Phone: (406) 872-4557
Email: alice.carter@flbs.umt.edu

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I am a river scientist, interested in how a river’s form determines its biogeochemical functions. I study how local controls interact with watershed scale hydrologic and geomorphic constraints to determine the nature and magnitude of carbon and energy cycling. My current research focuses on understanding how globally changing hydrologic cycles, human modification of watersheds, and nutrient pollution interact to cause low oxygen zones, or hypoxia, in rivers and examining what the consequences are for freshwater ecosystems. My research is highly mechanistic and relies on a combination of biogeochemical and geomorphic field observations, thermodynamic based models of metabolic pathways, and spatially linked models of river networks.

 

I am currently working with Bob Hall here at the Flathead Lake Biological Station asking questions about river ecosystem processes across large spatial scales using databases of river metabolism. We are working on developing modeling techniques to understand patterns in large numbers of highly dimensional timeseries as part of the Modelscapes project.