Corey G. Dunn, PhD
Unit Leader - North Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit
Originally hailing from Richmond Virginia, Dr. Dunn is currently the Unit Leader of the North Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit. Before joining the Mississippi Unit, Dr. Dunn received his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Virginia Tech, his PhD from the University of Missouri, and was a postdoctoral researcher at Mississippi State University. Growing up on the Fall-line part of the Virginia exposed him to the many species of migratory fishes that use the area's shoals for spawning habitat. Consequently, Dr. Dunn became a lotic fisheries biologist who has worked on conservation issues spanning ephemeral headwaters to the Mississippi River. His main research area is the ecology and conservation of rivers and riverine biota. This overarching theme encompasses several research areas including ecology of large-river fishes, endangered species management of fishes, crayfishes and mussels, invasion ecology, and riverine landscape ecology. Dr. Dunn has taught graduate courses including Ecology of River Systems, Native Species Conservation, and Fisheries Sampling Techniques.
Professional Experience
Unit Leader, North Carolina Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, 2023-
Assistant Unit Leader, Mississippi Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, 2020-2023
Education and Certifications
PhD, University of Missouri, 2020
MS, Virginia Tech, 2017
BS, Virginia Tech, 2009
Science and Products
Using resiliency, redundancy, and representation in a Bayesian belief network to assess imperilment of riverine fishes
Conservation prioritization frameworks are used worldwide to identify species at greatest risk of extinction and to allocate limited resources across regions, species, and populations. Conservation prioritization can be impeded by ecological knowledge gaps and data deficiency, especially in freshwater species inhabiting highly complex aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, we developed a flexible approach
Authors
Corey Garland Dunn, David A. Schumann, Michael E. Colvin, Logan John Sleezer, Matthew Wagner, D. Todd Jones-Farrand, Erin Rivenbark, Sarah McRae, Kristine Evans
Fish functional gradients along a reservoir cascade
1.The transformations of fish assemblages caused by reservoir cascades can be severe at the reach scale, but basin-scale effects are less clear. However, prevailing river concepts provide a framework for predicting basin-scale effects. 2. To determine if predictions made by the River Continuum Concept relative to the function of fish assemblages are sustained in a temperate river transformed into
Authors
Jordan C. Besson, Joshua J. Neary, Joshua D. Stafford, Corey Garland Dunn, Leandro E. Miranda
Diverse portfolios: Investing in tributaries for restoration of large river fishes in the Anthropocene
Rehabilitation of large Anthropocene rivers requires engagement of diverse stakeholders across a broad range of sociopolitical boundaries. Competing objectives often constrain options for ecological restoration of large rivers whereas fewer competing objectives may exist in a subset of tributaries. Further, tributaries contribute toward building a “portfolio” of river ecosystem assets through phys
Authors
Kristen L. Bouska, Brian Daniel Healy, Michael J. Moore, Corey Garland Dunn, Jonathan J Spurgeon, Craig Paukert
Patterns of zero and nonzero counts suggest spatiotemporal distributions, aggregation, and dispersion of invasive carp
Bigheaded carp Hypophthalmichthys spp. are invasive species native to Asia expanding in the Mississippi River Basin in North America. An understanding of spatiotemporal distribution and aggregation of invasive carp is key to establishing when and where to focus surveillance designed to monitor expansion, and to managing harvest programs designed to curb population densities. We applied a two-stage
Authors
Leandro E. Miranda, J. Tompkins, Corey Garland Dunn, J. L. Morris, Matthew C. Combs
Co-occurring lotic crayfishes exhibit variable long-term responses to extreme-flow events and temperature
Crayfish serve critical roles in aquatic ecosystems as engineers, omnivores, and prey. It is unclear how increasingly frequent extreme-flow events and warming air temperatures will affect crayfish populations, partly because there are few long-term crayfish monitoring datasets. Using a unique 10-y dataset, we asked 1) whether recruitment of crayfishes in summer responded to extreme-flow events and
Authors
Corey Garland Dunn, Michael J. Moore, Nicholas A. Sievert, Craig Paukert, Robert J. DiStefano
R code for calculating imperilment of freshwater fish with a Bayesian belief network
This R script is reproduces a Bayesian belief network built within the propriety software program, Netica. The R- and Netica-based belief networks were used in Dunn and Schumann et al. (in press), which presents an approach for calculating imperilment of freshwater fishes.
Science and Products
Using resiliency, redundancy, and representation in a Bayesian belief network to assess imperilment of riverine fishes
Conservation prioritization frameworks are used worldwide to identify species at greatest risk of extinction and to allocate limited resources across regions, species, and populations. Conservation prioritization can be impeded by ecological knowledge gaps and data deficiency, especially in freshwater species inhabiting highly complex aquatic ecosystems. Therefore, we developed a flexible approach
Authors
Corey Garland Dunn, David A. Schumann, Michael E. Colvin, Logan John Sleezer, Matthew Wagner, D. Todd Jones-Farrand, Erin Rivenbark, Sarah McRae, Kristine Evans
Fish functional gradients along a reservoir cascade
1.The transformations of fish assemblages caused by reservoir cascades can be severe at the reach scale, but basin-scale effects are less clear. However, prevailing river concepts provide a framework for predicting basin-scale effects. 2. To determine if predictions made by the River Continuum Concept relative to the function of fish assemblages are sustained in a temperate river transformed into
Authors
Jordan C. Besson, Joshua J. Neary, Joshua D. Stafford, Corey Garland Dunn, Leandro E. Miranda
Diverse portfolios: Investing in tributaries for restoration of large river fishes in the Anthropocene
Rehabilitation of large Anthropocene rivers requires engagement of diverse stakeholders across a broad range of sociopolitical boundaries. Competing objectives often constrain options for ecological restoration of large rivers whereas fewer competing objectives may exist in a subset of tributaries. Further, tributaries contribute toward building a “portfolio” of river ecosystem assets through phys
Authors
Kristen L. Bouska, Brian Daniel Healy, Michael J. Moore, Corey Garland Dunn, Jonathan J Spurgeon, Craig Paukert
Patterns of zero and nonzero counts suggest spatiotemporal distributions, aggregation, and dispersion of invasive carp
Bigheaded carp Hypophthalmichthys spp. are invasive species native to Asia expanding in the Mississippi River Basin in North America. An understanding of spatiotemporal distribution and aggregation of invasive carp is key to establishing when and where to focus surveillance designed to monitor expansion, and to managing harvest programs designed to curb population densities. We applied a two-stage
Authors
Leandro E. Miranda, J. Tompkins, Corey Garland Dunn, J. L. Morris, Matthew C. Combs
Co-occurring lotic crayfishes exhibit variable long-term responses to extreme-flow events and temperature
Crayfish serve critical roles in aquatic ecosystems as engineers, omnivores, and prey. It is unclear how increasingly frequent extreme-flow events and warming air temperatures will affect crayfish populations, partly because there are few long-term crayfish monitoring datasets. Using a unique 10-y dataset, we asked 1) whether recruitment of crayfishes in summer responded to extreme-flow events and
Authors
Corey Garland Dunn, Michael J. Moore, Nicholas A. Sievert, Craig Paukert, Robert J. DiStefano
R code for calculating imperilment of freshwater fish with a Bayesian belief network
This R script is reproduces a Bayesian belief network built within the propriety software program, Netica. The R- and Netica-based belief networks were used in Dunn and Schumann et al. (in press), which presents an approach for calculating imperilment of freshwater fishes.