The core of the research going on in my lab right now is exploring the beneficial as well as detrimental effects of UV radiation on higher trophic levels. The response of organisms to UV radiation depends to a great extent on the spectral composition of the radiation - the wavelengths to which the organisms are exposed. Below is a taste of the kinds of things that we are doing with our UV-lamp phototron in the lab, with our solar phototron outdoors, and with field incubations of zooplankton and fish out in the lakes.
More details are available in the actual publications .
These and other field experiments with zooplankton as well as fish eggs and larvae have demonstrated that the high levels of natural solar UV radiation in the surface waters of low DOC lakes play an important role in the ecology of higher trophic levels. For any given organism the potential for damage from a given UV exposure depends not only on the intensity and spectral composition of the damaging radiation, but also on the wavelength-dependent response of the organism to damage and reapair. UV to reach the Earth s surface. These data are from one of our solar phototron experiments using natural solar radiation. While shorter wavelength UV radiation is more damaging to Daphnia, exposure to longer wavelength UVA and visible radiation can actually be highly beneficial.