miniDOT® Loggers in East Africa’s Mara River

Subalusky and her team deployed six miniDOT® Loggers at separate sites in the Mara River. While similar studies on subsidies’ impacts in aquatic ecosystems revolve around seasonal inputs, the hippos’ year-round residence allowed Subalusky to measure the impact of their inputs spatially over an 18-month period. The sheer quantity of biomass made biofouling an unavoidable obstacle, however the miniDOT®s optode-design proved itself sufficiently resistant to interference from particulate matter.

Data was retrieved in-field on a monthly basis, except on a handful of occasions where nature intervened. One of Subalusky’s miniDOT®s met its untimely end when it was crushed underfoot – or under hoof— by an unidentified pachyderm. Despite sustaining considerable damage, the logger’s internal SD card is still thought to be in fair condition. Subalusky retrieved the miniDOT® and is presently working with PME engineers to retrieve any viable data the card may contain.

As Subalusky and her colleagues continue to comb their extensive datasets, they hope to confirm some working theories based on previous research endeavors. While the hippos’ interaction with the Mara’s ecosystem has clear trophic implications, the exact point of subsidy saturation corresponding to decreases in production remains encrypted in data. Subalusky maintains there is still much to learn, but that this research informs theoretical understandings of disparate ecosystem interaction. Furthermore, studies such as this can highlight how large migratory wildlife shape waterways, offering researchers a glimpse into the past when wildlife populations like those in the Serengeti directly impacted global waterways.

With several exciting prospects on the horizon (such as an upcoming exhibit with colleagues at the National Museum of Kenya) we encourage everyone to keep an eye out for PME’s follow-up case study on Subalusky’s emerging findings.