The Effect Of Monoterpenes On Allochthonous Input In High Elevation Watersheds

This study quantifies the confounding effects of mountain pine beetle epidemics on watershed production - monoterpenes. When high elevation pine stands are attacked, nitrogenous input increases but the transitive benefits of this production-limiting nutrient are not found. In other pine stands, monoterpenes have correlated with decreases in periphyton growth. Therefore, it is possible that a monoterpene-mediated decrease in periphyton growth subsequently inhibited expected macroinvertebrate production. To explore this promising explanation, needles with different abundances of monoterpenes were cultured with periphyton, and then fed to four species of macroinvertebrates to evaluate differential growth rates. This project addresses an ongoing concern by providing a new approach to the veiled relationship between production and monoterpenes.