Zoology

I am interested in linking the biogeochemical effects of multiple human stressors with the structure and function of aquatic communities. Some aspects of aquatic systems that I study in the lab and field are:

Species, population and community level adaptations to dynamical changes in water geochemistry due to altered UV radiation, metal complexation, and varied flow regimes resulting from climate change.

Geochemical and spectral differences in dissolved organic matter produced inside (autochthonous) or imported from outside (allochthonous) freshwater and marine systems.

Food web transfers of contaminants mediated by aquatic biogeochemistry and physiologic regulation by single-celled algae, zooplankton, and other filter feeders.

For more information on my research program, please see my lab webpage.

Recent Publications

Clements, W.H., M.L. Brooks, D.R. Kashian, R.E. Zuellig. 2008. Climate-induced changes in dissolved organic material determine exposure of stream benthic communities to heavy metals and UV-B radiation. Global Change Biology 14: 2201-2214.

Kolts, J.M., M.L. Brooks, B.L. Denier, C.J. Boese, R.A. Bell, and J.S. Meyer. 2008. Acute toxicity of waterborne silver to Ceriodaphnia dubia in the presence of dissolved organic matter. Environmental Toxicology and Chemistry 27: 1426-1434.

Zuellig, R.E., D.R. Kashian, M.L. Brooks, P.M. Kiffney, and W.H. Clements. 2008. Metal exposure history and the influence of ultraviolet-B radiation on benthic communities in Colorado Rocky Mountain streams. Journal of the North American Benthological Society 27: 120-134.

Brooks M.L. C.J. Boese and J. S. Meyer. 2007. Toxicity of copper to larval Pimephales promelas in the presence of photodegraded natural dissolved organic matter. Canadian Journal of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences 64: 391-401.

Brooks M.L., W.C. Clements, D.M. McKnight. 2007. Photochemical control of copper complexation by natural dissolved organic matter in the Colorado Rocky Mountains. Limnology and Oceanography 52: 766-779.

Brooks, M.L., D.M. McKnight, and J.S. Meyer. 2007. Changes in copper-organic complexation during photooxidation of wetland and riverine dissolved organic matter. Hydrobiologia 579: 95-113.

Brooks M. L., C. J. Boese, and J. S. Meyer 2006. Complexation and time-dependent accumulation of copper by larval fathead minnows (Pimephales promelas): Implications for modeling toxicity. Aquatic Toxicology 78: 42-49.

Lovvorn J. R., L. W. Cooper, M. L. Brooks, C. C. De Ruyck, J. K. Bump, J. M. Grebmeier. 2005. Organic matter pathways to zooplankton and benthos under pack ice in late winter and open water in late summer in the north-central Bering Sea. Marine Ecology Progress Series 291: 135-150.

Lovvorn, M. Brooks, G. C. Frison, and L. L. Tieszen. 2001. Paleoclimate and Amerindians: Evidence from stable isotopes and atmospheric circulation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, U.S.A. 98: 2485-2490.

Lovvorn, M. Brooks, J. R. Bozell, G. F. Carson, T. Steinacher, and G. W. Gill. 1999. Microevolution and the skeletal traits of a Middle Archaic burial: metric and multivariate comparison of Paleoindians and modern Amerindians. American Antiquity: Journal of the Society for American Archaeology. 64:527-545.

Carlson, G. F., J. R. Bozell, T. Steinacher, M. Brooks Lovvorn, and G. W. Gill. 1999. The Sidney Burial (25Cn55): a Middle Plains Archaic mortuary site in western Nebraska. Plains Anthropologist 44:105-119