The Stream Doctor
Emily Bernhardt's Pioneering Research Focuses on Successfully Restoring Urban Waterways p.2
Bernhardt subsequently has acquired funding from the National Science Foundation, the North Carolina Water Resources Research Institute, and the North Carolina Ecosystem Enhancement Program to compare a series of degraded and restored urban streams to protected streams in the Raleigh-Durham area. She and her graduate students are assessing the ecosystem function of these streams. They are measuring the streams' ability to remove nutrients, particularly nitrogen, and to retain and store carbon.
Bernhardt actively collaborates with faculty and students from the University of North Carolina and North Carolina State University who are analyzing the physical characteristics of these streams and the diversity of aquatic biota they support.
Her current funding should support this research for five years, but she would like to turn it into a long-term project to gather pre- and post-restoration data. A number of the degraded streams her lab studies are slated for restoration within the next year.
Bernhardt's preliminary findings suggest that "restored" streams "may actually have lower habitat variability than either the degraded or reference sites." She cautions, "When we engineer a system, we tend to want to control it, to fix its course. But streams are dynamic.
"Restoration itself can be a huge disturbance," she adds. "In the projects we are working on, the existing vegetation was bulldozed, banks were re-graded and new vegetation is planted. We don't know how long it takes for a stream to recover." Consequently, it can be difficult to decide over what time frame restoration success should be judged.
Bernhardt remains a believer in stream restoration, but says researchers are a long way from understanding what works and what doesn't. Ultimately, she hopes her research will produce information that will lead to more effective and efficient restoration designs.
Bernhardt is considered a pioneer in the growing field of stream restoration. She delivered a speech at the North Carolina Stream Restoration Conference in Charlotte in October. Her peers commend her both for her academic approach and cheerful personality.
"I've had great experiences working with Emily," says Greg Jennings, director of the Stream Restoration Institute at NC State and a partner with Bernhardt on the NSF grant. "She's easy to work with, very committed. She seems to be on her way to a great career."
"Emily brings to the science a breath of fresh air," says Dave Penrose, NC State professor of biology and former environmental biologist with the North Carolina Department of Environmental and Natural Resources. "Most of my study has been in narrow confines of restoration as it relates to the regulatory scheme. Emily is looking at it from a much broader perspective—the energy source that drives the whole ecology of streams."
As a teacher, Bernhardt is known for her infectious enthusiasm, particularly her interest in bringing women into the field. "Emily is very much concerned with diversifying the profession," says Nicholas School Dean William H. Schlesinger. "She projects a real can-do attitude toward all her students, and especially women."
Bernhardt teaches an undergraduate course in Ecology and Evolution and a graduate course in Biogeochemistry. "Each course presents its challenges," Bernhardt says. "The undergraduate course has about 80 students, so it's impossible to get to know everybody. I need to teach the whole of ecology in just 13 lectures, and get them excited without being able to take them outdoors. I try to start every class out with a case study that the students may have encountered before. For example, I showed a segment from March of the Penguins to demonstrate how complex life histories can be.
"With graduate students, the class is smaller and you can really dive into the subject," she adds. "Plus there's the opportunity to work in the field."
John Manuel is a freelance writer in Durham, N.C.
photo captions: Emily Bernhardt; Bernhardt programs an ISCO auto-sampler instrumentation unit to measure water quality in Duke Forest's Mud Creek; A close-up of the Mud Creek streambed; Installing a flow meter into the creek.