Funding received from DLIA in 2003 supported two collecting trips to the Park by PI Wetzel and assisting collaborator P. Morgan. During these two trips (April/May 2003, and September 2003), surveys for aquatic oligochaetes and other macroinvertebrates (and associated field water quality parameters) were conducted at 25 stream sites, 5 springs, and a sewage treatment lagoon. Wetzel and Morgan also participated in public education and outreach activities in the Park: Take a Llama To Lunch Day (April 2003), and field sessions with two Cherokee High School biology classes (September 2003). A website [URL: http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/~mjwetzel/AOGSMNP.home.html], first established by PI Wetzel in September 1999, has been updated regularly to summarize progress resulting from funding for this research received each year (1999-2004) from DLIA. This website includes a Project Introduction; Site Map and Locality Information; 2002 Project Highlights; 2003 Project Highlights; Field Methodology; Progress (Weekly Status); General Introduction to the Oligochaeta; Checklist of Aquatic Oligochaeta in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park; Goals; Research Sponsors, Funding; Acknowledgments; and Literature Cited. Links to the DLIA, ATBI, National Park Service, and other websites and resources associated with this research and programs also are included on the various pages of the above website.

For more info on this specific project year, see Dr. Wetzel's accounts on his web page http://www.inhs.uiuc.edu/~mjwetzel/AOGSMNP.03hilites.html

Principal Investigator

PI Name:  Mark J. Wetzel

PI Organization:  Illinois Natural History Survey