Research Projects
Functional Upper Mississippi River System (UMRS) fish community responses and their environmental associations in the face of a changing river: hydrologic variability, biological invasions, and habitat rehabilitation
Our objective is to identify, test, and infer functional patterns in the UMRS fish community across a 1960 km gradient of river and over a 20+ year time period. Our primary goal will be elucidating demonstrably non-random patterns in UMRS fish community functional expressions and determining their environmental covariates.
Our primary hypotheses are:
Our primary hypotheses are:
- There is no difference in the basic functional template of the UMRS fish community over 1960 km of river (percent of species present in each functional guild class)
- Divergent patterns in either reproductive, feeding, or habitat guild mass expressions will be apparent and demonstrable from north to south within the UMRS
- Habitat rehabilitation has not altered the functional attributes of the UMRS fish community
- The presence of invasive carp has altered the functional attributes of the UMRS fish community in the southern reaches
- The northern reaches are functionally distinct from the southern reaches providing a buffer against invasion.
Project Collaborators: John Chick, Brian Ickes
Funding Provided by USACE/USGS UMESC
Funding Provided by USACE/USGS UMESC
Long-Term Resource Monitoring of the Upper Mississippi River System
This project aims to take advantage of a long-term dataset on both fish community structure and water quality along the Upper Mississippi River System. Data has been collected continuously since 1993 using a stratified random sampling design at six study reaches along the length of the UMRS.
Some questions being investigated are:
Some questions being investigated are:
- How has fish community structure changed since 1993 along the six study reaches?
- What are the hydrologic or environmental variables driving observed changes in fish community stricture?
- What are the long-term trends in fish populations?
- How has recruitment been influenced by hydroloigc variability and environmental change?
Project Collaborators: John Chick
Funding Provided by USACE/USGS UMESC
Funding Provided by USACE/USGS UMESC
Incorporating Early Life History and Recruitment in the Analysis of Population Dynamics of Marsh Fish
The objective of this research was to identify how hydrology influence the three important characteristics linked to recruitment variability: dispersal, age-specific mortality, and mass-specific growth.
This research tested four specific questions using the Florida Everglades as a model system.
This research tested four specific questions using the Florida Everglades as a model system.
- Does sample bias in a 20-year, multi-site time series influence our understanding of the seasonal and hydrological drivers of recruitment?
- What is the source of density-dependent mortality on recruits in pulsed ecosystems?
- Can interspecific differences in sustained swimming speed and directedness describe differences in dispersal ability?
- Does hydroperiod influence the onset of a transitional phase (M’/G’=1) linked to recruitment variability?
Project Collaborators: Joel Trexler, Ed Houde, Yannis Papastamatiou, Yuying Zhang, Kevin Boswell, Gary Rand
Funding Provided by American Killifish Association George Maier Fund, FIU Dissertation Year Fellowship
Funding Provided by American Killifish Association George Maier Fund, FIU Dissertation Year Fellowship
Investigating Phosphorus as a Spatial Marker Using Otolith Microchemistry in Everglades Fish
This research aims to determine of fish uptake ambient Phosphorus (P) in their otoliths as a potential spatial marker using otolith microchemistry. It aims to detect any spatial changes in individual habitat use throughout life history by tracking changes in P enrichment. The objectives of this project are:
- to determine if native species uptake ambient concentrations of phosphorus in their otoliths
- to detect changes in spatial distribution throughout the early life history of native Everglades fish via changes in otolith phosphorus concentration
- to evaluate the potential for otolith microchemistry as a tool for detecting water pollution and eutrophication
Project Collaborators: Joel Trexler, Marco Fernandez, Sue Newman, Colin Saunders, Mark Cook
Funding Provided by South Florida Water Management District
Funding Provided by South Florida Water Management District