Hydroecology of Springs with Dr. Abe Springer

Fig. 1: Rattelesnake Creek in Greenough Park, at location of our field excursion with Dr. Springer


This week we had the opportunity to learn from Dr. Abe Springer, an ecohydrolgist from Northern Arizona University. After a lecture at UM, we headed to the field where Springer taught about specific protocols for measuring the health of springs. Springs usually have quite a bit more biodiversity than other areas, with several species being reliant on the spring for part of their lives. One thing that makes them particularly special is the fact that they are found where groundwater and surface water interact, this often leads to areas that have warmer water in the winter than the surrounding surface water.

Fig. 2: Abe Springer lectures at UM about spring geology, hydrology, and ecology!

The method that Abe showed us to analyze springs was a very multi-disciplinary approach. In the first part of the outing we covered how to create a general overview of the site, including site and land information, weather conditions, and a detailed site map. The methods that were used were surprisingly similar to the methods that WEN uses to sample our Stream Team surface water sites. After the site was mapped and described, we split into four teams to do more specific sampling, with local experts leading each station. These also looked very similar to Stream Team.

Fig 3 and 4: Students survey the area of interest in Greenough Park. On right, UM Geology Student and WEN intern, Aaron Henderson, speaks with UM Hydrology Professor Bill Woessner

Deb and I of WEN led a bug collection, which was actually quite difficult in the area. The spring in Greenough Park is very low flowing this time of year, and most of the bugs were more like pond species (flatworms, threadworms, crane-flies, riffle beetles etc.). We sampled both near the mouth of the spring, where it hit the trail, and its headwaters, about 50 feet up the hillside. Another group led a chemistry analysis (dissolved oxygen, pH, temp, specific conductivity) as well as a measure of flow. A third group, led by Vicki Watson, looked at the vegetation community present at the site, identifying as many species as possible. The final group was mostly geology students from the UM, including WEN intern Aaron Henderson. They looked at the geology of the site to form a better picture of how the spring was formed.

Fig. 5: Bug collection, as seen above, looks a bit different than when we collect from the streams!

After each group finished up their sampling we got together into a large group and shared our findings. All of this information got combined into one dataset to be entered into the Springs database, springstewardshipinstitute.org .