Current Projects
Climate Sensitivity of Trees Along a Topographic Gradient
We are leveraging tree cores and near-surface geophysical techniques to assess the response of various tree species to hydroclimatic variations along a topographic gradient. Our work will help guide assessments of small-scale variations in forest sensitivity to climate change and future management or conservation decisions.
Student: Sean Costello
Partners: Tiverton Land Trust
Impacts of Climate Change on Shallow Ponds and Lakes
The effects of warming are already occuring and documented in lakes, especially large, deep temperate lakes with seasonal ice cover. In Southern New England, lakes are often small and relatively shallow, which might alter their susceptibility to changes in their thermal regime – especially in relation to intermittent icing in winter and short-term stratification in summer. In this study, we are combining field observations, high-frequency sensing, and 1-D modeling to estimate past and future changes in these smaller but ubiquitous bodies of water.
Student: Elsie Siris
Funding: NASA RI EPSCoR Seed Grant
Consequences of Coastal Dam Removal for Water Quality and Forests
Sea-level rise threatens infrastructure that itself was designed to influence the way water bodies are connected. In collaboration with the Bristol County Water Authority, Save the Bay, and the Narragansett Bay Estuary Program, we are investigating how the rapid transition from a relatively still, freshwater to brackish free-flowing system, including tidal reconnection, following managed infrastructure retreat alters nutrient cycling and algal blooms. We are also studying the impacts of water table declines and tidal reconnection on riparian forests composed of species with differing water stress regulation strategies.
Students: Mandi Greenhalgh and Alex Smith
Partners: Save the Bay, Bristol County Water Authority, and Narragansett Bay Estuary Program
Funding: Narragansett Bay Estuary Program and The RWU Foundation to Promote Scholarship & Teaching
Lithologic Controls on Forest Resilience
My postdoctoral research focused on investigating how subsurface variability controls tree water use and resilience to drought. This work is part of the Bedrock Critical Zone Collaborative Network, an interdisciplinary project focused on understanding linkages between subsurface weathering, surface processes, and ecosystems across a network of sites in the United States.
Stream Corridor-Driven C-Q Relationships
Long-term C-Q relationships provide information about integrated hydro-biogeochemical processes occurring throughout catchments. Due to the challenges of parsing the influence of catchment and stream corridor biogeochemical processes on C-Q relationships, the latter are often ignored or assumed to be negligible. We have analyzed 25 years of data for 10 MDV streams to assess how stream corridor processes alone control C-Q relationship form and variability among a suite of solutes spanning biologically inert weathering products to primary nutrients.
Metabolic Resilience in a Low-Gradient Headwater Stream
Description coming soon.
Student: Abbey Brenner
Partners: Tiverton Land Trust and Tiverton Open Space Commission
Source: NEON
Forecasting Streamflow Temperatures
Stream temperature is a primary driver of aquatic metabolic processes and habitat suitability that impacts ecosystem health and water quality. We are evaluating the performance of deep learning approaches for near-term, iterative forecasting of stream temperatures using continuous, high-frequency datasets from the National Ecological Observatory Network.
Student: Jack Bielawa
Collaborator: Hum Nath Bhandari (RWU)
Publications
(14) Dorley, J., Singley, J.G., Covino, T.P., Singha, K., Gooseff, M.N., & González-Pinzón, R. (2024). Differences in stream respiration in an undisturbed vs agricultural stream. Frontiers in Water. DOI: 10.3389/frwa.2024.1397168
(13) Kohler, T.J., Singley, J.G., Wlostowski, A.N., & McKnight, D.M. (2023). Nitrogen fixation facilitates stream microbial mat biomass across the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Biogeochemistry. DOI: 10.1007/s10533-023-01069-0
(12) Dorley, J., Singley, J.G., Covino, T.P., Singha, K., Gooseff, M.N., Van Horn, D., & González-Pinzón, R. (2023). Physical and stoichiometric controls on stream respiration in a headwater stream. Biogeosciences, 20, 3353-3366. DOI: 10.5194/bg-20-3353-2023
(11) Singley, J.G., Briggs, M., Hoagland, B., Lauer, R., Meeks, J., Regberg, A.B., Rey, D. M., Swift Bird, K., & Ward, A.S. (2023). Integrated field, model, and theoretical advances inform a predictive understanding of transport and transformation in the critical zone. Journal of Hydrology. DOI: 10.1016/j.jhydrol.2023.129653
(10) Singley, J.G., Gooseff, M.N., Salvatore, M.R., McKnight, D.M., & Hinckley, E.S. (2023). Differentiating physical and biological storage of nitrogen along an intermittent Antarctic stream corridor. Freshwater Science, 42(3). DOI: 10.1086/725676
(9) Singley, J.G., Singha, K., Gooseff, M.N., Ward, A.S., González-Pinzón, R., Covino, T.P., Dorley, J., & Hinckley, E.S. (2022). Identification of hyporheic extent and functional zonation during seasonal streamflow recession by unsupervised clustering of time-lapse electrical resistivity models. Hydrological Processes, 36(10), e14713. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.14713
(8) Zdasiuk, B.J., Chen, C.Y., McCormick, S.D., Nislow, K.H., Singley, J.G., & Kelly, J.T. (2022). Evaluating acid-aluminum stress in streams of the Northeastern U.S. at watershed, fish community and physiological scales. Ecological Indicators, 144. DOI: 10.1016/j.ecolind.2022.109480
(7) Hensley, R.T., Singley, J.G., & Gooseff, M.N. (2022). Pulses within Pulses: Concentration-discharge relationships across temporal scales in a snowmelt-dominated Rocky Mountain catchment. Hydrological Processes, 36(9), e14700. DOI: 10.1002/hyp.14700
(6) González-Pinzón, R., J. Dorley, J.G. Singley, K. Singha, M.N. Gooseff, and T.P. Covino (2022). TIPT: The Tracer Injection Planning Tool. Environmental Modeling and Software, 156. DOI: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2022.105504
(5) Fortner, S.K., Manduca, C., Ali, H.N., Saup, C.M., Nyarko, S.C., Othus-Gault, S., Perera, V., Tong, V.C.H., Gold, A., Furman, T., Arthurs, L., Mulvey, B., St. John, K., Singley, J.G., Johnson, E.T., Witter, M., Batchelor, R., Carter, D., Damas, M.C., Lemay, L., Layou, K., Low, R., Wang, H., Olson-Sawyer, K., Pallant, A., Ryker, K., Lukes, L., LaDue, N., & van der Hoeven Kraft, K. (2022). Geoscience Education Perspectives on Integrated, Coordinated, Open, Networked (ICON) Science. Earth and Space Science, 9, e2022EA002298. DOI: 10.1029/2022EA002298
*member of the diversity, equity, inclusion, and justice writing team
(4) Singley, J.G., Gooseff, M.N., McKnight, D.M., & Hinckley, E.S. (2021). The role of hyporheic connectivity in determining nitrogen availability: Insights from an intermittent Antarctic stream, Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 126, e2021JG006309. DOI: 10.1029/2021JG006309
(3) Heindel, R.C., Darling, J.P., Singley, J.G., Bergstrom, A.J., McKnight, D.M., Welch, K.A., Lukkari, B., & Gooseff, M.N. (2021). Diatoms trace organic matter retention and processing in hyporheic sediments in the McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 126, e2020JG006097. DOI: 10.1029/2020JG006097
(2) Bergstrom, A.J., Gooseff, M.N., Singley, J.G., Cohen, M.J., & Welch, K.A. (2020). Nutrient uptake in the supraglacial stream network of an Antarctic glacier. Journal of Geophysical Research: Biogeosciences, 125, e2020JG005679. DOI: 10.1029/2020JG005679
(1) Singley, J.G., Wlostowski, A.N., Bergstrom, A.J., Sokol, E.R., Torrens, C.L., Jaros, C., Wilson, C.E., Hendrickson, P.J., & Gooseff, M.N. (2017). Characterizing hyporheic exchange processes using high‐frequency electrical conductivity‐discharge relationships on sub-hourly to interannual timescales. Water Resources Research, 53(5), 4124-4141. DOI: 10.1002/2016WR019739
FAIR Data Products
Singley, J.G., M.N. Gooseff, and E.S. Hinckley (2021). Ammonium desorption of hyporheic sediments from Von Guerard Stream, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (January 2019). Environmental Data Initiative. DOI: 10.6073/pasta/89e07484a91d8b503ae19d772555fbb4
Singley, J.G., M.N. Gooseff, D.M. McKnight, and E.S. Hinckley (2021). Surface and hyporheic porewater chemistry and sediment nitrification potentials in Von Guerard Stream, McMurdo Dry Valleys, Antarctica (2018-2020). Environmental Data Initiative. DOI: 10.6073/pasta/d6e4301bf93fba0fef6fd5c33a092aaf
Heindel, R.C., J.G. Singley, A.J. Bergstrom, J.P. Darling, K.A. Welch, D.M. McKnight, and M.N. Gooseff. 2020. McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER: Hyporheic sediment characteristics from transects across Von Guerard Stream, Taylor Valley, Antarctica, January 2019. Environmental Data Initiative. DOI: 10.6073/pasta/9e8dfbcaa6bba367d162eb6dede2937b
Darling, J.P, R.C. Heindel, J.G. Singley, A.J. Bergstrom, and D.M. McKnight. 2020. McMurdo Dry Valleys LTER: Hyporheic diatom community assemblages from transects across Von Guerard Stream, Taylor Valley, Antarctica, January 2019. Environmental Data Initiative. DOI: 10.6073/pasta/f79bdbca0e3e97ef5f1b4007d2f008eb