Dr. Katherine Irving

Dr.rer.nat. Katherine Irving is a Scientist specializing in the relationship between the distribution of river species and their environment. Her doctoral degree dealt with the role of hydrology in Species’ Distribution Models (SDMs) on benthic macroinvertebrates. This work involved developing SDM methodology by creating a hydrologic dataset, optimizing variable selection and testing the performance of existing hydrological datasets. Her current research with SCCWRP focuses on the effects of hydrologic alteration through the development of flow-ecology models, aiming to conserve the health of Californian streams.

She received her doctoral degree from Berlin’s Liebniz Institute for Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries and Freie Universistaet, her M.S. in freshwater and marine ecology from Queen Mary University of London, and her B.S. in marine biology from the University of Plymouth. She joined SCCWRP in 2019.

Education

Doctorate (Natural Sciences), Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries Department of Ecosystem Research, Berlin, Germany & Freie Universitaet, Department of Biology Chemistry and Pharmacy, Berlin, Germany, 2019.

M.Sc., freshwater and marine ecology with distinction, 2015.

B.Sc., (Hons) marine biology, 2008.

Professional Experience

PhD Candidate, Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), Berlin, 2015-2019.

Science Divemaster, Operation Wallacea, Tela, Honduras, 2014.

Microplastic Research Intern, Archipelagos Institute of Marine Conservation, Samos, Greece, 2013.

Assistant Ecologist, Hesketh Ecology, Cumbria, UK, 2013.

Selected Presentations and Conference Proceedings

Irving K, K. Taniguchi-Quan, A. Aprahamian, C. Rivers, G. Sharp, R.D. Mazor, S. Theroux, R. Peek, E.D. Stein. 2021. Application of flow ecology analysis to inform prioritization for stream restoration and management actions. 28th Annual California Aquatic Bioassessment Workgroup Meeting & 9th Annual California Chapter Society for Freshwater Science Meeting (virtual)

Irving K, K. Taniguchi-Quan, A. Aprahamian, C. Rivers, G. Sharp, R.D. Mazor, S. Theroux, R. Peek, E.D. Stein. 2021. 2021, Establishing flow targets for management: decision process sensitivity, a challenge for implementation. Symposium for Freshwater Sciences (virtual)

Irving, K., S.C. Jähnig, M. Kuemmerlen. 2019. Disentangling the influence of climatic and hydrologic predictor variables on benthic macroinvertebrate distribution, Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences (SEFS11) 2019, Zagreb, Croatia.

Irving, K., S.C. Jähnig, M. Kuemmerlen.2018.2018, Identifying and applying an optimum set of environmental variables in species distribution models. Symposium for Freshwater Sciences (SFS), Detroit, USA.

Irving, K., Kuemmerlen, M., Kiesel, J. et al. 2017. Daily stream flow and hydrological metrics for Germany. Symposium for European Freshwater Sciences (SEFS10), Olomouc, CZ.

Publications


Journal Articles

Wolfand, J.M., K.T. Taniguchi-Quan, R. Abdi, E. Gallo, K. Irving, D. Philippus, J.B. Rogers, E.D. Stein, T.S. Hogue. 2022. Balancing water reuse and ecological support goals in an effluent dominated river. Journal of Hydrology X 15:100124.

Taniguchi-Quan, K.T., K. Irving, E.D. Stein, A. Poresky, R.A. Wildman Jr., A. Aprahamian, C. Rivers, G. Sharp, S.M. Yarnell, J.R. Feldman. 2022. Developing Ecological Flow Needs in a Highly Altered Region: Application of California Environmental Flows Framework in Southern California, USA. Frontiers in Environmental Science 10:787631.

Irving, K., K.T. Taniguchi-Quan, A. Aprahamian, C. Rivers, G. Sharp, R.D. Mazor, S. Theroux, A. Holt, R. Peek, E.D. Stein. 2022. Application of Flow-Ecology Analysis to Inform Prioritization for Stream Restoration and Management Actions. Frontiers in Environmental Science 9:787462.

Abdi, R., A. Rust, J.M. Wolfand, K.T. Taniguchi-Quan, K. Irving, D. Philippus, E.D. Stein, T.S. Hogue. 2022. Thermal Suitability of the Los Angeles River for Cold Water Resident and Migrating Fish Under Physical Restoration Alternatives. Frontiers in Environmental Science 9:749085.

Peek, R., K. Irving, S.M. Yarnell, R. Lusardi, E.D. Stein, R.D. Mazor. 2022. Identifying Functional Flow Linkages Between Stream Alteration and Biological Stream Condition Indices Across California. Frontiers in Environmental Science 9:790667.

Irving, K., S.C. Jähnig, M. Kuemmerlen. 2021. Disentangling the effect of climatic and hydrological predictor variables on benthic macroinvertebrate distributions from predictive models. Hydrobiologia 2021:1-20.

Abdi, R., J.B. Rogers, A. Rust, J.M. Wolfand, D. Philippus, K.T. Taniguchi-Quan, K. Irving, E.D. Stein, T.S. Hogue. 2021. Simulating the thermal impact of substrate temperature on ecological restoration in shallow urban rivers. Journal of Environmental Management DOI:10.1016/j.jenvman.2021.112560.

Stein, E.D., E.M. Gee, J.B. Adams, K. Irving, L.V. Niekerk. 2021. Advancing the Science of Environmental Flow Management for Protection of Temporarily Closed Estuaries and Coastal Lagoons. Water DOI:10.3390/w13050595.

Larsen, S., L. Comte, A.F. Filipe, M.-J. Fortin, C. Jacquet, R. Ryser, P.A. Tedesco, P.A., U. Brose, T. Erős, X. Giam, K. Irving, A. Ruhi, S. Sharma, J.D. Olden. 2021. The geography of metapopulation synchrony in dendritic river networks. Ecology Letters 24:791-801. https://doi.org/10.1111/ele.13699

Comte, L., J. Carvajal‐Quintero, P.A. Tedesco et al. 2020. RivFishTIME: A global database of fish time‐series to study global change ecology in riverine systems. Global Ecology and Biogeography 00:1-13. https://doi.org/10.1111/geb.13210

Erős, T., L. Comte, A.F. Filipe, A. Ruhi, P.A. Tedesco, U. Brose, M.-J. Fortin, X. Giam, K. Irving, C. Jacquet, S. Larsen, S. Sharma, J.D. Olden. 2020. Effects of nonnative species on the stability of riverine fish communities. Ecography 43:1156-1166. https://doi.org/10.1111/ecog.04985

Irving, K., S.C. Jähnig, M. Kuemmerlen. 2020. Identifying and applying an optimum set of environmental variables in species distribution models. Inland Waters 10(1):11-28. https://doi.org/10.1080/20442041.2019.1653111

Irving, K. 2019. Improvement of Global Change Projections for Benthic Macroinvertebrates. Doctoral Thesis. Freie Universität Berlin, Germany.

Irving, K., M. Kuemmerlen, J. Kiesel et al. 2018. A high-resolution streamflow and hydrological metrics dataset for ecological modeling using a regression model. Scientific Data 5:180224. https://doi.org/10.1038/sdata.2018.224

Kakouei, K., J. Kiesel, S. Domisch, K.S. Irving, S.C. Jähnig, J. Kail. 2018. Projected effects of climate change‐induced flow alterations on stream macroinvertebrate abundances. Ecology and Evolution 8:3393-3409. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.3907

Irving, K., A. Μiliou, M. Vasic, N. Sainz, L. Anderson, W. Weatherhead. 2014. Preliminary assessment of microplastic fibre content in Aegean Sea epipelagic fish. Proceedings of the 5th environmental conference of Macedonia. March 2014, Thessaloniki (p. 61).

Technical Reports

Taniguchi-Quan, K.T., K. Irving, R.A. Wildman Jr., A. Poresky, J.R. Feldman, E.D. Stein, A. Aprahamian, C. Rivers, G. Sharp. 2022. Evaluation of Hydrologic Alteration to Inform Flow Management Decisions in South Orange County Coastal Watersheds. Technical Report 1245. Southern California Coastal Water Research Project. Costa Mesa, CA.

Sutula, M., J. Butcher, M. Schmidt, C. Boschen, R.D. Mazor, D.J. Gillett, K.T. Taniguchi-Quan, K. Irving, D. Shultz. 2022. Science Supporting Decisions on Biostimulatory Targets and Management of Eutrophication in the Main Stem of the Santa Margarita River Watershed. Technical Report 1185. Southern California Coastal Water Research Project. Costa Mesa, CA.

Stein, E.D., K.T. Taniguchi-Quan, J. Wolfand, E. Gallo, K. Irving, D. Philippus, R. Abdi, V. Hennon, A. Tinoco, P. Mohammadi, A. Rust, T.S. Hogue. 2021. Process and Decision Support Tools for Evaluating Flow Management Targets to Support Aquatic Life and Recreational Beneficial Uses of the Los Angeles River: Los Angeles River Environmental Flows Project. Technical Report 1196. Southern California Coastal Water Research Project. Costa Mesa, CA.

Stein, E.D., J. Wolfand, R. Abdi, K. Irving, V. Hennon, K.T. Taniguchi-Quan, D. Philippus, A. Tinoco, A. Rust, E. Gallo, C. Bell, T.S. Hogue. 2021. Assessment of Aquatic Life Use Needs for the Los Angeles River. Technical Report 1154. Southern California Coastal Water Research Project. Costa Mesa, CA.