All areas of research and education related to reservoirs and their watersheds are supported by the Center. At present, multi-disciplinary activities are organized around five interrelated areas. The unifying theme is processes which regulate and sustain biological productivity in reservoir environments. Brief synopses of the areas are provided below followed by active grants. The CRR Long-term Monitoring Program provides database support.
Special attention focuses on the documentation of hydrologic events.
Layers are used to further understand basin composition as it relates to processes. Area 2 addresses embayment and reservoir productivity in relation to tributary and mainstem influences based on analyses of data in the CRR Long-Term Monitoring Program. Understanding nutrient, carbon, and physical factors which regulate phytoplankton and zooplankton abundance and species composition is of special importance. Samples for enumeration and identification of planktonic organisms have been collected routinely as part of the CRR Long-Term Monitoring Program since its inception in 1988. Special attention focuses on documenting the effects of the invasion of exotic plankton into Kentucky Lake, i.e., the exotic zooplankton Daphnia lumholtzi , and planktonic larval exotic mollusks.