and ecological assessments to the bioinformatics pipelines used in eDNA metabarcoding - Leonce Ngirinshuti

• Wading in to wetland monitoring together: How cross-sector collaboration co-creates knowledge for better water quality - Lauren E Kinsman-Costello
• Strategies and Challenges in the Data Stewardship Practices of a Highly Collaborative Wetland Monitoring Program - Raissa Mendonca
• TealWaters: Bridging disciplines and communities to operationalize wetland mapping and function - Sarah Fancher
• An alliance for cleaner waters: Source tracking fecal pollution in Poverty Bay, WA - Diane Yeh
• Fiveteen miles: Partnerships and management of the Rattlesnake Creek watershed from wilderness to downtown Missoula, MT. - Matt Trentman
• From Data to Decisions: Coordinating Freshwater Temperature Monitoring and Action in Alaska - Erin Larson

• Flow reductions shape invertebrate communities in dryland river systems - Mack White
• Modeling multi-species assemblages of Lestes damselflies across a hydroperiod gradient - Peter O.L. Martin
• Episymbiotic infection on cyclopoid copepods in Lake Biwa, Japan: Taxonomic study and ecological aspect - Taiabur Rahman Tuhin
• Describing the diversity of Cirolanides spp. (Isopoda) in Texas, USA. - Benjamin F Schwartz
• Agricultural Impacts on Invertebrate Diversity in the Spokane River Watershed - Kaitlin Abell
• Beyond barcodes: Unravelling aquatic food webs in native and pine forest streams using eDNA. - Mael Marguet

• Operationalizing Wetland Intrinsic Potential (WIP) as a Foundational Layer for Mapping Wetlands and Their Functions - Steven Pestana
• Evaluating the contribution of wetland ecosystems to carbon storage in a dryland landscape using a data fusion model - Erik Nati-Johnson
• Continental Mapping of Mesic Ecosystem Using Machine Learning: Effects of Training Dataset Size and Spatial Autocorrelation - JUAN CAMILO Rojas-Lucero
• Time series dynamics of remotely sensed mesic vegetation used to model shifts in macroinvertebrate communities across the Sagebrush Biome - Colin Martin
• Water Yield Trends in The Red River Basin: Implications for Climate Resilience in Jackson County, Oklahoma - Sharmin Siddika
• Assessing Surface Water–Groundwater Connectivity Using Remote Sensing–Enhanced Recharge Modeling - Pooja P Preetha

• Long-term water quality trends in the headwaters of the Snake and Green River Basins - Samantha Dilworth
• Landscape Drivers of Lake Thermal Structure in Southwest Alaska’s National Parks - Matthew Dunkle
• Thawing ground and changing streams: rusting rivers in Arctic Alaska - Lauren Yancy
• Arctic rusting streams and rivers show spatial and temporal variability in dissolved metal concentrations from acid rock drainage - Abagael N Pruitt
• Acid Rock Drainage in a Warming Arctic: Abrupt Onset and Persistent Downstream Effects in Rivers Across Alaska’s Brooks Range - Taylor G Evinger
• Stream restoration in the Last Frontier: Restoring mined streams in Alaska - Jeffrey D Muehlbauer

• Relating Fish Ovary Selenium and Maturation Stage: Implications for Monitoring - Margot Grimmelpont
• Metal and Nitrogen Contamination in Poudre Lake and the Potential Impacts to Sediment Microbial Communities - Memphis J Hill
• Riparian songbird condition reflects both diet quality and metal exposure in a mining-contaminated system - Bridger M Creel
• Aquatic insect drift and emergence in response to metals exposure: accounting for emigration using stream mesocosms  - Christopher J Kotalik
• Insect Emergence and Riparian Predator Abundance in Urban Ponds Across a Land Cover and Chemical Gradient - Jennoa E Fleming

• Nutrient history and plankton succession can influence large river harmful algal bloom formation. - Justin Murdock
• Seasonal Variability in Phytoplankton Growth and Microzooplankton Grazing Rates in the Lower Columbia River - Jacie Fabela
• An Evaluation of the Mechanisms Driving Dissolved Oxygen Downstream of the Klamath Dam Removal - Kristine Alford
• Alpha, beta, and functional diversities of benthic macroinvertebrates within three habitats of a large floodplain -river corridor   - Kelsey Wilbanks
• The  dynamic colors of the Klamath River and what they tell about the source and transport of sediments. - Nicholas Tufillaro

• Movement strategies dictate the spatial dynamics of consumer nutrient and energy fluxes - Mack White
• Exploring relationships between river flows and multiple trophic levels in the San Francisco Estuary (California) - Angelika L. Kurthen
• Spatial Drivers of Soil Organic Carbon and Carbon Sequestration Rates within estuarine marsh plains along the California Coast. - Jessica Turner
• Reconnecting the waters: exploring tidal barrage transparency as a mechanism to assist estuarine ecosystem rehabilitation  - Brenton Zampatti
• Genetic variation and population structure of Glebula rotundata (Round Pearlshell, Bivalvia: Unionidae) across Gulf Coast tributaries - David Zanatta
• Shell Shocked: How Toxins and Salt Stir Up Oyster Microbiomes  - Champagne Cunningham

• Detecting spreading impacts of a persistent invasive predator across a wetland landscape. - Flavien Garcia
• Functional Structure of Native Community Explains Variation in Invasibility - Arif Jan
• The impacts of an invasive aquatic plant on freshwater ecosystems: A study of Ludwigia peploides in ponds - Isaac Owens
• Do spongy moth mating disruption treatments alter headwater stream ecological processes? - David Speth
• Temporal dynamics of invasive dreissenid mussels in nearshore Lake Michigan - Rachel Smith
• Investigating optimal detection strategies for and ecological impacts of invasive European Frog-bit (Hydrocharis morsus-ranae) in Michigan inland lakes - Joshua Tellier

• From Riparia to Stream and Everything in Between: How Salinization Alters Decomposition Rates in Terrestrial and Aquatic Systems - Gisella DePiazza
• Chasing Salt: Utilizing Community Science to Understand How Salt Stresses Riparian-Stream Ecosystems - Lisa M. Tabor
• Surface mining increases the contribution of chlorophyll-a to aquatic insect food webs in central Appalachia. - Sally A Entrekin
• Evaluating organic matter decomposition in headwater streams across a mining-induced salinity gradient throughout the Central Appalachian Coalfields - Megan Underwood
• Disentangling seasonal and interannual drivers of macroinvertebrate community responses to flow and specific conductance in Central Appalachian streams. - Amaryllis Adey
• Focused Q&A & Discussion Block - Amaryllis Adey

• Plant Matter at the Finest Scales: Importance of Phylogenetic History, Hybridization, and Dioecy in Riparian Systems - Carri J. LeRoy
• Leaf litter processing rates shift in response to human-modified land cover in freshwater ecosystems - Anna Mothersole
• Microbial organic matter decomposition along a P-gradient in tropical streams - Alex Shelton
• Does shredder size matter? Interspecific vs intraspecific effects on aquatic leaf litter decomposition - Mourine Jesire Yegon
• Insect decline and ecosystem function in tropical streams in Costa Rica: A long-term comparison - Vamery González Hernández
• Seasonality and Land Use Influence Organic Matter Processing Rates in Tropical Watersheds - Krista Capps

• Seasonality and disturbance: three years of diatom assemblages post-Hurricane Ian - Hanna Innocent
• beyond phytoplankton and phosphorus: assessing trophic state in freshwater benthic ecosystems - Paige M Kleindl
• Distribution and Diversity of Aquatic Macrophyte Taxa in the Carmel River Watershed - Audrey G Longan
• Using macroinvertebrate colonization of artificial Podostemum ceratophyllum (a swiftwater macrophyte) substrates to quantify restoration impacts - James Wood
• Monitoring Starry Stonewort (Nitellopsis obtusa) Invasion in Chicago’s Lake Michigan Harbors Via SCUBA Surveys and the Development of an Environmental DNA Assay - Megan M Cunnison
• Effects of temperature on Cladophora’s microbial assemblage, photosynthesis, and nitrogen fixation in a nitrogen limited river - Michael Wulf

• Nutrient enrichment alters stream fungal communities: evidence from microscopy and next-generation sequencing - Vladislav Gulis
• A Temporal Assessment of Groundwater Microbiomes and Biogeochemical Cycling Across the Trinity and Edwards (Balcones Fault Zone) Aquifers - Abigail Doderer
• DISTANCE: How do particle size and type interact with seasonal dynamics to impact the fate of DNA in a prairie stream? - Tobin J Davidson
• Torrent salamanders and gene flow in an experimental watershed in the Pacific Northwest, USA. - Christopher Cousins
• Population genetic structure and connectivity of Allocapnia rickeri - Camryn A Larson
• RAD-seq generated single nucleotide polymorphisms resolve patterns of genetic diversity and structure of the freshwater mussel Ptychobranchus fasciolaris across its distribution - Nichelle M VanTassel

• Understanding collaborative care of an urban river: An application of the Stewardship Mapping and Assessment Project and Environmental Stewardship Framework - Lauren Emer
• Comprehensive Toolkit for Assessing, Restoring, and Protecting River-Estuarine Ecosystems - Benjamin Block
• Assessing Stream Habitat Conditions across Alaska to Inform Future Restoration Efforts - Audrey Huff
• La ruta de pesca: Fishers’ knowledge provides insight to ecology, conservation, and management of migratory catfishes in the Amazon - Elizabeth Anderson
• A Partnership for Ecohydrologic Modeling of Headwater Habitat and Refugia for Stream-breeding Amphibian Species in Western Washington and Oregon - Nicholas A Sutfin

• Effect of dams and dam removals on freshwater mussels: a global meta-analysis - Alexa Hershberger
• Identifying ecologically relevant host fishes across the Atlantic Slope  - Stefanie J Farrington
• Synthesis of native, freshwater mussel survey protocols in North America - Shay S. Keretz
• Patterns in freshwater mussel community reassembly and composition relative to disturbance - Tyler Schartel
• Using molecular and physiological approaches to support freshwater mussel conservation decisions in the Clinton River Watershed - Brittany Perrotta

• The importance of small streams - Walter Dodds
• Characterizing spatiotemporal patterns in benthic algal assemblage responses to reduced flow in a Central Texas intermittent river - Ailish S Collins
• The Puzzle of “Broken” Streams: Linking Barrier Assessment to Fish Community Structure in Intermittent Streams of the Intermountain West - Stephanie Webster
• Storm hydrologic connectivity in non-perennial streams and its influence on dissolved organic carbon - Erin VanderJeugdt
• Intraseasonal covariation in autotrophic and heterotrophic microbial function in a non-perennial polar stream - Lydia H Zeglin

• Methane-derived carbon subsidizes freshwater food webs in glacier-fed Alaska watersheds - Ryan Bellmore
• Organic Matter Composition and Turnover in Ephemerally Wetted Soils and Hyporheic Sediments of the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica - Sophia M. Gomez
• Invertebrate community dynamics along a rock glacier outflow in the alpine zone of the Sierra Nevada (California) in years of high and low snowpack - David Herbst
• Between a rock and a cold place: Effects of rapid environmental warming on alpine stream communities - Katrina Heide
• It’s grow time! Seasonal and annual variability in juvenile salmonid growth within a glacierized watershed - Lindsey C McCulloch
• Focused Q&A and Discussion Block - Matthew Dunkle

• Occurrence and spatial variability of PFAS in surface waters across the Northern Great Plains - Brooke L Long-Fox
• Temporal dynamics of biosolids-derived PFAS across the terrestrial-aquatic continuum of agroecosystems - Diana Oviedo Vargas
• Finding a Fluorinated Fingerprint? Examining spatial variation in and correlations between different PFAS compounds in New Hampshire groundwater - William G McDowell
• PFAS contamination in South Dakota: Insights from a statewide soil and water survey - Mehzabeen Mannan
• Eat at your own risk: PFAS in Lake Michigan prey fish - Daniele Miranda
• A bridge not too far: Scaling PFOS toxicokinetics from lab studies to stream food webs - Alison Zachritz

• Overview and Introduction of the Spokane Valley Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer - Seth Oliver
• Overview of emerging research needs on the Spokane Valley Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer - Meg Wolf
• Three Decades of Water Purveyors Advancing the Science and Stewardship of the Sole-Source Groundwater Supply for the Spokane/Coeur d'Alene Metropolitan Region - John J Porcello
• 20 Years and Counting: Long-term Monitoring of the Spokane Valley - Rathdrum Prairie (SVRP) Aquifer in Washington - Amy Sumner
• SVRP Aquifer Protection Efforts by Panhandle Health District in Kootenai County, Idaho - Jenny Gray
• Differentiating Recharge Zones and Pathways in the Rathdrum Prairie Aquifer - Jeff Langman