Globally, the number of threatened species is increasing and conserving them is a high priority to the scientific community. Assessing the status of these protected species is challenging due to missing, contested, and or contradictory data streams. Integrated models (IMs) provide a statistical framework for combining disparate data sources to...
The structure of food webs and how they relate to community stability has been an important debate in ecology. Specifically, predictability of web shape and how it influenced by surrounding landscapes is one of the main goals of such discussions. Headwater streams provide a study template that is of interest...
Two ecologically important lamprey species found in the endorheic Goose Lake Basin face conservation threats; however, relatively little is known about their habitat needs or spatial distribution. Lamprey and their habitat are often found to be patchy; to evaluate these relationships for the lamprey in this basin, I utilized a...
Pacific lamprey Entosphenus tridentatus is a valuable icon and traditional food source for Indigenous people of western North America. Native Americans have utilized traditional ecological knowledge (TEK) since time immemorial to guide their ways of life, transmitting cultural values and natural history to further generational knowledge. Pacific lamprey are in...
Depleted species of rockfish (Sebastes spp.) from the Northeast Pacific experience high discard mortality due to "barotrauma," induced from the rapid change in pressure during capture. Research suggests rockfish have the potential to survive barotrauma if immediately recompressed, but the potential for long-term recovery is unknown. In this project, we...
The Columbia River Basin historically supported abundant populations of Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) but, largely due to anthropogenic influence, many populations are now listed as threatened or endangered under the U.S. Endangered Species Act. Habitat restoration efforts have been a critical component of salmon recovery plans. However, although the importance...
Rivers impacted by human activities often have multiple stressors present. The effects of multiple stressors on biological communities can often be difficult to predict, due to the potential for complex interactions between stressors and communities. This thesis explores the impacts of two stressors often associated with agricultural land use, increased...
This study examined features of deep pool (>0.8 m mean depth) used by
adult summer steelhead in Steamboat Creek (1991-1992). Steamboat Creek had
a heterogenous thermal profile, with some segments exceeding preferred
temperature of steelhead. Deep pools were scarce (4% of the total habitat units)
and 39% of them were...
Understanding the effects of climate variability on growth dynamics and timing of early life history events in marine fishes can provide insights into survival, recruitment and productivity. Field collections (2005, 2007, 2009-2011) were combined with otolith microstructural analysis to examine interannual variation in larval and juvenile growth rates, size at...
Connectivity of fish populations is a crucial question for fisheries conservation and the development of spatial management plans. Both adult and larval movement define the extent and direction of ecological and evolutionary overlap between geographic regions and, therefore, how we define stocks for management purposes. Within that context, my work...