HI-RISE Ecology

The overarching aim of this scientific research expedition was to understand how river ecosystems respond to glacial meltwater dynamics in the headwaters of the Nepal Himalaya, where glacier retreat is projected to be triple the global average. To this end, the team undertook extensive sampling of appropriate sites along the trekking route from Lukla to Everest Base Camp and the valleys linking Dingboche-Chukhung and Phortse-Machhermo. The expedition was extremely successful, sampling 20 river and stream sites ranging in elevation from 3,316m to 4,802m and in glacier influence from 0% to 74% glacier cover, collecting and recording all but two of their planned variables at all of the sites. Due to the robustness of the data collected, they expect to be able to meet their core objectives of characterising the biodiversity of high-altitude rivers, assessing how this biodiversity changes between highly-glacierised and non-glacierised catchments and to determine the role of multiple environmental factors such as hydrology and geomorphology on river biodiversity.