In the pre-development Central Valley, winter-spring flooding once created a vast mosaic of productive wetland habitats that teemed with fish and wildlife. A major driver of this wildlife abundance was terrestrial carbon made available to aquatic food webs when floodplains were inundated. Nineteenth and twentieth-century investments in drainage and a network of dams, canals, and levees transformed the Central Valley’s fertile floodplains into one of the world’s most productive agricultural regions. This system of water infrastructure also sped water off … Continue reading BAY DELTA SCIENCE CONFERENCE: Dark Carbon and a Return to Abundance: How Detrital Floodplain Food Webs Can Help Recover Endangered Fish