Brian P O'Malley, PhD
Brian is a Research Fishery Biologist based in Oswego, NY, working on prey fish assessments, lake trout restoration, invertebrate ecology, and coregonine restoration science.
Brian O’Malley is a Research Fishery Biologist with the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), Great Lakes Science Center. He works based out of the Lake Ontario Biological Station in Oswego, NY, located on the shores of Lake Ontario. Brian earned his PhD from the University of Vermont where he studied the causes and consequences of partial diel vertical migration in Mysis diluviana, a shrimp-like invertebrate that serves as the primary prey for several native fish species in the Great Lakes. Brian’s current research with the USGS spans from invertebrates to top predator fishes. Brian leads binational annual assessments of Lake Ontario’s benthic prey fish community and evaluations of native species restoration projects, which are collaborative projects conducted with state, federal, and provincial partners. Brian is the lead investigator of Lake Ontario’s Lake Trout restoration program which provides science to inform management decisions regarding stocking, efficacy of Sea Lamprey control, and the relative contribution of wild and stocked fish to the fishery. Brian also leads research on native coregonine restoration in which includes such topics as fish ecology, behavior, and intra- and interspecific studies on coregonine morphology as they relate to taxonomy and ecology. Brian’s work environment makes use of both large and small research vessels on the Great Lakes, as well as laboratory and experimental approaches, and syntheses of population dynamics using long-term datasets on Great Lakes fish communities.
Professional Experience
Research Fishery Biologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Lake Ontario Biological Station, 2022 - present
Fishery Biologist, U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Lake Ontario Biological Station, 2019 - 2022
Pathways Trainee (Biology), U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Lake Ontario Biological Station, 2017 - 2019
Graduate Research Assistant, Rubenstein Ecosystem Science Laboratory, University of Vermont, 2014 - 2018
Research Technician, Cornell Biological Field Station, Cornell University, 2013-2014
Contractor, U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Science Center, Ann Arbor MI, 2011-2013
Education and Certifications
2019, PhD in Natural Resources, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources, University of Vermont
2011, BSc in Environmental Biology, Department of Environmental and Forest Biology, State University of New York College of Environmental Science and Forestry
Honors and Awards
2017, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources Graduate Student Award for Outstanding Research and Scholarship (University of Vermont)
2017, Scholarship, International Association for Great Lakes Research
2016, Chrysalis Research Award, Rubenstein School of Environment and Natural Resources (University of Vermont)
Science and Products
Data releases by this scientist
Traditional and geometric morphometric data describing wild and artificially reared cisco (Coregonus artedi) from lakes Huron and Ontario
These data describe morphometric (body shape) measurements of wild and artificially reared (i.e., raised in a laboratory or fish hatchery) cisco (Coregonus artedi) from lakes Huron and Ontario in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Specifically, this data release includes traditional morphometric data (i.e., measurements of fish specimens) describing wild and artificially reared cisco from Lake Huron, as
Morphometric measurements of Cisco (Coregonus artedi) from Lake Ontario 2018
These data contain morphometric measurements collected on the left side of Cisco (Coregonus artedi) collected from Lake Ontario in 2018. Measurements were obtained by two methods, first by direct measurements made on the thawed specimens using a hand caliper by one person, then using a digital image technique. The digital image measurements were completed by two different measurers to evaluate how
Publications by this scientist
Filter Total Items: 22
Field and laboratory validation of new sampling gear to quantify coregonine egg deposition and larval emergence across spawning habitat gradients
The influence of habitat and environmental conditions on Great Lakes coregonine reproduction is not well described, in part, because we lack sampling gears for early life stages that are effective across habitats. We designed new egg and larval emergence traps to quantify coregonine reproductive success across variable depths and substrates and tested them in laboratory and field settings. In the
Authors
Brian C. Weidel, Cameron Davis, Brian O'Malley, Hannah Lachance, Christopher Osborne, Alexander J. Gatch, Stacy Furgal, Gregg Mackey, Marc Chalupnicki, Nicholas Sard, Aaron C. Heisey, Michael Connerton, Brian F. Lantry
Seasonal habitat utilization provides evidence for site fidelity during both spawn and non-spawning seasons in Lake Ontario cisco Coregonus artedi
The Lake Ontario cisco Coregonus artedi population declined in the 20th century, and restoration of this species is a management objective. Management tools to restore cisco are limited because little is known about cisco spawning behavior and habitat use. We tagged 76 cisco from a remnant population in Chaumont Bay, Lake Ontario with acoustic transmitters and characterized seasonal habitat use fr
Authors
Alexander J. Gatch, Dimitry Gorsky, Brian C. Weidel, Zy F. Biesinger, Michael J. Connerton, Cameron Davis, Hannah Lachance, Brian O'Malley
Bottom trawl assessment of Lake Ontario's benthic preyfish community, 2022
Since 1978, surveys of Lake Ontario preyfish communities have provided information on the status and trends of the benthic preyfish community related to Fish Community Objectives that includes understanding preyfish population dynamics and community diversity. Beginning in 2015, the benthic preyfish survey expanded from US-only to incorporate Canadian sites, increasing the survey’s spatial coverag
Authors
Brian O'Malley, Scott P. Minihkeim, James McKenna, Jessica A. Goretzke, Jeremy P. Holden
Lake Ontario August gillnet survey and Lake Trout assessment, 2022
Lake Ontario Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) rehabilitation has been annually assessed with fishery independent surveys since 1983, in an effort to evaluate program benchmarks and compare observations with management objectives. These surveys provide information on the abundance, strain composition, and condition of the adult Lake Trout stock, as well as information on levels of natural recruitm
Authors
Brian O'Malley, Brian F. Lantry, Scott P. Minihkeim, James Duncan Mckenna, Jessica A. Goretzke, Alexander J. Gatch, Dimitry Gorsky
Lake Ontario’s nearshore zooplankton: Community composition changes and comparisons to the offshore
In large lake systems the nearshore habitat is an intermediate zone between the shoreline and offshore, is an important nursery for larval fish, and is highlighted as an area in need of research in the Laurentian Great Lakes. In this study, we used two long-term monitoring programs to characterize the nearshore zooplankton community composition using seasonal data (May – October) and to compare th
Authors
Stephanie Figary, Kristen T. Holeck, Christopher Hotaling, James M. Watkins, Jana Lantry, Mike Connerton, Scott Prindle, Zy Biesinger, Brian O'Malley, Lars G. Rudstam
Comparison of traditional and geometric morphometrics using Lake Huron ciscoes of the Coregonus artedi complex
Here we determine how traditional morphometrics (TM) compares with geometric morphometrics (GM) in discriminating among morphologies of four forms of ciscoes of the Coregonus artedi complex collected from Lake Huron. One of the forms comprised two groups of the same deepwater cisco separated by capture depth, whereas the other three forms were shallow-water ciscoes. Our three groups of shallow-wat
Authors
Benjamin E Martin, Brian O'Malley, Randy E Eshenroder, Yu-Chun Kao, Chris Olds, Timothy P. O'Brien, Chris L. Davis
Results of the collaborative Lake Ontario bloater restoration stocking and assessment, 2012–2020
Bloater, Coregonus hoyi, are deepwater planktivores native to the Laurentian Great Lakes and Lake Nipigon. Interpretations of commercial fishery time series suggest they were common in Lake Ontario through the early 1900s but by the 1950s were no longer captured by commercial fishers. Annual bottom trawl surveys that began in 1978 and sampled extensively across putative bloater habitat only yielde
Authors
Brian C. Weidel, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Marc Chalupnicki, Michael Connerton, Steve Davis, John M. Dettmers, Timothy Drew, Aaron T. Fisk, Roger Gordon, S. Dale Hanson, Jeremy Holden, Mark E. Holey, James H. Johnson, Timothy B. Johnson, Colin Lake, Brian F. Lantry, Kevin K. Loftus, Gregg E. Mackey, James E. McKenna, Michael J. Millard, Scott P. Minihkeim, Brian O'Malley, Andrew C. Todd, Steven Lapan, Adam Rupnik
Importance of nonindigenous harpacticoids (Crustacea: Copepoda) decrease with depth in Lake Ontario
Harpacticoid copepods can be a substantial component of the meiobenthic community in lakes and serve an ecological role as detritivores. Here we present the first species-level lake-wide quantitative assessment of the harpacticoid assemblage of Lake Ontario with emphasis on the status of nonindigenous species. Additionally, we provide COI-5P sequences of harpacticoid taxa through Barcode of Life D
Authors
Joe K. Connolly, Brian O'Malley, Patrick Hudson, James M. Watkins, Lyubov E. Burlakova, Lars G. Rudstam
Bottom trawl assessment of Lake Ontario's benthic preyfish community, 2021
Since 1978, the Lake Ontario preyfish community survey has provided information on the status and trends of the benthic preyfish community related to Fish Community Objectives that includes understanding preyfish population dynamics and community diversity. Beginning in 2015, the benthic preyfish survey expanded from US-only to incorporate lake-wide sampling sites which increased the survey’s spat
Authors
Brian O'Malley, Scott P. Minihkeim, Thomas Andrew Sanfilippo, Jessica A Goretzke, Jeremy P. Holden
Incorporation of non-native species in the diets of cisco (Coregonus artedi) from eastern Lake Ontario
Cisco Coregonus artedi was once an important native fish in Lake Ontario; however, after multiple population crashes, the cisco stock has yet to recover to historic abundances. Rehabilitation of cisco in Lake Ontario is a fish community management objective, but the extent to which recent non-native species and pelagic food web changes have influenced cisco is not well understood. We described cis
Authors
Alexander Gatch, Brian C. Weidel, Dimitry Gorsky, Brian O'Malley, Michael Connerton, Jeremy Holden, Kristen T. Holeck, J.A. Goertzke, Curtis T. Karboski
2020 Status of the Lake Ontario lower trophic levels
Significant Findings for Year 2020: Note that due to covid-19 restrictions, offshore sampling was limited in 2020.1) May – Oct total phosphorus (TP) in 2020 was 10.6 µg/L (offshore) and 7.7 µg/L (nearshore), higher than the long-term (1995-2019) average in the offshore (6.2 µg/L) and close to average in the nearshore (7.8 µg/L); mean TP values for the past decade (2010-2019) were 6.0 µg/L and 7.9
Authors
Kristen T. Holeck, Lars G. Rudstam, Christopher Hotaling, Dave Lemon, Web Pearsall, Jana Lantry, Mike Connerton, Chris Legard, Zy Biesinger, Brian F. Lantry, Brian C. Weidel, Brian O'Malley
Bottom trawl assessment of benthic preyfish community in Lake Ontario
Since 1978, the Lake Ontario benthic preyfish survey has provided information on the status and trends of the benthic preyfish community related to Lake Ontario Fish Community Objectives that include understanding preyfish population dynamics and community diversity. Beginning in 2015, the benthic preyfish survey expanded from US-only to incorporate lake-wide sampling sites which drastically incre
Authors
Brian O'Malley, Jessica Goretzke, Jeremy P. Holden
News about this scientist
Science and Products
- Data
Data releases by this scientist
Traditional and geometric morphometric data describing wild and artificially reared cisco (Coregonus artedi) from lakes Huron and Ontario
These data describe morphometric (body shape) measurements of wild and artificially reared (i.e., raised in a laboratory or fish hatchery) cisco (Coregonus artedi) from lakes Huron and Ontario in the Laurentian Great Lakes. Specifically, this data release includes traditional morphometric data (i.e., measurements of fish specimens) describing wild and artificially reared cisco from Lake Huron, asMorphometric measurements of Cisco (Coregonus artedi) from Lake Ontario 2018
These data contain morphometric measurements collected on the left side of Cisco (Coregonus artedi) collected from Lake Ontario in 2018. Measurements were obtained by two methods, first by direct measurements made on the thawed specimens using a hand caliper by one person, then using a digital image technique. The digital image measurements were completed by two different measurers to evaluate how - Multimedia
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- Publications
Publications by this scientist
Filter Total Items: 22Field and laboratory validation of new sampling gear to quantify coregonine egg deposition and larval emergence across spawning habitat gradients
The influence of habitat and environmental conditions on Great Lakes coregonine reproduction is not well described, in part, because we lack sampling gears for early life stages that are effective across habitats. We designed new egg and larval emergence traps to quantify coregonine reproductive success across variable depths and substrates and tested them in laboratory and field settings. In theAuthorsBrian C. Weidel, Cameron Davis, Brian O'Malley, Hannah Lachance, Christopher Osborne, Alexander J. Gatch, Stacy Furgal, Gregg Mackey, Marc Chalupnicki, Nicholas Sard, Aaron C. Heisey, Michael Connerton, Brian F. LantrySeasonal habitat utilization provides evidence for site fidelity during both spawn and non-spawning seasons in Lake Ontario cisco Coregonus artedi
The Lake Ontario cisco Coregonus artedi population declined in the 20th century, and restoration of this species is a management objective. Management tools to restore cisco are limited because little is known about cisco spawning behavior and habitat use. We tagged 76 cisco from a remnant population in Chaumont Bay, Lake Ontario with acoustic transmitters and characterized seasonal habitat use frAuthorsAlexander J. Gatch, Dimitry Gorsky, Brian C. Weidel, Zy F. Biesinger, Michael J. Connerton, Cameron Davis, Hannah Lachance, Brian O'MalleyBottom trawl assessment of Lake Ontario's benthic preyfish community, 2022
Since 1978, surveys of Lake Ontario preyfish communities have provided information on the status and trends of the benthic preyfish community related to Fish Community Objectives that includes understanding preyfish population dynamics and community diversity. Beginning in 2015, the benthic preyfish survey expanded from US-only to incorporate Canadian sites, increasing the survey’s spatial coveragAuthorsBrian O'Malley, Scott P. Minihkeim, James McKenna, Jessica A. Goretzke, Jeremy P. HoldenLake Ontario August gillnet survey and Lake Trout assessment, 2022
Lake Ontario Lake Trout (Salvelinus namaycush) rehabilitation has been annually assessed with fishery independent surveys since 1983, in an effort to evaluate program benchmarks and compare observations with management objectives. These surveys provide information on the abundance, strain composition, and condition of the adult Lake Trout stock, as well as information on levels of natural recruitmAuthorsBrian O'Malley, Brian F. Lantry, Scott P. Minihkeim, James Duncan Mckenna, Jessica A. Goretzke, Alexander J. Gatch, Dimitry GorskyLake Ontario’s nearshore zooplankton: Community composition changes and comparisons to the offshore
In large lake systems the nearshore habitat is an intermediate zone between the shoreline and offshore, is an important nursery for larval fish, and is highlighted as an area in need of research in the Laurentian Great Lakes. In this study, we used two long-term monitoring programs to characterize the nearshore zooplankton community composition using seasonal data (May – October) and to compare thAuthorsStephanie Figary, Kristen T. Holeck, Christopher Hotaling, James M. Watkins, Jana Lantry, Mike Connerton, Scott Prindle, Zy Biesinger, Brian O'Malley, Lars G. RudstamComparison of traditional and geometric morphometrics using Lake Huron ciscoes of the Coregonus artedi complex
Here we determine how traditional morphometrics (TM) compares with geometric morphometrics (GM) in discriminating among morphologies of four forms of ciscoes of the Coregonus artedi complex collected from Lake Huron. One of the forms comprised two groups of the same deepwater cisco separated by capture depth, whereas the other three forms were shallow-water ciscoes. Our three groups of shallow-watAuthorsBenjamin E Martin, Brian O'Malley, Randy E Eshenroder, Yu-Chun Kao, Chris Olds, Timothy P. O'Brien, Chris L. DavisResults of the collaborative Lake Ontario bloater restoration stocking and assessment, 2012–2020
Bloater, Coregonus hoyi, are deepwater planktivores native to the Laurentian Great Lakes and Lake Nipigon. Interpretations of commercial fishery time series suggest they were common in Lake Ontario through the early 1900s but by the 1950s were no longer captured by commercial fishers. Annual bottom trawl surveys that began in 1978 and sampled extensively across putative bloater habitat only yieldeAuthorsBrian C. Weidel, Amanda Susanne Ackiss, Marc Chalupnicki, Michael Connerton, Steve Davis, John M. Dettmers, Timothy Drew, Aaron T. Fisk, Roger Gordon, S. Dale Hanson, Jeremy Holden, Mark E. Holey, James H. Johnson, Timothy B. Johnson, Colin Lake, Brian F. Lantry, Kevin K. Loftus, Gregg E. Mackey, James E. McKenna, Michael J. Millard, Scott P. Minihkeim, Brian O'Malley, Andrew C. Todd, Steven Lapan, Adam RupnikImportance of nonindigenous harpacticoids (Crustacea: Copepoda) decrease with depth in Lake Ontario
Harpacticoid copepods can be a substantial component of the meiobenthic community in lakes and serve an ecological role as detritivores. Here we present the first species-level lake-wide quantitative assessment of the harpacticoid assemblage of Lake Ontario with emphasis on the status of nonindigenous species. Additionally, we provide COI-5P sequences of harpacticoid taxa through Barcode of Life DAuthorsJoe K. Connolly, Brian O'Malley, Patrick Hudson, James M. Watkins, Lyubov E. Burlakova, Lars G. RudstamBottom trawl assessment of Lake Ontario's benthic preyfish community, 2021
Since 1978, the Lake Ontario preyfish community survey has provided information on the status and trends of the benthic preyfish community related to Fish Community Objectives that includes understanding preyfish population dynamics and community diversity. Beginning in 2015, the benthic preyfish survey expanded from US-only to incorporate lake-wide sampling sites which increased the survey’s spatAuthorsBrian O'Malley, Scott P. Minihkeim, Thomas Andrew Sanfilippo, Jessica A Goretzke, Jeremy P. HoldenIncorporation of non-native species in the diets of cisco (Coregonus artedi) from eastern Lake Ontario
Cisco Coregonus artedi was once an important native fish in Lake Ontario; however, after multiple population crashes, the cisco stock has yet to recover to historic abundances. Rehabilitation of cisco in Lake Ontario is a fish community management objective, but the extent to which recent non-native species and pelagic food web changes have influenced cisco is not well understood. We described cisAuthorsAlexander Gatch, Brian C. Weidel, Dimitry Gorsky, Brian O'Malley, Michael Connerton, Jeremy Holden, Kristen T. Holeck, J.A. Goertzke, Curtis T. Karboski2020 Status of the Lake Ontario lower trophic levels
Significant Findings for Year 2020: Note that due to covid-19 restrictions, offshore sampling was limited in 2020.1) May – Oct total phosphorus (TP) in 2020 was 10.6 µg/L (offshore) and 7.7 µg/L (nearshore), higher than the long-term (1995-2019) average in the offshore (6.2 µg/L) and close to average in the nearshore (7.8 µg/L); mean TP values for the past decade (2010-2019) were 6.0 µg/L and 7.9AuthorsKristen T. Holeck, Lars G. Rudstam, Christopher Hotaling, Dave Lemon, Web Pearsall, Jana Lantry, Mike Connerton, Chris Legard, Zy Biesinger, Brian F. Lantry, Brian C. Weidel, Brian O'MalleyBottom trawl assessment of benthic preyfish community in Lake Ontario
Since 1978, the Lake Ontario benthic preyfish survey has provided information on the status and trends of the benthic preyfish community related to Lake Ontario Fish Community Objectives that include understanding preyfish population dynamics and community diversity. Beginning in 2015, the benthic preyfish survey expanded from US-only to incorporate lake-wide sampling sites which drastically increAuthorsBrian O'Malley, Jessica Goretzke, Jeremy P. Holden - News
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