The genetic basis of adaptation is complex as many fitness-related traits are quantitative and likely influenced by multiple genes with variable effects across different selective environments. One important adaptation for anadromous Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) is the time at which individuals return to natal breeding sites within a reproductive season....
Sea otters fulfill a keystone role in several Northeastern Pacific nearshore ecosystems. However, their influence has been absent in Oregon coastal waters since their extirpation in the 19th and early 20th century. Interest has been growing for a translocation attempt to reintroduce sea otters to Oregon from one or more...
Because human land use activities often result in increased fragmentation of headwater stream habitats, a better understanding of the effects of fragmentation on the genetic heterogeneity of stream salmonids is useful for effective management. We used eight microsatellites to examine the genetic structure of potamodromous coastal cutthroat trout (Oncorhynchus clarki...
The 100 North Pacific rockfish species in the genus Sebastes are highly diverse. Rockfishes fertilize their eggs internally and release swimming larvae. Complex courting behaviors may allow female rockfish to be selective about their mates and may promote and maintain speciation. In this study, I applied genetic techniques to survey...
Substantial scientific investment has been directed towards understanding factors that influence distribution patterns and animals' remarkable ability for precise orientation and navigation, yet fundamental gaps in our knowledge remain. In my dissertation, I applied emerging genetic technologies to conduct a top-down and bottom-up investigation of animal movement and cue perception....
RNAseq data among copepods (Calanus pacificus) were sampled and analyzed in relation to oceanographic and climatic conditions to determine if new information derived from such an approach might assist applications that use copepods as ecosystem indicators to predict fishery yields. These samples were taken as part of long-term studies conducted...
Reintroduction programs are used to re-establish species back into their historical habitat. Most reintroduction programs have failed and few papers have evaluated factors that may be important to Pacific salmon. The 158 meter tall Cougar Dam has blocked Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) from accessing 40 kilometers of historical spawning and...
Although the effects of extrinsic barriers to dispersal have increasingly been shown to
play a large role in the structuring of contemporary genetic diversity, describing the
relationship between landscape structure, stochastic disturbance, and genetic diversity
remains a major challenge. Here, environmental features for 27 barrier-isolated
populations (2,232 individuals) of coastal...
Evidence for reduced reproductive success (RS) of wild spawning hatchery-reared fish invites serious consideration with regard to the detrimental effects on subsequent generations of wild populations. Mate choice was evaluated as a potential mechanism contributing to these observed RS differences using a previous pedigree of wild spawning hatchery-reared and wild...
Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) display the greatest variability of return times to freshwater of all Pacific salmon. Differential return times to freshwater have segregated populations of Chinook into two broad types or runs, fall and spring, named for the time of year in which they migrate to freshwater. Migration time...