Research in the Fish ALERŦ Lab focuses on population and community ecology of fishes, aquatic landscape ecology, and aquatic natural resource management.
Population and Community Ecology of Fishes
The 2015 Fish Ecology Class (BIOL 6660) published a paper in Ecology of Freshwater Fish documenting the short-term movement of Banded Sculpin in Tennessee. Amy Gebhard captured the below photo of Banded Sculpin:
The same group of graduate students published a paper assessing the transferability of Banded Sculpin habitat associations based on habitat use measured using passive integrated transponder tags. Here is the “Band of Sculpin trackers” in action. Left to right: TJ Johnson, Amy Gebhard, Andrea Engle, Robert Paine, Heather Ferrell, Lucas Hix, and Grady Wells.
In West Tennessee, Juju Wellemeyer is working with the Nature Conservancy and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency to assess landscape scale threats to fish communities across a gradient of land use (but she’s still a sucker for Middle Tennessee fishes).
In Middle Tennessee, Codi Underwood is working in Little Creek to test for changes in fish consumers in riffle habitats over the diel period. Here is Codi and the crew sampling a riffle community at night. Left to right: Codi Underwood, Amy Gebhard, Eric Malone, Robert Paine, and Josh Welch.
In Middle Tennessee, Zac Tankersley assessed fish community change over a 40-year period in the Blackburn Fork Watershed near Cookeville, TN. Here is Zac with his poster he presented at the TN American Fisheries Society meeting in March 2016.
Aquatic Landscape Ecology
Hydrologic connectivity in streams follows longitudinal gradients in stream size, ecosystem productivity, local habitat templates, and fish distributions. Will Curtis is currently assessing how ecology theory might be applied to predict fish ecology along the Roaring River using the River Continuum Concept (RCC). Here is Will with his poster he presented at the TN American Fisheries Society meeting in March 2016 and the national AFS meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, August 2016.
Kelsey Stephenson worked on predator control of Banded Sculpin distributions across streams of various size with, and without, Rock Bass. Here is Kelsey with her poster she presented at the TN American Fisheries Society meeting in March 2016.
Natural Resource Management
In East Tennessee, Eric Malone is working with the Great Smoky Mountains National Park to prioritize native fish and mussel reintroductions into lower Abrams Creek.
Fish ALERŦ Lab Activities
The Fish ALERŦ Lab enroute to the TN American Fisheries Society meeting. Left to right: Josh Perkin, Eric Malone, Zac Tankersley, Amy Gebhard, Will Curtis, and Juju Wellemeyer.
Amy Gebhard was awarded a best student presentation prize for her talk “Loiterers, Leavers, and Leptokurtosis: Measuring and Predicting Short-Term Movement of Banded Sculpin in Tennessee”. This is the second time Amy has won such an award, great job Amy!
Here is a poster Amy presented at the national AFS meeting in Kansas City, Missouri, August 2016.
Fish surveys at Standing Stone State Park revealed an undocumented population of Redspotted Sunfish (Lepomis miniatus), and Juju Wellemeyer and Cole Harty recently published a note on the find in the Southeastern Naturalist. Here is Juju with a Redspotted Sunfish from Mill Creek.
Here is the crew that stuck it out to sample Mill Creek upstream of the reservoir. Left to right: Jarrod Boles, Ethan Cole, Juju Wellemeyer, Amy Gebhard, and Will Curtis.
Will Curtis and Juju Wellemeyer illustrate the perils of sampling during the Banded Sculpin spawning season: seine-freeze (way more painful than a brain-freeze!)
Ichthyology Students at Cumberland Mountain State Park, September 2016.
