ENVIRONMENT
LIVE STREAMING Knee-deep in urban ecology By Shawn Ryan
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h, I missed it!” Jasmin Barton-Holt says, both annoyed and slightly dismayed. Fish net in hand, she is exasperated after missing minnows zipping around Mountain Creek at the base of Signal Mountain. Her irritation lasts less than a second, though, as she dips her net back into the water and successfully snags minnow after minnow as she walks slowly through the water. Wading knee deep in the creek, she and four other students from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga aren’t fishing for food. They’re swishing their nets through the water to scoop up small fish—most about a finger long—living in the creek, tallying the number and different species they find. The health of the fish also is part of the job, but a small part. The tasks are linked to research that Mark Schorr, a professor in the UTC Department of Biology, Geology and Environmental Science, has been conducting for the past two decades. Working with students and colleagues at UTC, he’s examining the ecology of urban streams and local watersheds. For the last 12 years, the research has focused on measuring and determining the effectiveness of stream restoration projects in the urban environments in and around Chattanooga. “Streams can heal themselves, but not if urbanization keeps affecting the surrounding area,” he says.
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CATCH AND RELEASE Pulled from nets, the fish are transferred into five-gallon buckets and 10-gallon coolers. The students reach their hands into the containers to pull out fish after fish—some so slick they squirt out of the students’ hands and flop back into the creek. As the fish are examined, names pour out: BLG (bluegill). LSR (large-scale stone roller). REB (Red-eyed bass). NHS (northern hog sucker). Many more. A senior in geology, Barton-Holt records the names and numbers of the species as the other students loudly identify each fish, toss it into the stream and go for more. 24 | The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga Magazine
“Y’all, this is getting insane,” she says after a couple of minutes of rapidly jotting down the flood of information. In a certain way, though, that insanity is what the students are seeking. “This is exactly what I’d love to do as a job,” says Hunter Lamb, who recently graduated with a master’s in environmental science and is working as a research assistant on the project. There are lessons to learn in the stream work, says Sierra Beatty, a senior in geology. “I’m learning how to take better field notes and I’m learning to work with a team to achieve an end goal,” she says. HEALTHY—OR NOT In his decades-long work, Schorr has been wading through many local streams, documenting the effects of urbanization. It’s not very positive, he says. New neighborhoods, apartment complexes, shopping centers and other developments are being built at a breakneck pace in the Chattanooga area, he explains. To make room, trees are being cut down; soil is being cleared of vegetation and, in many cases, asphalt is replacing them. In return, stormwater rushes across the nownaked soil or paved parking lots and sweeps across the now-naked landscape. Instead of being slowed and absorbed by plant-covered ground, the water drags sediment and debris with it, then plunges into nearby streams. “Sediment can reduce the amount of oxygen in the water and the fish actually suffocate,” Schorr says. Chemical pollution also can filter into the water, sometimes causing physical damage to the fish and other animals who live in it. KNEE-DEEP IN THE STREAM On a warm day in May, while working with the students in Mountain Creek—located at the base of Signal Mountain about six miles from downtown Chattanooga—Schorr finds a fish with a white lesion on it. It’s not naturally occurring.
