Fish and Aquatic Species

The pesticides 3-trifluoromethyl-4-nitrophenol (TFM) and niclosamide selectively target larval sea lampreys (Petromyzon marinus) because they have a much lower capacity to detoxify these lampricides by forming glucuronide conjugates compared to typical non-target fishes. However, if lampricide uptake overwhelms a fish's detoxification capacity, non-target mortality can result. Non-target mortality...

This study is designed to be a high-throughput alternative to traditional methods of using whole fish assays to screen compounds for toxicity. This approach involves an initial pre-screening of a chemical databank to select molecules possessing characteristics identified as predictive criteria for potential toxicity to the fathead minnow, followed by cytotoxicity screening of selected compounds...

A major focus of USGS Eastern Ecological Science Center's S.O. Conte Research Laboratory in Turners Falls, MA is the design and evaluation of state-of the-art upstream and downstream fish passage structures for hydropower facilities of different sizes and locations and for different fish species, including endangered sturgeons and Atlantic salmon. Performance, physiology, behavior and energetics...

Physiological demands are especially important to anadromous fish because of their need to move between freshwater and seawater and to make long, often difficult migrations.

Recent discoveries of the extent of sturgeon movement in the Gulf of Maine combined with relicensing and water use issues in the Connecticut River demand closer evaluation of shortnose and Atlantic sturgeon migration and behavior patterns.

Engineering has an important role to play in the conservation of migratory fish species. As a result of anthropogenic development on river systems, full and partial barriers to fish movement commonly exist in watersheds worldwide. There is an estimated 2.5 million barriers to fish migration in the United States alone. These barriers typically consist of small to large size dams, culverts, and...

Barrier islands provide numerous invaluable ecosystem goods and services including storm protection and erosion control for the mainland, habitat for fish and wildlife, salinity regulation in estuaries, carbon sequestration in marshes, recreation, and tourism. These islands are dynamic environments due to their position at the land-sea interface. Storms, wave energy, tides, currents, and relative...

Fish are an important component of marine ecosystems, but relatively little is known of their health, in part because sick and dying fish are difficult to detect.

Impact of UMESC Science This research aims to quantify spatial patterns of adult and juvenile (≤5 y of age) freshwater mussels across multiple scales based on systematic survey data from 4 reaches of the Upper Mississippi River (Navigation Pools 3, 5, 6, and 18). Resource managers can use this critical information about spatial structure to make informed river management decisions.

Our goal is to identify the factors that govern population dynamics.

Biomechanics is the study of mechanical laws relating to the movement of living organisms.

Models based upon coastal engineering equations have been developed to quantify wind fetch length and several physical wave characteristics including significant height, length, peak period, maximum orbital velocity, and shear stress These models, modified to operate using Environmental Systems Research Institute's ArcGIS 10.0/10.1 Geographic Information System platform, were used to quantify...