Thermal gradients
River and Riparian Ecosystems across a Rural-Urban Thermal Gradient.
Project background
This project, currently being undertaken by Sheffield University student Chih-Wei Tsai, aims to understand how spatial thermal gradients shape river and riparian ecosystems. There are three main topics being explored:
- Temperature data collection and analysis
- Observations of leaf phenological events in spring (bud burst)
- Autumn leaf fall and the timing of aquatic-terrestrial subsidy transport
The project, a PhD undertaken in the Department of Animal and Plant Sciences, will combine field studies (eg environmental measurements, community analysis), laboratory experiments (eg physiological/behaviour studies) and modelling approaches to investigate the ecological consequences of a rural-urban thermal gradient.
Key findings
According to the results from leaf phenological observations, leaf-fall in autumn of both species, sycamore and common ash, occurred earlier in the urban regions.
However, the pattern of budburst in spring was different. Preliminary analysis shows that air temperature data in urban sites is consistently warmer than in rural sites, which may be a contributory factor to phenological changes.
Additional details
Site locations: See the list of site grid references below.
| LATITUDE | LONGITUDE | X COORDINATE | Y COORDINATE |
|---|---|---|---|
| 53.45834600 | -1.55244100 | 429814.78487240 | 395827.02163108 |
| 53.45428900 | -1.55198500 | 429847.89755516 | 395375.86917349 |
| 53.44045500 | -1.53666200 | 430875.40127242 | 393843.33672383 |
| 53.41611000 | -1.40649900 | 439544.03392172 | 391199.03021672 |
| 53.41526300 | -1.41356500 | 439075.18117314 | 391100.91930751 |
| 53.40931100 | -1.42184900 | 438529.95602369 | 390434.27285365 |
| 53.40324600 | -1.52504200 | 431674.82064159 | 389708.92844654 |
| 53.40263700 | -1.49226400 | 433854.49283311 | 389656.18170821 |
| 53.40098200 | -1.54269000 | 430503.13579712 | 389449.39636013 |
| 53.40031000 | -1.53660200 | 430908.39367305 | 389377.24790613 |
| 53.40001100 | -1.50670500 | 432896.41326036 | 389357.30791363 |
| 53.39566200 | -1.44120700 | 437255.04923949 | 388905.58699228 |
| 53.39115600 | -1.47721100 | 434864.63541643 | 388386.15935217 |
| 53.38391300 | -1.54122500 | 430612.74489459 | 387551.11082649 |
| 53.38337100 | -1.54453000 | 430393.30235930 | 387489.40615143 |
| 53.36040600 | -1.47466400 | 435059.18975158 | 384966.51290874 |
| 53.34970100 | -1.48735100 | 434223.41956766 | 383769.46469219 |
| 53.43283800 | -1.53219400 | 431177.74704286 | 392997.88361114 |
| 53.34816200 | -1.49274900 | 433865.30858384 | 383595.68805144 |
| 53.45144200 | -1.54956200 | 430010.79447031 | 395060.15319728 |
Funding: Self-funded
Publications
There are currently no publications associated with this project.