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Current Research | Past Research
 


Using physiological tools to assist with ecological restoration.

Freshwater fishes around the globe are experiencing alarming rates of population declines, and one of the largest factors contributing to these declines is habitat destruction. Consequently, there are a number of approaches available to restore damaged ecosystems to allow fish populations to recover. Our research in this area seeks to use physiological tools to understand the responses of individual fish and fish populations to landscape-level disturbances. Such knowledge can assist the development and implementation of effective restoration strategies that recognize the role of habitat quality on organismal performance. Furthermore, physiological tools can be used to monitor the success of restoration projects during their implementation and as part of postproject monitoring. This research is being carried out at locations around Illinois.
 
Impacts of climate change on coastal marine ecosystems.

Global climate change is currently modifying marine environments via increased water temperature, acidification due to elevated atmospheric CO2, and altered salinity.  Negative consequences to open ocean and coastal marine ecosystems are expected, but the absence of a mechanistic understanding of how these disturbances impact individuals and/or populations is impeding our ability to predict the extent of the impact or design protective legislation.  Because coastal areas provide income for local residents via food and tourism, climate-induced alterations to these ecosystems could be catastrophic for both ecological and economic reasons. Our research in this area will quantify the behavioral and physiological responses of both nearshore marine fishes (checkered puffer, yellowfin mojarra) and economically important coastal species (bonefish, conch, and spiny lobsters) to stressors associated with climate change (temperature, acidification and salinity).  These experiments, by linking both the short-term and long-term responses of these organisms to different climate change stressors, would provide the information needed to guide long-term predictive planning and policy formation. This research is funded by the Environmental Change Institute and will be carried out at the Cape Eleuthera Institute, Eleuthera, The Bahamas.

Behavioural and physiological impacts of angling-related stressors on fish and fish populations.

Angling is a popular recreational activity for people around the globe and is currently a multi-billion dollar industry in both the United States and Canada. To help protect this valuable resource, many anglers release the fish that they capture; research has shown that fish that have been angled and released can survive, grow, reproduce and be captured again. My research in this area has been to design novel conservation strategies to help improve the survival of fish that have been angled and released. To date my research has quantified a host of physiological, behavioural, and physical responses of fish to various stressors associated with catch-and-release angling. As well, I have documented how water temperature, dissolved oxygen and ammonia concentrations can impact the time for fish to recover from angling-induced stressors. This research has improved our understanding of how fish respond to different external stressors, and has helped design management strategies proven to minimize the impacts of angling on fish and fish populations.
 
Spatial ecology of smallmouth bass

Smallmouth bass are a top predator in many aquatic ecosystems across North America. Recent advances in telemetry have allowed us to remotely monitor the movements and behaviour of fishes at fine-scale resolution. I am currently involved in a study using telemetric tools to quantify the movement and behaviour of free-swimming smallmouth bass across several seasons and at multiple time scales. This study was carried out at the Harkness Laboratory of Fisheries Research, Lake Opeongo, Algonquin Provincial Park, Ontario, and will help improve our understanding of smallmouth bass ecology, behaviour and habitat requirements.

 
Impacts of long-term climate change on smallmouth bass populations.

When examined across long time scales (ie. decades), smallmouth bass populations exhibit large variations in population-level reproductive success. We are working to identify the biotic and abiotic characters that drive this reproductive variation. Understanding the forces that dictate this variation in population-level reproductive success will allow us to make better predictions of how future climate change will impact bass populations. Some of the characters that we are considering in our analyses are large-scale climate indices (such as the North Atlantic Oscillation and the El Niño/Southern Oscillation), male size, and temperature shock induced by storm events. This research is being carried out at lakes in the vicinity of the Queen's University Biological Station and at various locations in Illinois.

Defining best practices for catch-and-release angling for bonefish.

Bonefish are an ancient fish that are distributed throughout the tropics. Recreational angling for bonefish represents a multi-billion dollar industry worldwide. The presence of healthy bonefish populations can draw recreational anglers from around the globe. Our work seeks to identify the best handling practices that minimize disturbance and maximize survival following a catch-and-release angling event for bonefish. This work has examined the impacts of angling duration, air exposure, predator burden and dissolved oxygen concentration on physiological and behavioral responses of angled bonefish. This work has provided a series of recommendations to recreational bonefish anglers, and these recommendations have been widely distributed by various state and federal government agencies. This research is being carried out at the Cape Eleuthera Institute with support from Bonefish Tarpon Trust.
 
Linking reproduction and conservation for largemouth and smallmouth bass.

Male largemouth bass and smallmouth bass provide parental care for their developing offspring in the form of egg fanning and defense from predators. Across North America there is a great deal of variation in regulations designed to protect nesting bass from angling - some areas have closed seasons preventing all angling for nesting bass, while some areas allow angling for nesting bass. Each of these two management options makes different assumptions about the impacts of angling for nesting bass. My research in this area worked to understand the individual- and population-level consequences of angling for nesting bass while they are guarding their broods. My research showed that if brood-guarding bass are targeted by anglers, the fish that will be caught are not selected randomly - large males with large broods defend their nests more aggressively than small males and will be preferentially caught. Over time, this can lead to a reduction in population size and reproductive output if small large males are repeatedly angled and acheive reduced fitness. As a result of this research, showed that no-fishing sanctuaries can work to increase population-level reproductive success for nesting bass populations. This research was carried out at lakes in the vicinity of the Queen's University Biological Station.