Ecology of endangered Roanoke logperch (with Dr.s Paul Angermeier, Eric Hallerman, Amanda Rosenberger, and Brett Albanese): Federally endangered Percina rex persists only in a handful of river systems in Virginia and North Carolina. Current watershed-development and flood-control measures threaten logperch in upper Roanoke River, whereas logperch in middle Roanoke River and Smith River may be chronically reduced by hydroelectric dam operations. Ongoing and future research directions for the species include: 1) development of models to explain spatiotemporal variation in the abundance of logperch in upper Roanoke and upper Smith Rivers, 2) determination of population (and community) responses to the Roanoke River Flood Reduction Project, 3) delineation of the population genetic structure and population sizes of the species using genetic markers, 4) examination of movement patterns in the Roanoke River, and 5) population viability analysis. Papers describing logperch movement patterns and genetic markers were published in Ecology of Freshwater Fish and Molecular Ecology Resources, respectively. A review of the logperch's conservation status was published in Environmental Biology of Fishes. Papers on logperch population genetic structure and hybridization are in review at Molecular Ecology and Southeastern Fishes Council Proceedings, respectively.

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Long-term dynamics of stream-fish assemblages in the New River basin (with Dr. Than Hitt): George Burton and Eugene Odum sampled several New and James River tributaries in southwest Virginia in the late 1930s (see Burton and Odum 1945, Ecology). Within each tributary, they noted increasing species richness via species additions as they moved downstream. Since this classical work, longitudinal nestedness has been demonstrated in the fish assemblages of many other stream systems. We are in the process of re-sampling streams visited by Burton and Odum, to 1) measure alpha and beta diversity and nestedness then and now, to determine the temporal persistence of these attributes, 2) measure the compositional similarity of assemblages then and now, and 3) determine which species traits have demonstrated the greatest and least persistence over time and space. A book chapter related to this work was published in Community Ecology of Stream Fishes (AFS press) and a paper is in press at Oikos.

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Exploring ecological mechanisms influencing stream fish movements (with Dr. Paul Angermeier): Understanding movement dynamics will aid both in the management of populations and in the designation of critical habitats for stream fishes. Movement studies to-date have determined species- and stream-specific movement rates and home ranges, but have often failed to explore the biotic and abiotic drivers that cause movement to vary. We conducted a spatially intensive mark-recapture movement study of three darter species in the upper Roanoke River watershed, Virginia. We determined the influences of large- and local-scale spatiotemporal variability on local habitat characteristics (e.g., habitat stability, habitat complexity, habitat spacing, conspecific density, predator density), and influences of resulting habitat characteristics on movement patterns. In another study, we estimated responses of these fishes to movement corridors of overhead cover that were introduced into stream pools. This work comprised the bulk of my Master's thesis at Virginia Tech. Results of these studies were published in Oecologia and Transactions of the American Fisheries Society, respectively.

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Techniques for marking of small fishes (with Dr. Paul Angermeier and John Kilpatrick): Although small-bodied benthic stream fishes are among the most imperiled groups of North American fauna, we know little about the demography of these species. Marking allows researchers to estimate survival, movement, and population size, but marking small individuals presents unique challenges and may increase individuals' susceptibility to predation. We compared retention and mortality rates of darters marked with two technologies, Visible Implant Elastomer (Northwest Marine Technologies, Inc.) and Photonic Tags (New West Technologies, Inc.). In another study, we determined the influences of mark presence and mark color on predation rates by rock and smallmouth bass on marked darters. This work was also part of my Master's thesis at VT. Papers describing the results of each study were published in North American Journal of Fisheries Management and Journal of Freshwater Ecology, respectively.

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Reproductive characteristics of longnose dace (with Dr. Gary Grossman): The longnose dace has the widest distribution of any native North American cyprinid, but little is known regarding the quantitative reproductive biology of the species. We studied the reproductive characteristics of female Rhinichthys cataractae in the Coweeta Creek watershed of North Carolina during the summer of 1999. We compared total fecundity and the fecundity/body size relationship from the Coweeta population to the only other published account of these data for the species, from a Lake Michigan population. We also estimated clutch size and the number of clutches produced annually by the species. This work was part of my Senior Thesis at the University of Georgia, and was published in Ecology of Freshwater Fish.