Knut Mehler started working with us in April 2014, on the project Investigating Lake Sturgeon habitat use, feeding ecology and benthic resource availability in the Lower Niagara River. He recently finished a Ph.D. in Benthic Ecology and Ecological Stoichiometry at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas in cooperation with the Desert Research Institute. Knut received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Geography from Friedrich Schiller University in cooperation with the Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry in Jena, Germany. Before joining the Ph.D. program at the University of Nevada, Knut worked on various water quality and benthic macroinvertebrate projects in the Las Vegas Wash and Walker River.
Knut’s Ph.D. dissertation primarily focused on the relationship between habitat characteristics and the diversity of benthic macroinvertebrates (BMI) in a stream ecosystem along land use/temperature/elevation gradients. He examined linkages between spatiotemporal patterns in land use changes and its effect on BMI communities to assess the availability and quality of benthic resources for the Lake Lahontan cutthroat trout (Oncorhychus clarki) in the Walker River, Nevada. Knut has also developed a framework for determining indicators of conditions (including reference condition) of isolated desert springs in the Great Basin and Mojave Desert. His research has resulted in several papers being published or under review. In his spare time Knut enjoys traveling.
Ph.D., Benthic Ecology and Ecological Stoichiometry, University of Nevada and Desert Research Institute, Las Vegas
M.Sc., Geography, Friedrich Schiller University and Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany
B.Sc., Geography, Friedrich Schiller University, Jena, Germany
